World classic, retold in simple Mandarin
Rapunzel
长发公主
Rapunzel (长发公主, Chángfà gōngzhǔ) is a fairy tale by Brothers Grimm, retold in simple Mandarin as a 4-chapter story with audio for learners at about HSK 1 (Beginner).
Retold from the Brothers Grimm fairy tale: a girl locked in a tower with no door, a prince who learns her secret, and tears that bring back his sight.
Meet the voices
- Narrator · 旁白 — A warm older storyteller who sets each scene.
- Anna · 安娜 — A gentle young wife who longs for the witch's lettuce.
- Hans · 汉斯 — Anna's loving husband, who is brave for her but makes a terrible promise.
- The Witch · 女巫 — A cold old witch who guards her garden and keeps Rapunzel in a tower.
- Rapunzel · 长发 — A kind, lonely girl with a braid that reaches the ground, who loves to sing.
- The Prince · 王子 — A kind young prince who follows a beautiful voice to the tower.
4 chapters, one journey
Chapter 1: The Garden Behind the Wall
花园里的菜
A hungry wife longs for lettuce from the witch's garden, and her husband makes a promise that costs him their baby.
Free to read
Chapter 2: The Tower with No Door
没有门的塔
Rapunzel lives in a tower with no door, and a lonely prince hears her sing. Then he watches how the witch comes in.
SayMei Stories
Chapter 3: The Prince and the Thorns
王子和刺
The prince climbs up to meet Rapunzel, and they make a plan to run away. Then one careless sentence changes everything.
SayMei Stories
Chapter 4: The Tears That Heal
眼泪
Years pass, and Rapunzel waits in a lonely land while the blind prince keeps walking toward a voice he remembers.
SayMei Stories
Key words in Rapunzel
Behind the story
Rapunzel is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm in the early 1800s. It is named after a leafy plant, a kind of lettuce, that the mother craves in the story.
Chinese readers know it as 长发公主, which means Long-Hair Princess. It is a favorite in children's picture books and in school reading lists, and many learners meet it as one of their first foreign fairy tales.
Did you know?
- In Chinese the story is called 长发公主, the Long-Hair Princess, even though Rapunzel is not born a princess.
- The Brothers Grimm first published their fairy tales in 1812.
- Long black hair has been admired in China for thousands of years, and old poems often praise it.