Sleeping Beauty
Charles Perrault
There once lived a king and queen who had no children, which made them very sad. Then one clay, to the queen's delight, she found she was going to have a baby. She and the king looked forward with great excitement to the day of the baby's birth.When the time came, a lovely daughter was born and they arranged a large party for her Christening. As well as lots of other guests, they invited twelve fairies, knowing they would make wishes for their little daughter, the princess.
At the Christening party, the guests and the fairies all agreed that the princess was a beautiful baby.
One fairy wished on her the gift of Happiness, another Beauty, others Health, Contentment, Wisdom, Goodness . . . Eleven fairies had made their wishes when suddenly the doors of the castle flew open and in swept a thirteenth fairy. She was furious that she had not been invited to the Christening party, and as she looked around a shiver ran down everyone's spine. They could feel she was evil. She waved her wand over the baby's cradle and cast a spell, not a wish.
"On her sixteenth birthday," she hissed, "the princess will prick herself with a spindle.
And she will die." With that a terrible hush fell over the crowd.
The twelfth fairy had still to make her wish and she hesitated. She had been going to wish the gift of joy on the baby but now she wanted to stop the princess dying on her sixteenth birthday. Her magic was not strong enough to Sleeping Beauty break the wicked spell but she tried to weaken the evil. She wished that the princess would fall asleep for a hundred years instead of dying.
Over the years the princess grew into the happiest, kindest and most beautiful child anyone had ever seen. It seemed as though all the wishes of the first eleven fairies had come true. The king and queen decided they could prevent the wicked fairy's spell from working by making sure that the princess never saw a spindle.
So they banned all spinning from the land. All the flax and wool in their country had to be sent elsewhere to be spun. On their daughter's sixteenth birthday they held a party for the princess in their castle. They felt sure this would protect her from the danger of finding a spindle on her sixteenth birthday.
People came from far and wide to the grand birthday ball for the princess and a magnificent feast was laid out. After all the guests had eaten and drunk as much as they wanted and danced in the great hall, the princess asked if they could all play hide-and-seek, which was a favourite game from her childhood. It was agreed the princess should be the first to hide, and she quickly sped away.
The princess ran to a far corner of the castle and found herself climbing a spiral staircase in a turret she did not remember ever visiting before. "They will never find me here," she thought as she crept into a little room at the top. 'there to her surprise she found an old woman dressed in black, sitting on a chair spinning."What are you doing?" questioned the princess as she saw the spindle twirling, for she had never seen anything like it in her whole life.
"Come and see, pretty girl," replied the old lady. The princess watched fascinated as she pulled the strands of wool from the sheep's fleece on the floor, and twirling it deftly with her fingers fed it on to the spindle.
"Would you like to try?" she asked cunningly.
With all thoughts of hide-and-seek gone, the princess sat down and took the spindle. In a flash she pricked her thumb and even as she cried out, she fell clown as though dead. The wicked fairy's spell had worked.
So did the twelfth good fairy's wish. The princess did not die, but fell into a deep deep sleep. The spell worked upon everyone else in the castle too. The king and queen slept in their chairs in the great hall. The guests dropped off to sleep as they went through the castle looking for the princess.
In the kitchen the cook fell asleep as she was about to box the pot boy's ears and the scullery maid nodded off as she was plucking a chicken. All over the castle a great silence descended.
As the years went by a thorn hedge grew up around the castle. Passers-by asked what was behind the hedge, but few people remembered the castle where the king and queen had lived with their lovely daughter. Sometimes curious travellers tried to force their way through, but the hedge grew so thickly that they soon gave up.
One clay, many many years later, a prince came by.
He asked, like other travellers, what was behind the thorn hedge, which was very tall and thick by now. An old man told him a story he had heard about a castle behind the thorns, and the prince became curious. He decided to cut his way through the thorns. This time the hedge seemed to open out before his sword and in a short while the prince was inside the grounds. He ran across the gardens and through an open door into the lovely old castle.
Everywhere he looked — in the great hall, in the kitchens, in the corridors and on the staircases — he saw people asleep. He passed through many rooms until he found himself climbing a winding staircase in an old turret. There in a small room at the top he found himself staring in wonder at the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. She was so lovely that without thinking he leaned forward and gently kissed her.As his lips touched her, the princess began to stir and she opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was a handsome young. man. She thought she must be dreaming, but she looked again and saw he was really there. As she gazed at him she fell in love.
They came down the turret stairs together and found the whole castle coming back to life. In the great hall the king and queen were stretching and yawning, puzzled over how they could have dropped off to sleep during their daughter's party. Their guests too were shaking their heads, rubbing their eyes, and wondering why they felt so sleepy. In the kitchen, the cook boxed the ears of the pot boy, and the scullery maid continued to pluck the chicken. Outside horses stamped and neighed in their stables, dogs barked in the yards, while in the trees birds who had stayed silent for so long burst into song. The hundred-year spell had been broken.
The princess told her parents how much she loved the handsome young man who had kissed her, and they were delighted to find he was a prince from a neighbouring country. The king gave them his blessing and a grand wedding was arranged.
At the wedding party the princess looked more beautiful than ever, and the prince loved her more every moment. The twelve good fairies who had come to her Christening were invited once again and were delighted to see the happiness of the prince and princess. Towards evening the newly married pair rode off together to their new home in the prince's country, where they lived happily ever after.
Character & characterization
Princess Aurora/Briar Rose
Daughter of King Stefan and his queen. The heroine of the story, charmed by the three good fairies and cursed by Maleficient. She is raised as a peasant under the psuedonym, Briar Rose. Characterization : Kindly, humble, patient
Prince Phillip
Son of King Hubert. Meets Aurora while riding through the forest. Falls in love and runs away from his arranged marriage. Captured by Maleficient but escapes and awakens Aurora with the help of the fairies.Characterization : Kind, helper, knight, loving
King Stefan
Father of Aurora. Arranges her marriage to Phillip, son of his good friend King Hubert.Characterization : Kindly & helper
King Hubert
Stefan's good friend. Father of Phillip. Characterization : kindly & jovial
Maleficent
Evil fairy of the kingdom. Curses Aurora after not being invited to the celebration of the princess' birth. Captures Phillip and torments him. Tries to prevent Phillip from breaking her spell after he escapes by sending a forest of thorns around Stefan's castle and changing herself into a dragon to confront him.
Characterization : evil, bad, grumpy, sly
Flora
One of the three good fairies. Wears a red dress. The unofficial leader of the three fairies. She keeps trying to keep Aurora's gown pink. She was in charge of making Aurora's gown. Characterization: kindly & helper
FaunaOne of the three good fairies. Wears a green dress. Taller than the other fairies. she was in charge of making Aurora's birthday cake.
Characterization : kindly & helper
Merryweather
One of the three good faires. Wears a blue dress. Shorter and fatter than the other fairies. She keeps trying to turn Aurora's gown blue. She was Flora's model for the gown. Characterization : kindly & helper
Summary
When a new princess is born to King Stefan & his wife, the entire kingdom rejoices. At a ceremony, three good fairies - Flora, Fauna & Merryweather - bestow gifts of magic on the child. But an evil sorceress named Maleficent shows up, and because of a rude remark by Merryweather, she places a curse on the princess - that she will die on her 16th birthday after touching a poisoned spinning wheel. Merryweather tries to undo the damage by casting a spell that will allow the princess - named Aurora - to awake from an ageless sleep with a kiss from her true love. The fairies take Aurora to their cottage in the woods to keep her away from the eyes of Maleficent, and raise her as their own child, named Briar Rose. On her 16th birthday Aurora meets Prince Phillip, the son of a king whose own kingdom will soon merge with King Stefan's - and falls in love. Maleficent manages to kidnap the Prince and her horrible prophecy is fulfilled when she tricks Aurora into touching a spinning wheel created by Maleficent herself! Realizing that the Prince is in trouble, the 3 good fairies head to Maleficent's castle at the Forbidden Mountain, and spring the Prince loose. But the Prince soon finds himself up against Maleficent's army of brutes, and the power of Maleficent's evil spells - which include a thorn forest as thick as weeds around King Stefan's castle, and a fight against Maleficent when she turns herself into a dragon! Is the Prince strong enough to withstand the powers of the evil sorceress?
Moral leasing: goodness will always win
Love and goodness will conquer all
