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Sleeping Beauty
A long time ago there were a king and queen who
said every day, "Ah, if only we had a child," but they never had one.
But it happened that once when the queen was
bathing, a frog crept out of the water on to the land, and said to her, "Your
wish shall be fulfilled, before a year has gone by, you shall have a daughter."
What the frog had said came true, and the queen had a little girl who was so
pretty that the king could not contain himself for joy, and ordered a great
feast. He invited not only his kindred, friends and acquaintances, but also the
wise women, in order that they might be kind and well disposed towards the
child. There were thirteen of them in his kingdom, but, as he had only twelve
golden plates for them to eat out of, one of them had to be left at home.
The feast was held with all manner of splendor and when it came to an end the
wise women bestowed their magic gifts upon the baby - one gave virtue, another
beauty, a third riches, and so on with everything in the world that one can wish
for.
When eleven of them had made their promises, suddenly the thirteenth came in.
She wished to avenge herself for not having been invited, and without greeting,
or even looking at anyone, she cried with a loud voice, "The king's daughter
shall in her fifteenth year prick herself with a spindle, and fall down dead."
And, without saying a word more, she turned round and left the room.
They were all shocked, but the twelfth, whose good wish still remained unspoken,
came forward, and as she could not undo the evil sentence, but only soften it,
she said, it shall not be death, but a deep sleep of a hundred years, into which
the princess shall fall.
The king, who would fain keep his dear child from the misfortune, gave orders
that every spindle in the whole kingdom should be burnt. Meanwhile the gifts of
the wise women were plenteously fulfilled on the young girl, for she was so
beautiful, modest, good-natured, and wise, that everyone who saw her was bound
to love her.
It happened that on the very day when she was fifteen years old, the king and
queen were not at home, and the maiden was left in the palace quite alone. So
she went round into all sorts of places, looked into rooms and bed-chambers just
as she liked, and at last came to an old tower. She climbed up the narrow
winding staircase, and reached a little door. A rusty key was in the lock, and
when she turned it the door sprang open, and there in a little room sat an old
woman with a spindle, busily spinning her flax.
"Good day, old mother," said the king's daughter, "what are you doing there?"
"I am spinning," said the old woman, and nodded her head.
"What sort of thing is that, that rattles round so merrily," said the girl, and
she took the spindle and wanted to spin too. But scarcely had she touched the
spindle when the magic decree was fulfilled, and she pricked her finger with it.
And, in the very moment when she felt the prick, she fell down upon the bed that
stood there, and lay in a deep sleep. And this sleep extended over the whole
palace, the king and queen who had just come home, and had entered the great
hall, began to go to sleep, and the whole of the court with them. The horses,
too, went to sleep in the stable, the dogs in the yard, the pigeons upon the
roof, the flies on the wall, even the fire that was flaming on the hearth became
quiet and slept, the roast meat left off frizzling, and the cook, who was just
going to pull the hair of the scullery boy, because he had forgotten something,
let him go, and went to sleep. And the wind fell, and on the trees before the
castle not a leaf moved again.
But round about the castle there began to grow a hedge of thorns, which every
year became higher, and at last grew close up round the castle and all over it,
so that there was nothing of it to be seen, not even the flag upon the roof. But
the story of the beautiful sleeping Briar Rose, for so the princess was named,
went about the country, so that from time to time kings' sons came and tried to
get through the thorny hedge into the castle. But they found it impossible, for
the thorns held fast together, as if they had hands, and the youths were caught
in them, could not get loose again, and died a miserable death.
After long, long years a king's son came again to that country, and heard an old
man talking about the thorn hedge, and that a castle was said to stand behind it
in which a wonderfully beautiful princess, named Briar Rose, had been asleep for
a hundred years, and that the king and queen and the whole court were asleep
likewise. He had heard, too, from his grandfather, that many kings, sons had
already come, and had tried to get through the thorny hedge, but they had
remained sticking fast in it, and had died a pitiful death.
Then the youth said, "I am not afraid, I will go and see the beautiful Briar
Rose." The good old man might dissuade him as he would, he did not listen to his
words.
But by this time the hundred years had just passed, and the day had come when
Briar Rose was to awake again. When the king's son came near to the thorn hedge,
it was nothing but large and beautiful flowers, which parted from each other of
their own accord, and let him pass unhurt, then they closed again behind him
like a hedge. In the castle yard he saw the horses and the spotted hounds lying
asleep, on the roof sat the pigeons with their heads under their wings. And when
he entered the house, the flies were asleep upon the wall, the cook in the
kitchen was still holding out his hand to seize the boy, and the maid was
sitting by the black hen which she was going to pluck.
He went on farther, and in the great hall he saw the whole of the court lying
asleep, and up by the throne lay the king and queen. Then he went on still
farther, and all was so quiet that a breath could be heard, and at last he came
to the tower, and opened the door into the little room where Briar Rose was
sleeping.
There she lay, so beautiful that he could not turn his eyes away, and he stooped
down and gave her a kiss. But as soon as he kissed her, Briar Rose opened her
eyes and awoke, and looked at him quite sweetly.
Then they went down together, and the king awoke, and the queen, and the whole
court, and looked at each other in great astonishment. And the horses in the
courtyard stood up and shook themselves, the hounds jumped up and wagged their
tails, the pigeons upon the roof pulled out their heads from under their wings,
looked round, and flew into the open country, the flies on the wall crept again,
the fire in the kitchen burned up and flickered and cooked the meat, the joint
began to turn and sizzle again, and the cook gave the boy such a box on the ear
that he screamed, and the maid finished plucking the fowl.
And then the marriage of the king's son with Briar Rose was celebrated with all
splendor, and they lived contented to the end of their days.
The End
A Grimms' Fairy Tale |
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