Briar-Rose

A long time ago there lived a king and a queen who said every day, "Ah, if only we had a child!" But no child ever came. Then one day, when the queen was bathing, a frog crept out of the water onto the land and said to her, "Your wish shall be granted. Before a year has passed, you will bring a daughter into the world."

What the frog had said came true, and the queen gave birth to a little girl so beautiful that the king could hardly contain his joy, and he ordered a great feast. He invited not only his relatives, his friends, and his acquaintances, but also the Wise Women, so that they might be kind and gracious to the child. There were thirteen of them in his kingdom, but because he had only twelve golden plates for them to eat from, one of them had to be left at home.

The feast was held with all its splendor, and when it drew to a close, the Wise Women bestowed their magic gifts upon the child. One gave virtue, another beauty, a third riches, and so on with everything in the world that anyone could wish for.

When eleven of them had spoken their blessings, all at once the thirteenth stepped into the hall. She wished to take her revenge for not being invited, and without greeting anyone or even glancing at them, she cried aloud, "In her fifteenth year the king's daughter shall prick herself on a spindle and fall down dead." And without another word she turned around and left the hall.

Everyone was horrified. Then the twelfth, who still had her blessing to give, came forward. She could not undo the wicked curse, but only soften it, so she said, "It shall not be death, but a deep sleep of a hundred years, into which the king's daughter will fall."

The king, longing to protect his dear child from harm, gave the command that every spindle in the whole kingdom should be burned. Meanwhile, the gifts of the Wise Women were fulfilled in the girl, one and all, for she was so beautiful, so modest, so kind and clever, that everyone who saw her could not help but love her.

Now it happened that on the very day she turned fifteen, the king and queen were away from home, and the girl was left all alone in the castle. So she wandered about wherever she pleased, looking into rooms and chambers as she liked, and at last she came to an old tower. She climbed the narrow winding staircase and reached a little door. A rusty key stood in the lock, and when she turned it the door sprang open. 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, hopping about so merrily?" said the girl, and she took hold of the spindle and wanted to spin too. But scarcely had she touched it when the magic spell was fulfilled, and she pricked her finger with it.

In the very moment she felt the prick, she sank down upon the bed that stood there and lay in a deep sleep. And this sleep spread all across the castle. The king and queen, who had just come home and stepped into the great hall, began to fall asleep, and the whole court with them. The horses fell asleep in the stable, the dogs in the yard, the pigeons on the roof, the flies on the wall. Even the fire that was flickering on the hearth grew still and slept, the roast stopped sizzling, and the cook, who was just about to pull the hair of the kitchen boy for some little fault, let him go and fell asleep. And the wind died away, and on the trees before the castle not a single leaf stirred again.

But all around the castle a hedge of thorns began to grow, and every year it grew higher, until at last it closed round the whole castle and grew up over the top of it, so that nothing could be seen anymore, not even the flag on the roof. Yet the tale went about the land of the beautiful sleeping Briar-Rose, for so the king's daughter was called, and from time to time kings' sons came and tried to break through the hedge and into the castle.

But they could not, for the thorns held fast together as though they had hands, and the young men were caught in them, could not free themselves again, and died a miserable death.

After long, long years another king's son came to that land, and he heard an old man tell of the thorn hedge, and how behind it there was said to stand a castle in which a wonderfully beautiful princess called Briar-Rose had slept for a hundred years, and with her slept the king and queen and the whole court. He had heard too from his grandfather that many kings' sons had already come and tried to break through the thorny hedge, but had stuck fast in it and died a sorrowful death. Then the young man said, "I am not afraid. I will go and see the beautiful Briar-Rose." No matter how hard the good old man tried to talk him out of it, he would not listen.

But by now the hundred years had just passed, and the day had come when Briar-Rose was to wake again. As the king's son drew near the thorn hedge, it was nothing but great and beautiful flowers, which parted from one another of their own accord and let him through unharmed, and then closed behind him again like a hedge. In the castle yard he saw the horses and the spotted hunting dogs lying asleep; on the roof sat the pigeons with their heads tucked under their wings. And when he came into the house, the flies were asleep on the wall, the cook in the kitchen still held out his hand as if to grab the boy, and the maid sat before the black hen she was about to pluck.

He went on farther, and in the great hall he saw the whole court lying asleep, and up by the throne lay the king and queen.

Then he went farther still, and everything was so quiet that he could hear his own breath. At last he came to the tower and opened the door of the little room where Briar-Rose lay sleeping. There she lay, so beautiful that he could not turn his eyes away, and he bent down and gave her a kiss. As soon as his kiss touched her, Briar-Rose opened her eyes, woke, and looked at him ever so sweetly.

Then they went down together, and the king woke, and the queen, and the whole court, and they all looked at one another with wide eyes. The horses in the yard stood up and shook themselves; the hunting dogs sprang up and wagged their tails; the pigeons on the roof drew their heads out from under their wings, looked around, and flew off into the open country; the flies on the wall crawled on again; the fire in the kitchen rose up, flickered, and cooked the meal; the roast began to sizzle once more; the cook gave the boy such a box on the ear that he cried out; and the maid finished plucking the hen.

And then the wedding of the king's son and Briar-Rose was celebrated with all its splendor, and they lived happily to the end of their days.