12. Rapunzel

Rapunzel (ATU 310) was significantly edited by the Grimms over the course of its appearance in the seven editions of the Kinder- und Hausmärchen. The text was not majorly revised for the 1840, 1843, or 1857 editions. However, major edits were made for the 1837 and 185o editions. Notably, the Grimms changed all instances of ‘fairy’ to ‘sorceress’ (‘Fee’ to ‘Zauberin’), excised more explicit references to pregnancy as connected to sex, and expanded on the narrative aspects of the tale, moving it away from the more bare-bones oral form.

Some relevant sources on Rapunzel as a tale and the editing of Rapunzel (all are available online):

• Getty, Laura. “Maidens and Their Guardians: Reinterpreting the ‘Rapunzel’ Tale.” Mosaic: A Journal for the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature, vol. 3o, no. 2, 1997, pp. 37-52.
• Robinson, Orrin W. “Does Sex Breed Gender? Pronomial Reference in the Grimms’ Fairy Tales.” Marvels and Tales, vol. 21, no. 1, 2007, pp. 107-123.
• Weidenhöfffer, Jessica. “Die Kinder- und Hausmärchen der Brüder Grimm als nationalsymbolisches Narrativ. Eine linguistische Untersuchung zur Funktion der Sammlung im Nationaldiskurs des 19. Jahrhunderts.” Alman Dili ve Edebiyati Dergisi, 2014.