Once upon a
time there was a Queen who had a beautiful baby daughter. She asked all the
fairies in the kingdom to the christening, but unfortunately forgot to invite
one of them, who was a bit of a witch as well. She came anyway, but as she
passed the baby's cradle, she said:
"When you are sixteen, you will injure
yourself with a spindle and die!"
"Oh, no!" screamed the Queen in horror.
A good fairy quickly chanted a magic spell to change the curse. When she hurt
herself, the girl would fall into a very deep sleep instead of dying.
The years went by, the little Princess grew and
became the most beautiful girl in the whole kingdom. Her mother was always very
careful to keep her away from spindles, but the Princess, on her sixteenth
birthday, as she wandered through the castle, came into a room where an old
servant was spinning.
"What are you doing?" she asked the
servant.
"I'm spinning. Haven't you seen a spindle
before?"
"No. Let me see it!" The servant handed
the girl the spindle ... and she pricked herself with it and. with a sigh,
dropped to the floor.
The terrified old woman hurried to tell the Queen.
Beside herself with anguish, the Queen did her best to awaken her daughter but
in vain. The court doctors and wizards were called, but there was nothing they
could do. The girl could not be wakened from her deep sleep. The good fairy who
managed to avoid the worst of the curse came too, and the Queen said to her,
"When will my daughter waken?"
"I don't know," the fairy admitted
sadly.
"In a year's time, ten years or twenty?"
the Queen went on.
"Maybe in a hundred years' time. Who
knows?" said the fairy.
"Oh! What would make her waken?" asked
the Queen weeplng.
"Love," replied the fairy. "If a
man of pure heart were to fall in love with her, that would bring her back to
life!"
"How can a man fall in love with a sleeping
girl?" sobbed the Queen, and so heart-broken was she that, a few days
later, she died. The sleeping Princess was taken to her room and laid on the
bed surrounded by garlands of flowers. She was so beautiful, with a sweet face,
not like those of the dead, but pink like those who are sleeping peacefully.
The good fairy said to herself,
"When she wakens, who is she going to see
around her? Strange faces and people she doesn't know? I can never let that
happen. It would be too painful for this unfortunate girl."
So the fairy cast a spell; and everyone that lived
in the castle - soldiers, ministers, guards, servants, ladies, pages, cooks,
maids and knights - all fell into a deep sleep, wherever they were at that very
moment.
"Now," thought the fairy, "when the
Princess wakes up, they too will awaken, and life will go on from there."
And she left the castle, now wrapped in silence. Not a sound was to be heard,
nothing moved except for the clocks, but when they too ran down, they stopped,
and time stopped with them. Not even the faintest rustle was to be heard, only
the wind whistling round the turrets, not a single voice, only the cry of
birds.
The years sped past. In the castle grounds, the
trees grew tall. The bushes became thick and straggling, the grass invaded the
courtyards and the creepers spread up the walls. In a hundred years, a dense
forest grew up.
Now, it so happened that a Prince arrived in these
parts. He was the son of a king in a country close by. Young, handsome and
melancholy, he sought in solitude everything he could not find in the company
of other men: serenity, sincerity and purity. Wandering on his trusty steed he
arrived, one day, at the dark forest. Being adventurous, he decided to explore
it. He made his way through slowly and with a struggle, for the trees and
bushes grew in a thick tangle. A few hours later, now losing heart, he was
about to turn his horse and go back when he thought he could see something
through the trees . . . He pushed back the branches . . . Wonder of wonders!
There in front of him stood a castle with high towers. The young man stood
stock still in amazement,
"I wonder who this castle belongs to?"
he thought.
The young Prince rode on towards the castle. The
drawbridge was down and, holding his horse by the reins, he crossed over it.
Immediately he saw the inhabitants draped all over the steps, the halls and
courtyards, and said to himself,
"Good heavens! They're dead!" But in a
moment, he realised that they were sound asleep. "Wake up! Wake up!"
he shouted, but nobody moved. Still thoroughly astonished, he went into the
castle and again discovered more people, lying fast asleep on the floor. As
though led by a hand in the complete silence, the Prince finally reached the
room where the beautiful Princess lay fast asleep. For a long time he stood
gazing at her face, so full of serenity, so peaceful, lovely and pure, and he
felt spring to his heart that love he had always been searching for and never found.
Overcome by emotion, he went close, lifted the girl's little white hand and
gently kissed it . . .
At that kiss, the prlncess qulckly opened her
eyes, and wakening from her long long sleep, seeing the Prince beside her,
murmured:
"Oh, you have come at last! I was waiting for
you in my dream. I've waited so long!"
Just then, the spell was broken. The Princess rose
to her feet, holding out her hand to the Prince. And the whole castle woke up
too. Everybody rose to their feet and they all stared round in amazement,
wondering what had happened. When they finally realised, they rushed to the
Princess, more beautiful and happier then ever.
A few days later, the castle that only a short
time before had lain in silence, now rang with the sound of singing, music and
happy laughter at the great party given in honour of the Prince and Princess,
who were getting married. They lived happily ever after, as they always do in
fairy tales, not quite so often, however, in real life.
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