A Retelling of Sleeping Beauty
Once, long ago, in a faraway, forgotten land, there was a kingdom. It was rather small and of no great renown. The king and queen of that land wished very dearly for a child, for they were without children. Soon, fate blessed them with a small daughter. When the child was born, they held a feast to celebrate their good fortune, where all were invited.
All the people of the kingdom rejoiced, and there was joy throughout the land. Even the good people from the Faerie kingdom came to congratulate the joyous couple. But one of the residents of the Faerie Kingdom did not join in the festivities. She was an old enchantress, one of the five Faerie Ladies of old from when the world was still young. She found the celebrations of the people to be a distraction and an irritation, and she wished to put a stop to it.
So, she left and did a very evil thing. She presented herself to the king and queen and said she felt such joy for the happy couple, and wished to give a gift to the girl. Three of the Faerie Ladies of old had already given their gifts of beauty, long life, and kindness, along with gifts of riches to the babe, so the king and queen thought there was no harm in granting this request from the ancient spirit.
She smiled in triumph, as her magic of this kind could only be done when allowed, and wove an enchantment over the young babe. At the time she came of age, she would find a spinning wheel, touch the spindle, and fall into an eternal slumber. She then left in triumph, knowing she would have her peace and quiet.
The fifth, and youngest of the Faerie Ladies, yet elder than man, had not given her gift. She was the most powerful of the five, and, wanting to undo what her older sister had done, wove an enchantment of her own. After the maiden had injured her finger so, she would fall into a deep sleep, yes, but she would be awakened by a kiss. Once she had been awakened, she and the man who had given the kiss would fall into a deep and true love. Until then, the entire kingdom would sleep while thorns grew up and swallowed the kingdom to keep it safe. When she awoke, all would awake with her.
After this, the four Faerie Ladies took their leave. The king and queen were with heavy hearts the rest of that day and every day until the princess came of age. The king gave orders for all spinning to be done in places set aside and under guard by men at arms in a hope to protect the princess.
But all this was to no avail. When the princess had come of age, she had grown into a beautiful, kind maiden, and was apt to wander about, unbeknownst to her parents. On that day she came of age, she came into the cottage of an old woman who had recently passed away. In that cottage she found a spinning wheel that had gone unnoticed all these years.
She sat down to try her hand at it, for she had seen her mother spin but never was allowed to do so herself. As she was trying to spin, she pricked her finger on the spindle, and at once she fell to the ground in a deep, deep slumber. All in the kingdom feel asleep in this moment, and slept heavily like their fallen princess.
Now in the Kingdom of Faerie, there were five still awake, everything else was asleep as well, so had the enchantment of the youngest of the Faerie Ladies worked. These five still awake were the five sisters.
“My enchantment has been worked,” said the youngest.
“I have felt it,” said the eldest.
“Our sister is still awake,” said the third.
“We must go and make sure the princess rests peacefully, for she will have fallen where she stood,” said the second youngest.
“That we should,” said the eldest.
“We should also make assurances that the prince does find her,” said the third.
“Since our sister does not slumber,” said the youngest. “Let us four weave an enchantment so that she falls into a slumber till the princess is awakened, for she may try to keep the princess asleep. Then we too, shall join our brethren in this world in sleep till the day comes.”
“So be it,” said the eldest.
“So be it,” said the third sister.
“So be it,” said the second youngest.
“We are in agreement then,” said the youngest.
“Let us now go,” said the eldest.
And so, they went off to the cottage where the princess now lay asleep. They picked her up and laid her on the bed. There they bid her rest peacefully till she was awoke. Then they departed and made their assurances that a prince would indeed be able to find the princess. Next, they wove the enchantment to put themselves and their sister to sleep.
Centuries passed, and still the princess, and all in the kingdom, slept. And the thorns still stood, never shrinking nor growing. She was protected, and rested peacefully, needing neither food nor drink.
Legends of this kingdom with its sleeping princess lived in other kingdoms and lands. For, when the celebration was being held for the birth of a daughter, people from other lands had come and then brought the tale of what had happened that day to their homes. These stories had been passed through the generations to the present day.
Now it came to happen that a prince had heard of these legends, and wished to find this sleeping maiden. He saddled his horse, slung his sword at his waist, called to his servant to accompany him, and set off. They rode for many days, and when they came upon a wall of thorns, they knew they had reached their destination.
The prince started to hack at the thorns. But the thorns only bent and dulled and finally shattered his sword, while showing not a scratch themselves. When looking around and seeing many such shattered swords, he despaired, but his servant spoke, saying, “look, sire, there in the thorns.”
The prince looked and sure enough, there hanging in the thorns, was a lantern, and upon the lantern something was inscribed. Inspecting it, the prince read what was written thereupon. It read, ‘reach and grab it only thou O pure of heart. Light it, and it will show you the way.’ He reached out and as his hand grasped the handle, a small but strong flame sprung to life. Next to it he saw a sword. This sword he placed in his own sheath and it was a perfect fit.
Holding the lantern aloft, he walked towards the tangle of thorns. They started writhing, and pulling away, forming a path. The prince and his servant walked along this path, with the thorns writhing away from the light of the lantern, and falling back into place behind them. Eventually, he found his way to the castle.
But to his despair, he did not find the sleeping princess. Rather, he found the people of the castle and the king and queen. Many days he searched the castle, but his searches were fruitless. Then his servant said, “Sire, let us search around the castle, we may not find anything, but what we have found so far do prove these legends to be true.”
“Yes, let us now go,” the prince replied..
But as he turned to leave the castle, the thorns pulled back gently, not writhing, to form a beautiful path. Both the prince and his servant looked at each other, then went along this new path. When they tried going a different way, the thorns writhed, but still moved out of the way. The prince picked up his pace and hurried along, knowing this was the right way to go.
The path led him to a small cottage near a forest. Going inside, he found, lying on the small bed, the sleeping princess. He bent down and gave her a kiss, as the legends said to, and she awoke suddenly. At once they feel into a true and lasting love. All the thorns receded into the ground, and all the inhabitants of this kingdom, whether man, beast, or of Faerie, were awakened.
It so happened that there was an ancient wyrm who had been sleeping for centuries before the enchantment had been worked ,and was now awakened by the same enchantment that had released everyone from their sleep. Once the wyrm was awake, he made his way through the kingdom, bringing fear and terror and destruction.
When the princess saw the wyrm, she was afraid. The prince remembered the sword he had taken, and knew what he must do. He drew his sword, and with unseen and unknown aid from the four good Faeries old, he went to do battle with the ancient wyrm. Eventually he overcame the great beast, and then all the people came and cheered and thanked him.
The Faerie Ladies returned to their land, for they wished to be back to the lives they held before their sister caused this trouble. The lantern disappeared when the thorns did, but the sword the prince hung in his great hall. The prince was wed to the princess, and they lived happily ever after.
The End,
God bless