Once upon a time, long ago, there lived a king and a queen. They very much wanted a baby. But it never happened. One day, while the queen was taking a bath, a frog suddenly appeared and said: “Your wish will come true, you will have a daughter!”
And yes, the frog’s prediction came true. They soon had a very beautiful baby. In honour of her birth, a great feast was celebrated, and the child was given fairy godmothers. But the king only had twelve golden plates, so he invited only twelve fairies. They gave the baby special gifts like Goodness, Beauty and Wisdom.
After eleven fairies had given their gifts, another fairy suddenly entered the room. She came to take revenge for not being invited. She was an angry fairy and called out in a loud voice:
“When the king’s daughter is fifteen, she will injure herself on a spinning wheel. Then she will drop dead.” Then she quickly rushed out of the room and everyone was very shocked. But fortunately, the twelfth fairy had not yet given anything to the child. She could not undo the evil spell, but she could make it a little less terrible. She said, “She will not die but she will sleep for 100 years.”
The king, of course, did not want this to happen and he quickly had all the spinning wheels removed. Meanwhile, all the wishes of the fairies came true. The king’s daughter became a good, beautiful, rich and clever young woman, and everyone loved her. On the evening before her fifteenth birthday, the King and Queen went out, and the Princess remained alone in the castle.
She wandered through the corridors and looked at all the rooms. She came to the old tower. She stepped through the small door and saw an old woman spinning in the tower room. “What are you doing?”, the princess asked. “I am spinning”, said the old woman. The princess liked it very much and reached for the spinning wheel. She wanted to try it. But when she touched the spinning wheel, the nasty spell came true. She pricked herself and fell into a deep sleep.
When the King returned, he took the Princess to the most beautiful room and laid her on a bed with gold-coloured blankets. With her pink cheeks she looked like a little angel. The king ordered that no one should disturb her. Then he sent the twelfth good fairy back to the palace and she put everyone in the palace to sleep. They would not wake up until the Princess had awakened. In the meantime, a great hedge of thorns grew around the palace, so you could only see the towers.
A hundred years later, a new king’s son travelled through the country. He heard the story of the beautiful king’s daughter Sleeping Beauty who had to sleep with her whole entourage for a hundred years. In those days, no one had managed to get into the castle. But the king’s son was not afraid. When he walked up to the castle, a miracle happened. The hedge of thorns changed into a great sea of beautiful flowers, and the trees and bushes automatically moved aside.
In the castle courtyard he saw sleeping dogs, horses, pigeons and the gatekeepers were also asleep. In the kitchen he saw the cook, and under the throne the king and queen were asleep. Everywhere he went he found sleeping animals and people.
Finally, he came to the tower room where he found Sleeping Beauty. On the bed lay the most beautiful girl the Prince had ever seen. He could not take his eyes off her and stooped to kiss her.
When he touched her, the spell of the evil fairy was finally broken. The princess woke up and laughed happily. “Are you my prince? I have waited so long for you!” During her long sleep, the good fairy had already sent her beautiful dreams of a prince.
Meanwhile, the other people and animals in the palace had also woken up. The dogs barked loudly, the horses shook their manes and the pigeons sat on the roof. And the cook went on preparing the meal.
The prince and the princess were very happy together even though the princess was a hundred years older. But fortunately, you could not tell at all!
Soon they married and lived happily ever after.
