Welcome back, everybody. This is Neogentrics,
your host for Food for Thought, Thoughts If It
Were You. This is season two. The year 2020 is
here. We're going to pick up where we left off
with the last story that I covered for the Dark
Truth series. And this one, we're going to talk
about Rapunzel. No, don't get me wrong. There's
a lot of other stuff I'm wanting to cover this
year, especially this semester. with all the
changes happening but i will be having a lot
of guests uh peeking in on the podcast that i
have here and there and everywhere and i'll be
covering a lot of new stuff this year if you
have any suggestions again feel free to let me
know so let's go and get started with rapunzel
first things first i want y 'all to know something
okay The story that everyone knows about the
long -haired girl that lived in the tower, that's
not how that story was originally written. The
real Rapunzel wasn't just a beautiful woman locked
in a tower. If not anything, she was actually
a literal saint, or at least one of the early
inspirations for the folktale that would later
become Rapunzel. The actual story is actually
a lot darker than the Grimm Brothers version
that a lot of people are now familiar with, in
which the prince seduces Rapunzel instead of
saving her. We'll cover that in more detail later.
Just like the true story of Snow White and Seven
Dwarves, Disney had to change a lot in the Rapunzel
story before turning it out as a children's film,
as you're all aware. Now, with that being said...
The real story was about her being a literal
saint. Her name was Saint Barbara. She was the
daughter of a rich Roman merchant in the 3rd
century. Now, her own father actually did lock
her into a tower so that she wouldn't convert
to convert Christianity. But Barbara still found
a way. She also resisted marriage, just like
the Christian saints who protected their virginity
with some extreme measures. I love how a lot
of these stories always have something to do
with religion in some way or the other. Anyway,
as punishment for her faith, Barbara's pagan
father grabbed her by the hair and, well, beheaded
her. Yeah, that happened. The links between St.
Barbara and Rapunzel go beyond both being locked
in towers. Like St. Barbara, Rapunzel was an
independent woman who refused to listen to authority,
but luckily for Rapunzel, she didn't suffer the
same gruesome fate as the stories that were inspired.
for Rapunzel. Okay? So, starting with that, the
tragic tale of St. Barbara was inspired by the
tower and the tribulations of Rapunzel. With
that being said, there were multiple versions
of the Rapunzel story, but they all shared one
common feature. The heroine is a beautiful woman,
you know, locked in some tower somewhere. And
in one of those stories, it was partially...
inspired for the tale of Rapunzel was most likely
the story of St. Barbara, like I mentioned earlier,
as an early Christian martyr who was locked in
the tower. The tale was compiled by Jacobus de
Voragin. Look, I don't know how to pronounce
his name. He was the Archbishop of Genoa in 1275
CE. While Barbara's story is a key difference
from the Rapunzel stories, rather than a whole
magical captor who trapped her in a tower, the
evil person in Barbara's life was actually her
father, not a witch. In the early years of Christianity,
Barbara was secretly converted to the new faith,
but her father, who practiced a Roman religion,
locked his daughter in a tower so she couldn't
be a Christian. It's the whole preference of
that. Next, I'm going to talk about the so -called
evil witch in her life, being her father. when
we come right back all right everybody and we're
back moving on where i left off in the last piece
um in the rapunzel story the heroine is locked
in the tower by an evil witch or an ogre, or
a fairy, depending on the version of the story
that you're familiar with. But in The Legend
of St. Barbara, the woman was actually locked
in a tower by her father. Now... The legend holds
that her father shut her in the tower for one
of two different reasons. One was because she
was very beautiful, and he didn't want any unsuitable
suitors kidding her, and he wanted to pick her
husband, so he limited the competition by hiding
her. The other one was that, obviously, like
I mentioned before, he feared the influence of
a new religion, Christianity, because he was
obviously a wealthy Roman merchant. And he didn't
like the idea of the Fates' emphasis on helping
the poor, and he knew his daughter liked... to
help the poor more than anything else. So he
tried to lock her in the tower. Now, despite
being in the tower, she still found a way to
read and learn about Christianity anyway. Even
though she spent those years in the tower, getting
her food, clothes delivered to her by a basket
on a rope, somehow... some way the new religion
still found a way to reach her now according
to the legend a stranger snuck a book into barbara's
basket this is what taught her about christianity
and of course she instantly converted she even
tricked her father into sending a priest to her
by pretending to be ill and requesting a doctor
now priests were known as doctors of the soul
so that she could secretly receive baptism In
The Saint's Tale, though, Barbara's conversion
is treated as a miraculous accomplishment, but
it also led to her downfall. Keeping this in
mind, she had to hide messages built into the
very architecture of her tower for various reasons.
Why? Well, let's see. She secretly practiced
her Christian faith against her father's wishes,
and one sign of her hidden faith was built into
the tower where she was trapped. When Barbara's
father was out of town, she asked the men working
at her... on her tower. To make one change, instead
of putting two windows in the tower, she wanted
three. The architectural modification wasn't
because Barbara wanted to make sure she got enough
light. Rather, the windows were a reminder of
the Holy Trinity. One window each for the Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit. Or, as Barbara explained
to her father, three windows lightening all the
world and all creatures, but two make darkness.
It was as good as a confession that she was secretly
a Christian. though her father didn't know that
at the time now with that being said according
to the life of st barbara which was written in
the thirteenth century her father was furious
when she told him that she had actually converted
he dragged her to jail by her hair i don't know
how to say this spoiler warning This is going
to be a bit brutal, so if you can't handle this,
please skip ahead. Her father basically took
her by the hair, drew her down from the mountain,
and shut her fast into a prison. And even though
she was his own daughter, the father demanded
that she go on trial simply for being a Christian.
And at the trial, the pagan judge ordered Barbara
to choose between renouncing her Christianity
or torture. Well, as you probably already know,
she chose to torture. She also made a very fiery
speech where she said, and I quote, fire on your
devils and her faith carried her through a series
of gruesome tortures. Moving forward with that,
her tortures were horrific, but the final one
was way, way worse. The judge stripped Barbara
completely naked and beat her with a... How do
I put this? Sins of bulls and fraught her flesh
with salt. Think of it like a cat -o' -nine -tails
whip. The second round included cutting off her
breasts and burning her with lamps. And back
then they had oil lamps, so yeah. When Barbara
was paraded through the town naked to shame her,
God sent an angel to cloak her body in fog so
Barbara wouldn't suffer too much. In the end,
the same person who locked Barbara in the tower
actually ended up ending her life. Her own father
grabbed her beautiful hair and struck off Barbara's
head with the sword. According to the legend,
as soon as Barbara died, a bolt of lightning
struck her father and killed him. Jeez. Well.
Now that I got that out of the way, as gruesome
as that was, next we're going to talk about how
the long hair might have come from a Persian
epic of this story. Alrighty then, after all
of that depressing nonsense, let's go ahead and
move forward. We're talking about now where her
long hair might have come from and which epic
it may have referred to. Now, however, none of
the stories of St. Barbara claim that she had
extremely long hair. Keep this in mind. Her hair
is mentioned several times when her father drags
her to prison by her hair and when he pulls her
hair back to basically, you know, nip her off.
But... No one climbs her hair, which is the key
element of the later version of Rapunzel's story
that we're all familiar with. Where did this
long tresses of Rapunzel's fairy tale hair come
from? Well, most people argue that the long hair
was borrowed from a Persian epic, the Shamana,
Shamane, however you wish to pronounce that.
This epic was written around the year 1000 CE.
Now, in the story, the beautiful Radaba, that
was her name, catches the eye of a young hero
named Zal in order to meet up. He visits her
tower and she throws down her long hair so he
can climb up to see her. Of course, their story
ends with an unplanned pregnancy and a Romeo
and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet twist, where their
fathers don't approve of the union because Zala
is Persian and Radaba is Babylonian, but they
get a happy ending when astrologers predict that
their son will conquer the world. Yeah, I know,
weird, isn't it? However, in another version
of Rapunzel's tale, in the late 1600s, a woman
wrote her own version of Rapunzel's story. And
she used it to criticize the most powerful ruler
in Europe, Charlotte Rose de Comont de la Force.
She was a French fairytale writer with a scandalous
history. She had multiple affairs, including
one with an actor who shocked the royal court
by accidentally leaving his nightcap in her room.
And according to the one rumor, Charlotte Rose
was sent away from court when King Louis XIV,
the Sun King, suspected her of sleeping with
his son. Dang. Anyway, Charlotte Rose wasn't
just sent away. She was locked in a convent against
her wishes. While in the convent, she wrote her
own version of Rapunzel's story called Persianette.
Did the author identify the beauty locked in
the tower? Well, if so, the evil fairy tale in
Persianette was a clear allusion to Louis XIV
who forced Charlotte Rose into a convent. In
case y 'all wanted to know how that story came
to be. Now, in the original, Rapunzel is sold
to an ogre because her mother stole parsley.
Yeah, you heard me right. Parsley. In the first
version of Rapunzel's story, it was basically
written by Gia Bautista Basile in the early 1600s.
Basile's version tells the story of a long -haired
beauty trapped in a tower and a prince who comes
to rescue her, but that's where the similarities
to the movie that was written by Disney called
Tangled in 2010 end. For those who were curious
if this movie was related to that. As for how
Rapunzel ends up in the tower, Basile's explanation
is actually a little more depressing. It involves
a horrible punishment for stealing a garnish
that most people throw in the trash. The story
starts with Rapunzel's mom, uh, basically...
stealing parsley from an ogre's garden because
it looked so delicious. When the ogre finally
catches the food thief, Rapunzel's mother is
forced to give up her firstborn to the ogre as
a punishment for stealing the herb. After poor
Rapunzel is born, her mother basically hands
her over to be locked in a tower, which is even
darker than the one that they mentioned in Tangled
when they did the kidnapping explanation. With
that being said, let me go ahead and talk about
the prince really quick. The Grimm Brothers are
known for some pretty dark fairy tales, and Rapunzel
is no exception. In the first version of the
fairy tale written in 1812, a handsome prince
finds Rapunzel locked in her tower, comes up
to rescue her, but instead of rescuing the beautiful
woman, the prince visits her every day for a
different reason. As the Grimm Brothers tell
it, and I quote, they lived in joy and pleasure
for a long time. until Rapunzel realizes the
risks of unprotected sex. Rapunzel asks her captor,
and I quote, The evil woman, a fairy in this
version of the story, kicks Rapunzel out of the
tower and blinds the prince. The sad lovers wander
in the woods for years until they find each other
and fall back in love. Yeah. Not exactly the
best turnout, for all those who know. You can
kind of figure out where this ended. We're going
to take another short break real quick, and I'm
going to finish off this segment with a little
bit of other information, and then we'll go on
into something new. I'll tell you what it is.
Look forward to that, and let's get going. All
right, everybody. Now with all the weird stuff
out of the way, let me go ahead and, before we
finish this up, because there's only a little
bit left I want to cover, let me go ahead and
say this. A lot of these stories have a very
dark turn to them, and a lot of people don't
realize that they have very horrifying origins.
They only know the blissful world that they live
in and don't really care to know about where
they came from. This is no different than being
ignorant of your past, and a lot of people fall
short to this. They're quick to want to defend
themselves and say that they aren't ignorant,
but to be fair, anyone who doesn't choose to
learn and move forward is technically of that
class. That doesn't mean everybody is like that.
Some people want to do it the hard way, and they'll
still learn. They'll just be doing it a different
way. But anyone who chooses to stay ignorant
isn't, you know, actually enriching themselves
in the way that they should. With that being
said, with all the talks of torture, beheadings,
and unplanned pregnancies, obviously, you know
Disney's not going to want that in any of their
books or in their stories that they produce.
Now, Barbara's gruesome story of conversion and
beheading is a long way from the Disney version
of Rapunzel that everybody knows. But like Rapunzel,
Barbara was a beautiful woman who was treated
badly by her parents. And remember, in the original
stories, Rapunzel was given to the evil witch
by her parents as punishment for stealing parsley.
While the original Rapunzel was no virgin, Barbara
reportedly refused to marry and remain chaste.
And according to the medieval saints' lives,
Barbara's story also has a happy ending, since
after the horrific torture and beheading by her
father, Barbara became a saint. Now, still, after
learning the history of Barbara and the early
disturbing versions of Rapunzel, it is clear
why Disney clearly changed a few things in the
movie Tangled when they basically produced it.
You know, there's a lot of stuff and a lot of
reasons that went into this. Now, keep in mind
that, like I said before, a lot of this stuff
that I'm covering is definitely R -rated. And
it's not suited for everybody to listen to. Now,
with that being said, let's just assume for a
fact that you don't want to hide this from your
kids no more and you want them to know. Or you
are one of those kids who wanted to know but
are afraid to hear what you just heard. heads
up, it's not as great as you think it is. And,
you know, life is a lot like this. These stories
were written in the past, and keep in mind that
they were originally considered tales suitable
for kids then. Nowadays, may not be so. So with
that being said, we're going to go ahead and
move forward from this. This is the last episode.
I'm probably going to do of this unless it's
requested again. Though there are still like
two or three more stories I can definitely cover.
But I'm not going to do that for a while. Coming
up next is the Black History Month in February.
But I want to get a couple more episodes in before
January is over. So if you have any suggestions,
feel free to let me know. And we'll move forward
with there. Again, this is Food for Thought.
Thoughts if it were you. I'm your host, Neogentrix.
Enjoy the rest of your day.