The Sleeping Beauty (Perrault)
Short summary
A fairy tale kingdom, medieval times. A king and queen finally had a daughter after years of longing. Seven fairies were invited to be godmothers, but an eighth fairy who had been forgotten cursed the princess to die from pricking her finger on a spindle.
A young fairy softened the curse so the princess would sleep for a hundred years instead. Despite the king's ban on spindles, at sixteen the princess found an old woman spinning and pricked her finger. The good fairy put everyone in the castle to sleep with her, and thorns grew around it. After a century, a prince heard the tale and entered the enchanted castle.
Is it you, dear prince? you have been long in coming! Charmed by these words...the prince scarcely knew how to express his delight. He declared that he loved her better than himself.
Detailed summary
The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood
A king and queen lived in great sorrow because they had no children despite trying every remedy possible. Finally, the queen gave birth to a daughter. For the christening, they invited seven fairies to be godmothers, hoping each would bestow magical gifts upon the princess.
At the palace banquet, golden caskets were prepared for each fairy. However, an aged fairy arrived unexpectedly - one who had lived in isolation for fifty years and was thought dead. Only seven caskets had been made, so she received no golden place setting.
A young fairy, sensing trouble, hid behind tapestry to speak last. The fairies began bestowing gifts: beauty, angelic temper, wonderful grace, perfect dancing, nightingale voice, and musical skill. Then the aged fairy delivered her terrible curse.
She declared that the princess should prick her hand with a spindle, and die of it. A shudder ran through the company at this terrible gift. All eyes were filled with tears.
The young fairy then stepped forward to modify the curse.
Take comfort, your Majesties...your daughter shall not die...she shall merely fall into a profound slumber that will last a hundred years. At the end of that time a king's son shall come to awaken her.
The king immediately banned all spinning wheels and spindles from the kingdom. Fifteen years later, while the royal parents were away, the princess explored the castle and discovered an old woman spinning in a tower garret. The woman had never heard of the king's proclamation.
Curious about spinning, the princess seized the spindle and immediately pricked her hand, falling into a swoon. The king, remembering the prophecy, had her placed on a golden bed in the finest apartment. Despite her closed eyes, her gentle breathing showed she lived.
You would have thought her an angel, so fair was she to behold. The trance had not taken away the lovely color of her complexion...it was therefore plain that she was not dead.
The good fairy, warned by her dwarf messenger, arrived in her dragon-drawn chariot. With her wand, she touched everyone in the castle except the king and queen - servants, animals, even the princess's little dog Puff. All fell asleep to awaken only when their mistress did.
After the royal parents departed, a vast forest of trees and thorns grew around the castle, making it impenetrable. Only the tower tops remained visible from afar, protecting the sleeping princess from prying eyes for a hundred years.
A century later, a different royal family ruled the land. A young prince went hunting and saw the distant towers. His attendants told various stories about the castle - some said it was haunted by ghosts, others claimed witches held revels there, and many believed an ogre lived there who devoured children.
An old peasant told the prince about a beautiful princess sleeping for a hundred years, waiting for a king's son to awaken her. Fired by this tale and seeking adventure and glory, the prince immediately approached the forest. The trees parted before him, then closed behind, preventing his retinue from following.
The prince found the castle filled with sleeping figures - guards with muskets, courtiers, ladies-in-waiting, all snoring peacefully. In a golden chamber, he discovered the most beautiful sight he had ever seen: the sleeping princess. As he knelt beside her, the enchantment ended and she awoke.
The princess greeted him tenderly, saying he had been long in coming. They talked for four hours, expressing their love. The entire palace awakened, and after supper, the chaplain married them in the castle chapel. They retired but slept little, as the princess had no need of sleep.
The prince returned to the city, telling his father he had been lost hunting. His mother suspected a love affair when he began hunting daily with excuses for sleeping away from home. For two years, the prince kept his secret marriage, during which time they had two children.
When the old king died, the prince became king and publicly announced his marriage. He feared his mother, who came from a race of ogres and had ogrish instincts around children.
When the king went to war, he left his family in his mother's care. The queen mother sent them to a forest mansion, then ordered her steward to serve little Dawn for dinner. The compassionate steward instead killed a lamb and hid the child with his wife. Eight days later, she demanded little Day, whom the steward also saved by substituting a tender kid.
Finally, the ogress demanded the young queen herself. When the steward came to kill her, the queen bravely bared her neck.
Do it! do it! she cried, baring her neck to him; carry out the order...Then once more I shall see my children, my poor children that I loved so much!
The steward revealed he had saved her children and substituted a hind for the queen mother's meal. However, the ogress discovered the deception when she heard the children crying. She ordered a vat filled with vipers and serpents, intending to cast the family and servants into it. Just then, the king returned unexpectedly.
The ogress...threw herself head foremost into the vat, and was devoured on the instant by the hideous creatures she had placed in it. The king could not but be sorry, for after all she was his mother.
Though the king grieved for his mother, he found ample consolation in his beautiful wife and children.
Moral
The moral teaches that while many girls wait long for the right husband, none could wait a hundred years without worry. Though the story suggests true love comes by fairy magic and delay may improve it, young hearts will always be impatient.
Though philosophers may prate
How much wiser 'tis to wait,
Maids will be a-sighing still—
Young blood must when young blood will!