Tale as Old as Time (Repunzel vs. Rampion)

Hello! 

One of my favorite Disney movies is Tangled. With fun and realistic characters, frying pans, chamelions, and intelligent horses, how is it not to be loved? Disney fairytales are so iconic, but what about the original tale? I’ve recently become very interested in the differences between the original fairy tale and the Disney version. So time to kick off a new blog series: Tale as Old as Time! 

(I’m reading and recapping the original tale from the Brothers Grimm and comparing it to the 2010 Disney movie) 

Grimm Events

A man and a woman live in a house overlooking an enchantress’s garden. One day, the woman wants some rampion from the garden, and says she will die if she doesn’t have it. Her husband climbs over the wall and gets the rampion. The woman wants more rampion, so her husband leaves to get it. 

This time, the enchantress sees him. She makes a deal that she won’t kill him, and he can have the rampion in exchange for their first born child. The man agrees, and the enchantress takes the baby and names her Repunzel. When she is twelve years old, the enchantress puts her in a tower with no doors.

One day, a prince hears Repunzel singing. He tries to find where it’s coming from, but he can’t. He comes back every day, and eventually watches the enchantress doing the whole “Repunzel, Repunzel, let down your hair” thing. 

When she leaves, the prince does it as well. He introduces himself to Repunzel, and they become friends. Then he asks her to marry him. Repunzel says yes, but they still have to solve the issue of getting her out of the castle. 

Repunzel comes up with a plan for the prince to bring her a skein of silk every day. She will eventually weave it into a rope to climb out of the tower with. The prince does this. 

Then, Repunzel tells the enchantress about the prince and how he is much easier to lift into the castle. The enchantress is infuriated, so she cuts off Repunzel’s hair. She takes Repunzel to a desert, and leaves her there.After Repunzel is gone, the enchantress fools the prince and gets him into the tower using her hair. The enchantress tells the prince that Repunzel is dead in the desert. The prince is devastated, so he throws himself out of the window. 

He survives the fall, but his eyes got stabbed by thornes, so now he is blind. He wanders around, and eventually comes to the desert. He hears Repunzel, and goes to her. (It turns out that Repunzel had twin babies in the desert, and they had lived there for a while) Repunzel cries and her tears heal the prince. He leads them out of the desert and into the kingdom, and they live HaPPily EvER AftEr. 

Tangled Events (I love these headings) 

The queen is about to have a baby, but she is sick. The kingdom searches and finds a magic flower, which saves the queen. A baby is born with very (unnaturally) long hair. 

Low and behold, a witch used the flower to become young again. She sings a semi-creepy song and it glows and she becomes young again. The same powers work with the baby, so she tries to cut a little of the baby’s hair. The hair turns brown and dies, so the witch decides to take the baby. 

The baby, Repunzel, grows up in a tower. She sees floating lanterns in the sky and wants to see them outside of the tower. When she is eighteen, she asks her mother for a birthday present, which is to leave the tower and see the floating lanterns. Mother Gothel says no, and they get into a little fight. Repunzel asks for paints instead, so Gothel leaves for a few days. 

Then we cut to Flynn Rider, a thief running away from a very intelligent horse. He climbs the tower and is just about to gaze at his loot when he gets hit over the head with a frying pan. 

Repunzel makes a deal with Flynn rider. She hid his loot – a special crown. She will give him back the crown if he takes her to see the floating lanterns. He agrees, and they leave the castle. 

They have a few adventures, going to the Snuggly Duckling, singing and dancing and then running away. Then they get trapped in a cave with water and Repunzel reveals her magic hair. At one point, they run into the smart horse (Maximus) and finally get to the town-city-place (does this kingdom only have one town!?)

They dance, and then see the lanterns. Repunzel and Flynn have a “moment” and then Flynn’s old thieving pals show up. He abandoned them earlier on, so they get their revenge by putting him on a boat with the stolen crown and sending it toward the castle. 

Mother Gothel takes Repunzel back to the tower. Repunzel realizes that she’s the lost princess, and she gets in another fight with Gothel. 

The friends from the Snuggly Duckling show up to rescue Flynn Rider, and he goes to the tower. He makes it up only to find Repunzel bound and gagged. Then Gothel stabs him. She prepares to take Repunzel away, but Repunzel makes another deal so she can save Flynn. 

In a very disputed over move, Flynn cuts Repunzel’s hair. It turns brown, which freaks Gothel out as she dies. Then the great chamelioin Pascal uses Repunzel’s hair to get Gothel to fall out the window. 

Flynn, (technically, his name is Eugene) dies, but then Repunzel cries and her tears heal them, and then they live HapPilY eVEr AftER. 

Similarities

First, a quick question from the Gimm Events. Why the heck does Repunzel not cut her hair? 

I like the events that were blended into the Disney movie. They turned a very insta-romance thing into one of the best Disney romances ever. 

And now to the topic of rampion. Did I just finish The Lunar Chronicles, and am now freaking out? Maybe. (But this post is already long enough without a Lunar Chronicles comparison)

A quick google search has me thinking that “Repunzel” was translated to “rampion” which would make sense. (Take this all with a grain of salt. I am not an expert googler) So… in a way, Repunzel could be called Rampion…I also looked up what rampion looks like, and the flower looks kind of similar to the one in Tangled? 

To keep this post from becoming a novel, I’m going to have to stop here. But this was super fun to do, and I’ve already got quite a lot more of these “Tale as Old as Time” posts planned. What are some observations you made in this comparison? What retellings do you want me to do next? Until next time! 

-Hannah

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