Sleeping Beauty
Once upon a time, the king and queen in a faraway land had a little baby girl. They were so happy and all the bells in the land rang with joy.
Fairies from all over the kingdom were invited to a grand party to celebrate.
The fairies brought beautiful presents and blessed the little princess that she would grow up to be kind and helpful.
But a wicked old witch came to the palace.
“On your sixteenth birthday, you shall prick your finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and vanish forever!” the witch screamed.
Everyone was really shocked.
But a clever young fairy said, “I can’t stop the evil witch’s curse, but I’ll try to help. If the princess does touch a spindle, she won’t vanish but she will fall into a deep sleep for a hundred years. She will only be woken up by the kiss of a prince who loves her.”
The king and the queen were so worried for their dear daughter that they ordered all the spinning wheels of the kingdom to be broken up and burned.
But they didn’t know that one spinning wheel was left.
They wanted to be extra sure the princess would be safe. They asked the fairy, along with two other fairies, to take their precious baby far away.
They would look after her in their little cottage, deep in the woods until after her sixteenth birthday. Then it would be safe to bring her back to the castle.
The princess grew up not knowing anyone else except the three fairies. They were so much fun and she called the three of them her aunties.
She made friends with lots of the animals in the forest near the cottage. She loved to play with the birds and the deer, the rabbits and even the little mice.
From the time she was tiny, she was told she must not go too far away from the cottage. She didn’t mind. There were plenty of places for her to play.
The princess had grown to be a lovely, kind young girl. On her sixteenth birthday she was taken back to the castle. As you can imagine, the king and queen were so happy to see her. And she was very happy to see them, too!
After she had rested from her long journey she thought she would have a look around the castle. She found a secret room at the very top of the castle towers. Then she saw an old woman bent over a spinning wheel.
“Please can I have a try at that?” she asked politely.
But as soon as she touched the needle of the spindle, she fell to the ground in a very deep sleep. The witch’s spell had come true.
The king and queen were very unhappy now and ordered the servants to take her to the grand room where she would lie for many years.
The whole kingdom was sad for sleeping beauty. The fairy watched all this.
She waved her magic wand and said, “let the whole kingdom fall asleep with the princess so when she is woken by her prince, she won’t be alone.”
The moment she said all this, all the people and animals in the kingdom fell asleep just where they were. Everything just stopped.
As the years passed by, a great thick forest grew up around the palace, and the whole kingdom was hidden.
A hundred years later, a handsome prince was riding through the forest, and he found the strange kingdom.
While he explored the old castle he was amazed to find the princess lying fast asleep. The minute he saw her he fell in love with her. “I wonder who she is? How gentle and peaceful she looks!” he thought to himself.
He leaned down and kissed her hand.
Instantly, the spell was lifted and she blinked her eyes awake. Then all the other people in the castle woke up too. Then, everyone in the whole kingdom woke up.
All the people started to do what they had been doing when they had fallen asleep one hundred years before. The thorns and vines around the castle just melted away.
The king and queen were so very happy. And so was everyone in the whole kingdom. Once again, all the bells in the land were rung with joy.
The prince and princess were soon married, and they lived happily ever after.
The End
