Sleeping Beauty once upon a time there lived a king and a queen who had no children. They were so sorry about having no children that I cannot tell you how sorry they were. At last, however, after many years the Queen had a daughter, there was a very fine christening for the baby princess the king and queen looked throughout the kingdom for fairies to be her godmothers and they found seven fairies.
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| English Story For Kids |
Each fairy godmother was to give the princess a gift as was the custom of fairies in those days in this way the princess had all the perfections imaginable after the christening ceremony was over the whole party returned to the king's palace where there was prepared a great feast for the seven fairy godmothers there was placed before each one of them a magnificent case of gold in which was a spoon knife and fork all of pure gold set with diamonds and rubies but as everyone was sitting down at the table they saw a very old fairy whom they had not invited because she had not left the tower where she had lived for over 50 years and she was believed to be either dead or under an evil spell.
The king could not give her a case of gold as the others had because they had only made seven for the seven fairies the old fairy felt insulted and muttered some threats between her teeth one of the young fairies who sat by her overheard how she grumbled and guessing that she might give the little princess an unlucky gift went as soon as they rose from the table it's behind the curtains in the meanwhile all the fairies began to give their gifts to the princess the youngest wished.
That she should be the most beautiful person in the world the next that she should have the intelligence of an angel the third that she should have a wonderful grace in everything she did and the fourth that she should dance perfectly well and the fifth that she should sing like a nightingale and the sixth that she should play all kinds of music to the utmost perfection.
The old fairy Stern came next and shaking her head with more spiked than anger she wished that one day the princess would have her handpicked by a needle on a spinning wheel and that she would die of the wound this terrible gift made the whole company tremble and everybody began to cry at this very instant the young fairy came out from behind the curtains and spoke these words aloud assure yourselves o king and queen that your daughter shall not die of this disaster it is true.
I have no power to undo entirely what the elder fairy has done the princess shall indeed pierce her hand with a needle on a spinning wheel but instead of dying she shall only fall into a deep sleep which shall last a hundred years at the end of which a king's son shall come and awake her the King to avoid the misfortune foretold by the old fairy immediately made a law by which everybody was forbidden on pain of death to use a spinning wheel or to have any spinning wheel in their house about fifteen or sixteen years later on a day when the king and queen were busy in afar corner of the vow to Palace the young and beautiful princess amused herself by running up and down the corridors and going up from one apartment to the other eventually she came into a little room at the top of the tower where a good old woman alone wasspinning with her wheel for this good old woman had never heard of the Kings law against spinning wheels the princess said what are you doing there good oldwoman I am spinning sheep's wool into the thread.
So that I can meet it into a cardigan ha said the princess that's very clever I've never seen that done before how do you do it give it to me so that I may see if I can do the same now whether it was because she was in too much of a hurry or whether it was because she was clumsy or whether it was because the old fairy had wished it so I can not say but no sooner than the princess took the spinning wheel then she pricked her hand on the needle and she fell down into a faint the good old woman not knowing what to do cried out for help people came rushing from all over the palace and they came in great numbers when they saw the princess lying in a deep deep sleep on the floor they threw cold water on her face.
They loosened her clothes they struck her on the palms of her hands and they rubbed her temples with smelling salts but nothing they could do would wake the princess and now the king who heard the great commotion from the far end of the palace remembered the terrible warning of the fairies and guessing what had happened came rushing to the tower there he saw the princess lying in a deep deep sleep
and he ordered her to be carried into the finest apartment in his palace and to be laid upon a bed all embroidered with gold and/ if you had seen her you might have taken her for a little angel she was so very beautiful for her swooning away had not paled her complexion her cheeks were like roses her lips were like sea coral indeed her eyes were shut but she was heard to breathe softly which persuaded everyone that.
She was not dead the king commanded that they should not disturb her but let her sleep quietly till her hour of awaking came when this accident happened to the princess the good Fairy who had saved her life by condemning her to sleep for a hundred years was in the kingdom of mattock in twelve thousand miles away but she quickly heard the terrible news from a little dwarf who had 100-mile boots with which he could tread over 100 miles of ground in a single step the fairy came immediately and she arrived at the palace about an hour later in a fiery chariot drawn by dragons.
The King took her hand as she stepped out of her chariot and they both went to look at the sleeping princess as the fairy was very good at thinking and planning ahead she realized that in 100 years time when the princess would wake up she might not know what to do with herself being all alone in this old palace and so this is what she did she touched with her and everything in the palace nannies maids of honor ladies of the bedchambergentlemen officer's stewards cooks undercooks cleaners guards pages footmen she also touched all the horses in the stables and fields the fierce guard dogs in the outer Court and pretty little Mopsy too the prince's little puppy which lay by her on her bed immediately as soon as she touched they all fell asleep so that they might not awake before their princess and that they might be ready to serve her when she wanted them even the great fires in the ovens of the kitchen that would just then roasting partridges and pheasants fell asleep - all this was done in a moment fairies do not take long to finish their business and now the king and the Queen having kissed their dear child without waking her went out of the palace and made an order that nobody should dare to come near it this.
However, was not necessary for in a quarter of an hour's time they grew up all round about the palace grounds such a vast a number of trees great and small bushes and brambles in twining one another that neither man nor beast could pass through so that nothing could be seen but the very tops of the towers of the palace nobody doubted but the fairy had demonstrated a very extraordinary sample of her power and that the princess, while she continued sleeping, might have nothing to fear from any curious people when a hundred years had passed by the son of a king from another family had gone a-hunting in that part of the country where the palace used to be, he asked what are those towers in the middle of that great thick wood everyone answered with the rumors that they had heard some said that it was a ruinous old castle haunted by spirits others that all the sorcerers and witches of the country used to meet there at midnight when there was a full moon most people believed that there was an ogre that lived there and that he used to take to their all the little children he could catch so that he could eat them up whenever he pleased without anybody being able to follow him as only he had the power to pass through the wood the prince was all in a quandary not knowing what to believe when a very good countryman spake to him as follows may it please your Royal Highness it is now about fifty years since.
I heard from my father who heard my grandfather say that there was then in this castle a princess the most beautiful that was ever seen and that she must sleep there a hundred years and should be waked by a king's the young prince was on fire at hearing these words believing without thinking these things through that he could save the princess and pushed on by love and honor he swore that moment that he would do just that as he rode on his horse toward the wood all the great trees the bushes and brambles gave way to let him pass through he walked up to the castle which he saw at the end of a large Avenue and he went into it and what rather surprised him was that none of his people could follow him because the trees closed again as soon as he passed through them however he did not stop a young and amorous prince is always brave he came into a wide wide outer court where everything.
He saw might have frozen the most fearless person with horror there was a most frightful silence the image of death everywhere showed itself and there was nothing to be seen but stretched-out bodies of men and animals all seeming to be dead but the prince realized when he saw their faces and pimpled noses of the guards that they were only asleep and that their glasses in which there still remained some drops of wine showed plainly that they had fallen asleep whilst drunk he then crossed a court paved with marble went up the stairs and came into the corridor where guards were standing with their rifles upon their shoulders snoring as loud as they could after that he went through several rooms full of gentlemen and ladies all asleep some standing others sitting, at last, he came into a chamber all gilded with gold where he saw upon a bed the most wonderful sight that had ever met his eyes a princess who appeared to be about fifteen or sixteen years of age and
whose bright and rosy beauty was quite angelic he approached with trembling and admiration and fell down before her upon his knees and kissed her hand and now as the evil fairy spell was at an end the princess opened her blue eyes for the first time in 100 years and looking at him said is it you my prince you have waited a long time the Prince charmed with these words and much more with the manner in which they were spoken knew not how to show his joy in gratitude he assured her that he loved her more than anyone or anything in the whole wide world their conversation did not make much sense they spoke with little reason but a great deal of love he was more lost for words than she and we need not wonder at it for it is very probable though history mentions nothing of it that the good fairy during so long asleep had given her very agreeable dreams about handsome Prince's coming to her rescue short they talked for hours together and yet they said not half what they had to say in the meanwhile all the palace awaked and as all of them were not in love they felt most desperately hungry after a hundred years without a bit to eat the chief lady of Honor grew very impatient and told the princess allowed that supper was served up the Prince helped the princess to rise she was entirely dressed and very magnificently but
His Royal Highness took care not to tell her that she was dressed in the fashion of 100 years ago like his great-grandmother she looked not a bit less charming and beautiful for all that they went into the Great Hall of Mirrors where they had supper and were served by the princess's officers the orchestra played old tunes but very nice ones and after supper without losing any time the priest married them in the Chapel of the castle and the chief lady of honor drew the curtains they had but very little sleep the princess had had too much of it recently and the Prince left her the next morning to return to the city where the King was anxiously waiting for him
