So after the dogs stretched and romped and lolled a bit--the old yellow one got done with the romping before the white sprig who may never grow up--
I finally got to pruning the Japanese willow which, had we known it would grow to 16 feet, we would never, ever have planted right next to a young crab apple tree. So this year I cut it down by 10 feet instead of the usual 6, half-wondering and worrying (since I am so good at worrying) that it will punish me next spring either by out and out dying first thing or by behaving like the broom in the Sorcerer's Apprentice, growing alarmingly and uncontrollably until our driveway disappears from view and we might have to be rescued.
I imagined that lively scenario for awhile partly because I'd been thinking about Sleeping Beauty only the day before and comparing her sleep with poor Rapunzel's wandering in the desert (a metaphor with a poor translation; I'm guessing wilderness was real word and the concept behind it was the shunning of an unmarried mother) and partly because I'd been wondering if Rochester's blinding by fire in Jane Eyre and his later reacquisition of sight once love and parenthood blessed redeem him, well, if Charlotte Bronte was thinking about or remembering somehow the Rapunzel story and that made me finally go in because I had to find out when the Brothers Grimm published and/or when Andrew Lang brought out his version. Turned out the Red Fairy Book was too late--1890. I didn't think Charlotte Bronte read German but then I remembered that the Brothers Grimm collected the story but that the original was probably the French version by Charlotte-Rose de La Force in the 17th century. Since Charlotte Bronte spoke French I'm sure she knew this tale well...
You can read all about Rapunzel's history and see some splendid illustrations here.
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