Sunday 15 April 2012

Rapunzel

Rapunzel was one of my favourite's fairy tales. I had it in LP and used to listen to it over and over again, and to sing along with Rapunzel... "I'm 15 years old, living in this tower alone, braiding my hair and singing along, while waiting for my prince to come, rescue me, and take me home..."


I'm from a generation where too many fairy tales were told to us. There was always a poor girl, somehow under the spell of a certain witch and/or witchcraft, always waiting for a prince to rescue her.


Unfortunately, to add to her suffering, the witch (another woman) was always there to put her under stress, to take the prince away from her. Therefore, she could never be happy until the day the prince; 1) would choose her, and 2) would finally come to rescue her...

The side effect of this was, a prince expectation was really built in our brains, in our lives. And it has been a cause of a lot of misery of many women of my generation, I believe.  Even when we refused to admit it, deep down, we believed that we could only be whole, and happy, when the male figure became part of our lives.


Don't take me wrong. I love the male figure. I love to have one in my life. But, despite the fact that Rapunzel's story has first written in 1812, I have to confess that I also bumped into a lot of walls before I realised that I had to be whole myself in order to really welcome the other whole in my life
It is not about looking for your half-orange. It is about being a full orange yourself and meet another full orange, and together make a very rich and concentrated orange juice.


Back to Rapunzel's tale: she was locked in a tower, with just one window, with no way to escape. And what did she do? She sang, melancholically, while wrapping her long hair, waiting for the only "thing" that could save her, could make her happy, could give her future some meaning: a prince to come to rescue her. But, in the meantime, while the prince didn't show up, she had to cope with the visits of the witch who was there to confirm her misery, to remind her of her unlucky fate.
As all other girls from story tales, Rapunzel was always a victim.

The bad news is, there are still too many Rapunzels around.

However, there are some good news. You can always change your fate.
I truly believe so.

What about giving another meaning to Rapunzel's story...?


"Once upon a time there was a wonderful woman called Rapunzel. She was taken to a tower, with no way to escape. The door was locked from outside, and there was only one window. 
She knew, from the stories that were told to her, that she should be there singing and waiting, until the day, somehow, from somewhere, A prince would come to rescue her. 
She should be ready, and for that she should grow her hair to be long enough for the prince to climb up to her, when the so longed day would arrive.
But, this lady Rapunzel, was not like the other ones before, and instead of feeling miserable, waiting for A prince to rescue her, as her predecessors did, she took the time in the tower to learn about herself, to listen to her inner voice and, above all, to learn how to love herself deeply. 
As time passed, the more she learned about herself, more peaceful she felt, and with the realization of  how precious she was, instead of growing a long hair to help someone to reach her, to rescue her, she grew wings and through the window she flew away and set herself free..." 


T






3 comments:

  1. Interesting, Tulia. I was wondering then if men, influenced by all of these fairy tales, are, then, gallivanting and looking out to save a woman to be whole, in other words, to be that prince, and therefore, waiting to find their "half orange" that is a docile lady on top of a tower. Or were they out playing outdoors and were not influenced by the tales?

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    1. Ana, very good point. Giving it a thought, I believe many of them (not all) are still "waiting to find their "half orange" that is a docile lady on top of a tower..."

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