After things had gone on in this way for a year or two, it happened one day that the King’s son was riding through that part of the forest and passed by the tower. He heard some one singing so beautifully that he stood spellbound, listening. It was Rapunzel, who in her solitude and loneliness was trying to while away the long hours by singing. The Prince longed to see the sweet singer and climb up to her, but he searched in vain for a door into the tower. None was to be found. He rode home, but the song had made such a deep impression on him that he went every day to the wood and listened. One day, when he was standing thus behind a tree, he saw the old witch approach and heard her call:
“Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair,
That I may climb without a stair.”
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Then Rapunzel let down her braids, and the witch climbed up to her.
“So that is the ladder by which one mounts, is it?” said the Prince. “Then I, too, will climb it and try my luck.”
The next night, when it began to grow dark, he went to the foot of the tower and cried:
“Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair,
That I may climb without a stair.”