{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_25451/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_25451","id":"gutenberg_25451","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25451","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Fairy tales","Folklore -- Germany"],"text":"Produced by Chris Curnow, Lindy Walsh, Emmy and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE SLEEPING BEAUTY\n\n\n\n\n\n_BOOKS ILLUSTRATED BY_\n\nARTHUR RACKHAM\n\n  CINDERELLA. 7s. 6d. net.\n\n  THE ALLIES' FAIRY BOOK. 7s. 6d. net.\n\n  ALICE IN WONDERLAND. 7s. 6d. net.\n\n  AESOP'S FABLES. 7s. 6d. net.\n\n  MOTHER GOOSE. 7s. 6d. net.\n\n  A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 7s. 6d. net.\n\n  THE SPRINGTIDE OF LIFE POEMS OF CHILDHOOD, by A. C.\n      Swinburne. 10s. 6d. net.\n\n  RIP VAN WINKLE. 10s. 6d. net.\n\n  UNDINE. 12s. 6d. net.\n\n  ARTHUR RACKHAM'S BOOK OF PICTURES. 21s. net.\n\n  THE RING OF THE NIBLUNGS. In Two Vols. Each 21s. net.\n\n  INGOLDSBY LEGENDS. 21s. net.\n\n  A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM. 21s. net.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n THE.SLEEPING\n   BEAUTY\n\n  TOLD.BY.C.S.EVANS\n  AND.ILLUSTRATED.BY\n   ARTHUR.RACKHAM\n\n\n  LONDON.WILLIAM.HEINEMANN\n  PHILADELPHIA.J.B.LIPPINCOTT.Co\n\n\n\n\nLONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN, 1920.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration: BRIAR ROSE]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: ONCE UPON A TIME]\n\n\n\n\nTHE SLEEPING BEAUTY\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\n\nONCE upon a time there were a King and a Queen who were very unhappy\nbecause they had no children. Everything else that the heart could wish\nfor was theirs. They were rich; they lived in a wonderful palace full of\nthe costliest treasures; their kingdom was at peace, and their people\nwere prosperous. Yet none of these things contented them, because they\nwanted a little child of their own to love and to care for, and though\nthey had been married several years, no child had come to them.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nEvery day the King would look at the Queen and say: \"Ah, if we only had\na little child,\" and the Queen would look at the King and sigh, and they\nwere both very miserable about it. Then they would put on their golden\ncrowns and sit side by side on their thrones, while lords and ladies\nand ambassadors from other lands came to pay them homage, and they had\nto smile with their lips for the sake of politeness, but there was no\njoy in their hearts. And that is one of the greatest disadvantages of\nbeing a King or a Queen, that one has always to hide one's feelings.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nNow it happened one day that the Queen went to her bath, and having\ndismissed her ladies, she descended the marble steps into the water\nand began idly to play with some wild rose-petals which had fallen into\nthe water. All of a sudden she heard a croaking voice that said: \"O\nQueen, be cheerful, for the dearest wish of your heart will be granted\nyou.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Who is that?\" cried the Queen, a little frightened, for she could see\nnobody.\n\n\"Look behind you,\" croaked the voice, \"and do not be afraid, for I come\nonly to bear you good tidings.\"\n\nSo the Queen looked behind her, and there was a great frog who looked at\nher with its big round eyes.\n\nNow the Queen was afraid of frogs, because they are cold and clammy, but\nshe was very polite by nature as well as breeding, so she did not show\nher dislike, though she could not help shrinking back a little.\n\n\"And do you tell me, Master Frog,\" said she, \"that I shall have the wish\nof my heart, and do you know what that wish may be?\"\n\n\"It is to have a little small child of your own,\" said the Frog; and the\nQueen nodded.\n\n\"Very well,\" the Frog went on, \"do you see the green leaves of that\nalmond tree on the branch by the window?\"\n\n\"I do,\" replied the Queen wonderingly.\n\n\"Those green leaves will fade,\" said the Frog, \"and the winter winds\nwill blow them away. Then the branch will be bare, but in spring-time,\nbefore the leaves come again, it will be covered with pink blossom, and\nthat blossom you shall show to a baby lying at your breast.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe Queen gave a cry of joy. A ray of sunlight came through the trees,\ndazzling her eyes so that she had to close them for a moment. When she\nopened them again the frog had gone, and nothing was to be seen but the\ndainty rose-petals floating on the surface of the water.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\n\nTHOSE were wonderful tidings to be spoken by a frog who came no one knew\nwhence and went no one knew whither. But the Queen believed that the\nprophecy would prove true, and she was right, for when the Spring time\ncame again and the almond blossom was pink upon the bough, she gave\nbirth to a little daughter who was so beautiful that nobody had ever\nseen her like.\n\nNow what joy there was in the hearts of everybody in the palace! The\nKing was so excited that he went into council in his dressing-gown\ninstead of his royal robe, and he did not care a bit when his courtiers\nsmiled. There was coming and going in all the halls and corridors.\nCouriers on swift horses were sent out to bear the glad news to the most\ndistant parts of the kingdom. All the bells in the churches were rung;\nflags were put out in the houses and streamers were hung across the\nroadways. Then the cannons were fired, bang, bang, bang, to tell the\npeople that everybody was to have a holiday, so that all, from the\nhighest to the lowest, might rejoice in their Queen's happiness.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Never was there such a beautiful child,\" said the King, looking down at\nhis little daughter as she lay in her mother's arms. He wanted very much\nto nurse her, but this could not be allowed, because men are so clumsy\nwith babies.\n\n\"What shall her name be?\" said the King. And he suggested all the\ngrandest names he could call to mind, for he thought that such a\nwonderful child must certainly have a name to suit. But the Queen would\nhave none of them.\n\n\"She shall be called Briar-Rose,\" said the Queen; and so it was\narranged.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nA few weeks later the christening took place. That was a splendid\nceremony to be sure, for all the lords and ladies of the kingdom were\npresent in their richest dresses, together with princes and ambassadors\nfrom distant countries. The little Princess was as good as gold all the\ntime. She did not cry once, but opened her big blue eyes and smiled at\nthe glittering company as though she understood everything that was\ngoing on.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nOutside the cathedral the roads were crowded with people waiting to see\nthe guests come and go. The carriages extended for nearly a mile, and as\nthey drove away, headed by the royal coach, in which the Queen sat with\nthe Princess Briar-Rose in her arms, the spectators took off their hats\nand shouted and cheered. Some of the little boys perched themselves on\nthe branches of trees and the lamp-posts in order to get a better view,\nand I have been told that there was one poor woman who saw nothing at\nall, because her boy tried to climb up to an inn sign, where he dangled\nin such a dangerous position that his poor old mother had to stand with\nher back to the procession, holding on to his legs in a terrible state\nof anxiety lest he should fall.\n\nAt the palace, a magnificent feast had been prepared.\n\nNow it was the custom in those days, when a King's child was christened,\nfor all the fairies in the country to be invited to the christening\nfeast. Each fairy was bound to bring a gift, so of course it stood to\nreason that the royal child would have everything that the heart could\npossibly desire.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThere were thirteen fairies in the King's realm, but one of them lived\nin a lonely place on the outskirts of the kingdom. There, for the last\nfifty years, she had shut herself up in a ruined tower with only a black\ncat to keep her company, and as she kept herself to herself, everybody\nhad forgotten her very existence. The result was that she was not\ninvited to the christening feast, and though she had nobody but herself\nto blame for this, she was very angry about it. The truth of the matter\nis that she was always a miserable, sour creature, with no love or\nkindness in her heart, and nobody missed her because she had never given\nanybody any reason to care for her.\n\nWell, the guests assembled in the banqueting hall of the palace and the\nfeast began.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\n\nTHE King and the Queen sat on a dais at the end of the banqueting hall,\nand above them in a little gallery there was a band of fiddlers and\nflute-players. On either side of the royal pair sat the twelve fairy\ngodmothers, six on the right hand and six on the left. In front of each\nfairy was a golden plate and a golden casket made to hold her knife,\nfork and spoon. These caskets were beautifully carved and engraved, and\neach one was of a different shape. One was in the form of a ship,\nanother of a shell, a third in the form of a castle with turrets, and so\non; nothing more beautiful could be imagined, for they had all been\nspecially made for the occasion by the cleverest goldsmiths in the\nkingdom, and they were the King's presents to the fairy godmothers. He\nfelt very proud when the fairies spoke admiringly of these caskets and\nsaid that they would be pleased to accept them.\n\nBelow the dais were six long tables for the guests, and there was only\njust room between the tables for the servants to pass, so you may judge\nhow crowded the room was. Such a glittering of silks, such a flashing of\njewels, such a dazzle and splendour had never been seen since the time\nof the King's coronation, and all the guests were laughing and talking\nmerrily. The court painter was there, of course, to make a picture of\nthe gorgeous scene, and was kept so busy sketching on his tablets that\nhe had no time to get any food, though probably he had a good meal\nafterwards.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnd the nice things there were to eat! There were:\n\n        Force-meat balls flavoured with rare spices from the East;\n        Sardines from Sardinia;\n        Tunny fish from the Mediterranean and Sturgeon from Russia;\n        Steaming boars' heads with lemons in their mouths;\n        Turkeys, peacocks and swans;\n        Ortolans;\n        Wonderful roasts and delicious stews;\n        Roe deer and Bears' hams;\n\n[Illustration]\n\n        Sweets in all sorts of curious shapes, as, for\n          instance, cakes like castles with little men\n          made of sweet-stuff for sentries on the\n          battlements, each complete in gilded armour and\n          with a halberd over his shoulder. (A rare\n          sight!) And eagles carved of ice hovering over\n          silver dishes filled with apricots.\n\nThen followed the smaller dishes:\n\n        Tiny cakes as white and delicate as ladies'\n          fingers;\n\n        Birds' nests made of spun sugar (and in the\n          nests were eggs of marsh-mallow, and in each\n          egg was a tiny chicken made of caramel!);\n\n        Figs and dates from the desert;\n\n        Other fruits, in and out of season;\n\n        Syrups and preserves fetched from the four\n          corners of the world;\n\n        Wines cooled in snow from the distant\n          mountains.\n\nOne might fill pages merely by setting down the names of all the\ndelicacies.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nEach dish was brought in by the servants in a kind of procession, headed\nby the Master-Cook, looking as grand and solemn as an archbishop, for he\nwas a grave and dignified person, and of course he had a great\nresponsibility. The guests were served by little page-boys of noble\nbirth, dressed in the liveries of their masters, and these pages handed\nthe dishes and the wines most politely on their bended knees as they had\nbeen taught to do.\n\nSo the guests enjoyed themselves, and the fiddlers played, and the King\nlaughed at everything everybody said, because he was in a mighty good\nhumour, and the bright afternoon sun, shining through the western\nwindows, lighted up the rich hangings on the walls, and flashed upon the\njewels on fair ladies' fingers, and fell upon the marble pavement in a\npool of gold.\n\nAnd then, you know, when the merriment was at its height, something\nhappened! There was a sudden cry, and a harsh voice, like the croaking\nof a raven, sounded through the room.\n\n\"Be merry, my lords and ladies,\" cried the voice. \"Laugh while you may,\nbut remember that tears may follow laughter.\"\n\nA hush fell upon all the brilliant assembly. The Queen turned pale and\nshuddered. The King rose hurriedly from his place, and he and all the\nguests turned to look at the strange figure that had suddenly appeared\nin the doorway.\n\nThey saw an old woman bent almost double with age, her grey head with\nmatted hair sunk deep between her shoulders. Her face was white and\ntwisted with anger, and her green eyes flashed spitefully.\n\nSlowly she advanced towards the dais, and stretching out her arm,\npointed her finger at the gold plates and the gold caskets set before\nthe fairy godmothers. \"There's one,\" said she, with a harsh laugh,\n\"there's two, there's twelve! Did you not know, O King, that there were\nthirteen wise women in your kingdom, and the thirteenth the wisest and\nmost powerful of all? Where, then, is the plate and the casket set for\nme?\"\n\nThe King began to make excuses, imploring the angry old fairy to forgive\nhim for his neglect, and begging her to sit down and join them in their\nfestivities. \"For,\" said he, \"I am sure you are very welcome.\"\n\n\"Is it so, indeed?\" said the thirteenth fairy. \"I am not too late, then,\nthough the feast is all but done. I shall eat off silver while my\nsisters eat off gold, and there is no curiously-shaped casket for me. No\nmatter, I am content, because I am in time, and I shall dower the\nPrincess with the gift which I have brought for her!\" And here the\nspiteful creature uttered another of her sneering laughs, which made the\nblood of all the guests run cold.\n\nBy dint of much coaxing the King at last managed to persuade her to sit\ndown, and the feast proceeded. But a chill had been cast over the\nassembly, and nothing was quite the same as it had been before. The old\ncrone muttered and mouthed over her food, now and again smiling to\nherself as though she were cherishing some secret and evil triumph. The\nother fairies cast anxious glances at her, for they feared her malice,\nand the youngest fairy of all, who happened to be seated at the end of\nthe table, presently rose up quietly from her place and, stealing away,\nhid herself behind the arras. And nobody saw her go, nor did a single\nperson remark upon her absence.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\n\nAND now came the time for the most important part of the ceremony, when\nthe fairy godmothers should declare their gifts to the royal child. All\nthis time the little Princess Briar-Rose had been quietly sleeping in\nher cradle in the nursery, watched over by an old servant who had tended\nher mother as a child. Now the King gave orders for the baby to be\nbrought into the banqueting hall. The guests ceased their laughter and\ntalk, and the musicians laid by their instruments.\n\nSo the sleeping child was brought and placed in her mother's arms. How\ntenderly she clasped the baby to her breast, bending over it as though\nto shield it from all harm. So sweet a sight should have touched the\nhardest heart, and indeed there was only one person in the room who\nremained unmoved, and that was the spiteful and jealous fairy, who\nlooked up and bared her yellow teeth in a sneering grin.\n\n\"Queen,\" said she, \"your face is pale and your lips tremble. What is it\nthat you fear on this day of the giving of gifts?\"\n\nBut the Queen shuddered and was silent.\n\nThen a fairy rose in her place and said--\n\n\"I will begin. My gift to the Princess Briar-Rose is the gift of Beauty.\nShe shall have eyes like stars, and hair as bright as the sunshine of\nthe spring day on which she was born, and cheeks as fresh and fair as\nthe petals of the flower from which she takes her name. None shall\nsurpass her in loveliness.\"\n\nThen the second fairy rose in her turn and said: \"After Beauty, Wit. The\nPrincess shall be cleverer than any ordinary mortal could ever hope to\nbe.\"\n\n\"I give her Virtue,\" said the third. And the Queen nodded her head and\nsmiled, for though she esteemed beauty and cleverness, she knew that\nneither was of any worth without goodness of heart.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSo all the fairies in turn named the gift which they had brought for\nBriar-Rose. The fourth said that whatever the Princess put her hand to,\nshe should do with the most exquisite grace; the fifth, that she should\nsing like a nightingale; the sixth that she should dance as lightly as\na fairy, and so on until she had nearly all the virtues and\naccomplishments which even a King might desire for his daughter. But as\nyet, the spiteful old fairy had not said a word.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAt last she rose and cast an evil glance round.\n\n\"Have you all finished?\" said she. \"Hear, then, my wish. On the day when\nshe reaches her fifteenth birthday, the Princess shall prick her finger\nwith the spindle of a spinning-wheel, and shall immediately die!\"\n\nThis terrible prophecy made the whole company shudder. The Queen gave a\ncry and hugged the sleeping baby still closer to her breast.\n\n\"No, no! Have pity!\" she cried. \"Call down your dreadful fate on my head\nif you will, but do not harm this innocent child.\"\n\nAt this mournful appeal there was hardly one of the guests who could\nkeep from tears, but the old crone only mumbled to herself as though she\nwere uttering a spell. Then the King leapt to his feet, his hand at the\njewelled hilt of the dagger that hung at his girdle. In another moment\nhe might have stretched the wicked creature lifeless at his feet, but\nbefore he could draw the weapon from its sheath, another voice arrested\nhim.\n\n\"Stay your hand, O King, lest even worse befall. No mortal may strike at\na fairy and go unpunished. And, for the rest, take comfort, for your\ndaughter shall not die!\"\n\nThen the twelfth fairy stepped out from behind the arras where she had\nbeen hidden. \"My gift is still to come,\" she continued. \"As far as I\ncan, I will undo the mischief which my sister has done. It is true that\nI have not the power to prevent altogether what she has decreed. The\nPrincess shall, indeed, prick her finger with the spindle of the\nspinning-wheel on the day when she attains her fifteenth year; but\ninstead of dying she shall fall into a deep sleep; and this sleep shall\nlast for a hundred years, and when that time is past, a King's son shall\ncome to waken her.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V\n\n\nSO the worst was averted, but the fate of the poor little Princess was\nstill terrible enough, and it was only to be expected that the King\nshould do his best to prevent the prophecy from coming to fulfilment.\n\nThe first thing he did was to summon all the magicians of his own and\nneighbouring countries, promising a rich reward to the one who could\nshow him a way to defeat the old fairy's malice. The magicians came in\nscores, some with long beards reaching to their feet, some without any\nbeards at all, some with bald heads, and some with matted hair that\nlooked as though it had not been combed for centuries. For days there\nwere so many magicians about the palace that they were commoner than\ncats, and it was impossible to enter any room without surprising one or\nthe other of them, sitting in deep reflection and looking as wise as\nonly a magician can look. But nothing came of their thinking, and one\nafter the other they gave up the task and departed, having first asked\nfor their travelling expenses.\n\nAt last there came a wizard who was wiser and more venerable than all\nthe rest, and when he heard what was required of him he said he would go\nhome and consult his secret books which contained the magic lore of all\nthe ages, and which had been written by the greatest of all the\nmagicians, Merlin himself.\n\nHome, then, he went, to his cell, which was in a rocky cliff on the side\nof a mountain, and having uttered the word of power which unlocked the\nmassive door, he entered and prepared to begin his researches.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nNow the books of magic lore which Merlin had written were in many\nvolumes, and everything in them was set down in alphabetical order, so\nthat it could be found easily. The old wizard, therefore, turned first\nof all to the word _Princess_. Five hundred pages were devoted to this\nsubject, and, truly, there was a great deal of very interesting\ninformation. As thus:--\n\n    PRINCESS: How to transform Goosegirl into.\n\n        Spell for causing Princess to be surrounded\n        with high walls of bronze, which may by no\n        means be broken down except by the notes of a\n        certain trumpet (_q.v._).\n\n(Now _q.v._ are the first letters of two magic words which are to be\nfound in all dictionaries and encyclopaedias to this day).\n\n     PRINCESS: Enchanted ring for.\n\n        A new and improved method by which she may be\n        changed into a fawn together with any members\n        of her family according to desire, and all of\n        them transformed back again into their proper\n        shape.\n\n     PRINCESS: An excellent device for causing a\n        Princess to grow tall or short by eating of a\n        mushroom, with directions how to find the place\n        where the mushroom grows, and precautions to be\n        taken lest by over-much nibbling she disappear\n        altogether.\n\nAnd so on. But there was never a word about how to prevent a Princess\nfrom falling into a charmed sleep through pricking her finger with the\nspindle of a spinning-wheel.\n\nSo when he had read all through the five hundred pages, the venerable\nwizard turned to the word _Sleep_, in the hope that he would meet with\nbetter fortune.\n\nAnd there was much reliable information under this heading also. There\nwere recipes for potent drugs which would cause sleep, and for still\nmore potent drugs which would prevent people from going to sleep, and\nwhen the wizard came to this last he cried out eagerly, for he thought\nthat he had succeeded in his quest, until he read on and discovered that\nthe spell described was only for use on wicked Queens who had shamefully\nill-used their step-children. It is very easy to make a mistake in\nmagic, for it is a most complicated science.\n\nBy the time he had read through the two hundred pages devoted to the\nword _Sleep_, the venerable wizard was very uneasy, but he was a\npersevering person and he did not abandon his endeavours. Merlin's wise\nbooks having failed him, he cast about for other means to learn what he\ndesired, and consulted his oracle.\n\nNow his oracle was a stuffed crocodile hanging from the ceiling, and a\nvoice came from it which told him to repeat the magic formula.\n\nThe magic formula is a sentence made up of all the sounds that are left\nout of ordinary speech, and it is a fearsome thing to listen to. It is\nalso very exhausting to say, and after the venerable wizard had repeated\nit, he was obliged to rest for several hours. Then he rose again and\ndrew pentagons on the rocky floor of his cave, and crossed triangles and\ncircles bordered with all the signs of the Zodiac. And he stood in the\nmiddle of the pentagons and the crossed triangles and the circles and\nwent through all sorts of strange and secret rites, but all to no\npurpose.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut still he would not give up trying; and he went to mysterious places\nin the woods and gathered strange herbs in the dark of the moon. And,\nreturning home, he cast the herbs into a brazier and they burnt with\nflames of many colours, giving out clouds of dense smoke and a most\nhorrible smell. Then, as these exercises did not bring him the result\nhe desired, he gazed into crystals and poured ink into the palm of his\nhand, and did all the other things that he had learnt to do in all the\nyears since he was apprenticed to magic as a very small boy.\n\nAnd just as he was going to give up the quest in despair, a thought came\ninto his head, and he cried aloud for joy, for he knew he had discovered\nwhat he sought. This shows how even the most difficult things may be\nattained by perseverance and patience.\n\nAt the top of his speed he hastened back to the palace and asked an\naudience of the King. This was immediately granted, for, to tell the\ntruth, the King was awaiting his return with considerable anxiety.\n\n\"Well,\" said he, \"have you succeeded in finding a way?\"\n\n\"I have,\" answered the venerable wizard. \"My arts have not failed me!\"\nAnd he handed the King a piece of parchment on which were written the\nfollowing words. They were written in Latin to make them look more\nimportant, but very likely it was not good Latin, for the venerable\nwizard had been apprenticed to his trade at an early age, and in\nconsequence his classical education had been somewhat neglected. But\nthis was the meaning of them:\n\n        Shall spindle prick?--then spindle burn,\n        No thread weave and no wheel turn;\n        If there's no spindle and there's no wheel,\n        Then no finger the spindle can feel.\n\nThe King slapped his thigh for joy. \"Why, of course!\" said he. \"How is\nit that I did not myself think of such a simple solution? It seems to\nme, Wizard, that you have easily earned your thousand crowns!\"\n\n\"Ah, Majesty,\" the wizard made answer, \"all things are simple when once\nyou know them.\"\n\nAnd in this he was quite right.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\n\nTHE King lost no time in putting the wizard's counsel into effect. The\nvery next day he caused a proclamation to be written, and ordered copies\nof it to be fixed on all the church doors, and in all the public places\nof every town in his kingdom. This is the way the proclamation read:\n\n[Illustration:\n\n  WHEREAS a certain malicious fairy, forgetful of the\n    duties she owes to the most high and puissant King\n    and Queen, rightful sovereigns of these realms, and\n    to the Princess Briar-Rose, their dearly loved daughter,\n    has, of malice aforethought, and with intent to work\n    grievous bodily harm to the person of the said Princess,\n    in the presence of the said most puissant Sovereigns\n    and of divers of their loyal subjects made and uttered\n    a prophecy, to wit: that the said Princess shall in her\n    fifteenth year prick her finger with the spindle of a\n    spinning-wheel, and that a certain dire misfortune\n    shall fall upon her because of that injury, to the sorrow\n    of her loving parents: NOW BE IT DECREED\n    That all spinning-wheels or instruments of spinning\n    whatsoever, in the possession of any subjects of the\n    King's most excellent Majesty, whether they be\n    worked by hand or by treadle or by any other device,\n    together with all spindles, shuttles, bobbins, and all\n    other accessories or appurtenances thereunto belonging,\n    shall forthwith be rendered up to the officers of the\n    King's most excellent Majesty appointed to receive\n    them. AND BE IT FURTHER DECREED\n    That if any person or persons fail to observe or obey\n    this edict or ordinance by unlawfully retaining any\n    instrument of spinning or accessory thereunto, such\n    persons shall be dealt with according to the full rigour\n    of the law, and shall suffer the penalty of death.\n\n                     Given under our royal hand and seal.]\n\nThe issue of this proclamation caused a great deal of interest and\nexcitement throughout the kingdom. All the people came out of their\nhouses to gaze at it, for they had never seen its like before, and\nthough very few of them knew how to read they realised that it must mean\nsomething very important. So they sent for clerks and scholars to read\nit to them, paying a penny apiece for the service, which pennies, the\nclerks and scholars, being usually extraordinarily needy persons, were\nvery glad to earn. It usually took about three hours to read the\nproclamation and to explain it; and one must admit that it might have\nbeen expressed in fewer words. To do so, however, would not have been\ndignified, for this proclamation was what is called a legal instrument.\n\nThe very next day into each town and village of the kingdom the King's\nofficers came riding. Before them went a trumpeter who stopped at the\nhead of each street and blew a loud call. Having thus commanded\nattention he marched past the houses calling in a loud voice:\n\n\"Bring out your spinning-wheels. Bring out your spinning-wheels!\"\n\nSo the people brought them out, not without grumbling, for a\nspinning-wheel is a very useful thing to have in a house, and in those\ndays people spun and wove their own cloth to make their clothes. But\nthey were afraid to disobey the King's order.\n\nAnd the spinning-wheels were of all shapes and sizes, some of them new\nand some of them hundreds of years old, and there was hardly a house\nthat did not possess one of some kind or another. They were all\ncollected together and loaded into waggons and taken to the capital,\nwhere they were piled up into an immense heap in the public square.\n\nThen the King and Queen and all the court came out and watched while the\nbig heap was set on fire. The people came out to watch too in their\nthousands, and a very fine sight it was to see the enormous flames\nshooting up into the air and to hear the crackle and hiss of the burning\nwood that sounded like the discharge of a hundred muskets.\n\nThe King laughed aloud in his relief, and even the Queen smiled, while\nthe little Princess Briar-Rose, who was held up to a window of the\npalace to see the bonfire, stretched out her arms to the pretty flames\nand crowed. But the people were not very much amused by the sight\nbecause they were their spinning-wheels which were being burnt.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"I've had my wheel for twenty years,\" said one woman, \"and now I've none\nat all, and how on earth I can get along without it I don't know, with\nsix growing lads to find breeches for!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Five silver crowns my wheel cost my good man last Candlemass,\" said\nanother, \"and there it goes up in flames and smoke.\"\n\n\"What is a wheel if the burning of it saves our little Princess?\" quoth\na third. \"Come, cheer up, Mother, the King has reason for what he does\nand he will not see us want.\"\n\nAnd this man was right. The King had no wish to oppress his subjects,\nfor no sooner was the pile reduced to ashes than he caused another\nproclamation to be issued, saying that the owner of every spinning-wheel\nshould be paid for its loss. And not only so, but the King told his\nmerchants to buy spun yarn from neighbouring countries so that the\npeople might be able to weave, even though they could not spin.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII\n\n\nTHE little Princess Briar-Rose, of course, knew nothing of the strange\nevents that had happened at the feast of her christening, and the King\ngave orders that nobody should even mention the subject to her. It is\nnot a pleasant thing to know that the fairies have decreed that one\nshall fall asleep for a hundred years on one's fifteenth birthday, even\nthough one is to be awakened by a handsome Prince at the end of that\ntime. So all the lords-in-waiting and the ladies-in-waiting had to be\nvery careful and discreet. If they told the Princess a story, they had\nto keep the word \"spinning\" out of it; and if they showed her a book\nthey had to take pains to see it did not contain a picture of a\nspinning-wheel, or any reference to a distaff or spindle, lest she\nshould ask what they were. The King's Customs officers, on the\nboundaries of the kingdom, had to examine every waggon-load of\nmerchandise that came into the country for fear it should contain a\nspinning-wheel; and if anybody was found trying to smuggle one in he was\nbrought before the judges and punished.\n\nBy these devices the King felt certain that he had averted the fate laid\nupon his daughter.\n\nBut the promises of the other wise women were fulfilled to the letter,\nfor the young Princess grew up to be the most beautiful, gifted and\ngracious maiden in all the world. That, at any rate, was what everybody\nin the palace said, from the lords and ladies down to the scullions in\nthe kitchen, and although people are inclined sometimes to flatter\nRoyalty, in this case there was reason for their admiration.\n\nTo begin with, the Princess was as lovely as a spring morning, with eyes\nof the purest, softest blue, and hair in which the rays of the sun\nseemed to be entangled. When she came into a room people stopped\nwhatever they were doing to look at her, and everyone felt happier\nbecause she was there.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnd her cleverness! She never had any trouble with her letters or her\nmultiplication table. She could cipher as easily as she could spell; she\nknew the history of her own country and of every country round it; and\nnobody could puzzle her with the hardest question in geography. She\ncould sew and embroider, and knit and paint and draw; she could repeat\npoetry in five different languages; she studied mathematics and botany\nand astronomy and even law. In short, there was no end to her knowledge,\nand all because she had those fairies for her godmothers.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBesides this, there were all her other accomplishments; she could play\non all sorts of musical instruments, as, for instance, fiddle and\nzither, large harp and jew's-harp, church organ and mouth organ, flute\nand penny-whistle, and even on the nursery comb; she could sing like a\nnightingale and dance like a fairy.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnd yet she was never conceited or puffed-up, as some good-looking and\naccomplished people are apt to be. On the contrary, she was always\nsweet-tempered and modest, and for this reason she was loved. People may\nadmire good looks and a graceful deportment, and they may respect\nability, but it is only sweetness of nature and goodness of heart that\ncan win love. And these things were the gift of the third fairy.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSo the years passed, and at last came the day when the Princess\nBriar-Rose was fifteen years of age.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWhat a day that was! Everybody came to wish her many happy returns, and\nshe had so many presents that at least a dozen servants were kept busy\nunwrapping the parcels. The King gave her a white pony with a saddle of\nred velvet, and bridle and stirrups of gold, while the Queen's present\nwas a beautiful and costly necklace of pearls. Even the boy who turned\nthe spit in the kitchen brought her something, and though it was only a\nlittle wooden shoe which he had carved with his own hands, the Princess\nprized it just as much as though it had been made of gold.\n\nThe only person who was not happy on the Princess's birthday was the\nQueen, and she went about with a pale face and a look of great anxiety.\n\n\"Come, come, my love,\" said the King, \"what is the matter with you?\nSurely you are not thinking of that foolish old prophecy!\"\n\n\"How can I help thinking about it?\" the Queen answered. \"I have not been\nable to get it out of my mind for fifteen years, and now that the day\nhas come I am afraid.\"\n\n\"Make your mind easy,\" said the King. \"Nothing is going to happen. Why,\nthere's not a spinning-wheel within a hundred miles. I have taken good\ncare of that!\" And he went away chuckling, to attend a meeting of his\nCabinet. But the Queen shook her head.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nNow while the King and Queen were talking, the Princess Briar-Rose was\nwandering about in the castle, visiting room after room, as she had done\nmany times before. The castle was so big that a stranger might easily\nhave been lost in its maze of stairways and corridors, but Briar-Rose\nknew every part of it quite well, from the great kitchens below ground,\nwhere on feast days a score of cooks prepared the dinner for hundreds of\nguests, to the topmost turret above the battlements, where the sentries\nkept watch with their pikes on their shoulders. There was only one part\nof the castle which Briar-Rose had never explored, and that was an\nancient tower which rose from the eastern end. The door of that tower\nwas always locked, and although the Princess had often tried to find\nthe key she had never succeeded. The servants told her that the tower\nhad not been inhabited for nearly a hundred years, and it had never been\nentered within the memory of anybody in the castle.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTo-day Briar-Rose flitted restlessly from place to place. She peeped\ninto the kitchen and saw the kitchen boys turning the spits on which\nwhole oxen were being roasted. Then she went into the empty throne room\nand saw the golden thrones side by side upon the dais, and the rich\ntapestry, glowing with all the colours of the rainbow, on the walls.\nAfter that she mounted to the battlements from which she could see over\nmiles and miles of her father's kingdom, and not content with that, she\nran up the staircases into the turrets and looked through their narrow\nslits of windows upon the courtyard below, so far down that the people\nwalking therein seemed no bigger than mice. And then she came down again\nand continued her wanderings, searching in all sorts of out-of-the-way\ncorners, until at last she found herself before the door of the ancient\ntower into which she had never been. And as she looked at the door, she\ngave a start of surprise and then a cry of joy.\n\nThere was a key in the lock.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII\n\n\nIT was a rusty key, and Briar-Rose was afraid that she might not be able\nto turn it, but to her surprise it turned quite easily. The heavy door\nswung inward on its ancient hinges with many a creak and groan, and she\nfound herself in a little dark room thickly carpeted with the dust of\nyears. From this room a winding staircase led upward, and Briar-Rose was\njust about to climb the stair when a sudden noise made her start back in\nalarm.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n_Whirr!_ There was a beating of wings, a flurry and a scuffle, and past\nher face flew a dark shape, with gleaming, yellow eyes. It was only an\nowl who was hiding in the tower out of the sunlight, but he gave poor\nBriar-Rose a great fright, and she was in two minds whether to turn back\nor not, but the winding staircase looked very inviting and she wanted to\nsee whither it led, so gathering up her skirts to avoid any creepy\nthings that might be crawling about, she ran up the stairway as fast as\nshe could, round and round until she reached the top. There she came\nupon another door.\n\nIn this door also was a rusty key, and Briar-Rose turned it as easily as\nshe had turned the first. Then she pushed open the door and entered.\n\nShe found herself in a small room lighted by narrow windows. Beneath one\nof these windows was a couch, and in front of it sat an old woman with a\nspinning-wheel.\n\n\"Good-morrow, Motherkin,\" said the Princess. \"What are you doing?\"\n\n\"I am spinning, my pretty child,\" answered the old woman without ceasing\nher work.\n\n\"Spinning?\" asked the Princess. \"Oh, do let me see! What is that thing\nwhich goes round so merrily?\"\n\n\"That is the spinning-wheel,\" said the old woman. \"Why, child, you speak\nas though you had never seen such a thing before.\"\n\n\"Indeed, I have not,\" said the Princess. \"How interesting it is! I\nwonder whether I could do it as well as you. Will you let me try?\"\n\n\"Why, of course,\" said the old woman, \"every young girl should know how\nto spin. Here you are, my dear,\" and she gave Briar-Rose the spindle.\n\nNow whether the Princess in her eagerness to seize the spindle grasped\nit too roughly, or whether it was just because the fairy had ordained\nthat it should be so, I do not know, but anyhow the sharp iron point\npricked her hand, and immediately she fell backward on to the couch in a\ndeep sleep.\n\nAnd in that very moment sleep fell upon every man, woman and child in\nthe castle, and upon every living thing within its gates. The King, who\nwas sitting at the Council-board with his ministers, stopped speaking in\nthe middle of a sentence, and remained with his mouth open, in the act\nof uttering a word, and nobody remarked the strangeness of his conduct,\nfor all his ministers were asleep too, just as they sat. Outside the\ndoor the sentry leaned upon his pike. In the Queen's chamber the\nladies-in-waiting fell into a profound slumber in the very midst of what\nthey were doing--one as she was hemming a handkerchief, another over her\nembroidery, still another while she was talking to her parrot. The Queen\nslept in her chair, and a little page-boy who was singing fell asleep in\nthe middle of a note.\n\nAll through the castle the charmed slumber spread. Courtiers, officers,\nstewards, cooks, errand-boys, soldiers, beadles,--nay the very horses in\nthe stables and the dogs in their kennels were stricken motionless as\nthough they were dead. The flies ceased to buzz at the windows and the\npigeons to coo upon the roof. In the great kitchen the scullions fell\nasleep as they were washing up the dishes, and a cook in the very act of\nboxing the ears of a kitchen-knave.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut not for a hundred years would he feel that blow, or be able to utter\nthe cry that was on the tip of his tongue. The dog fell asleep under\nthe table as he was gnawing a bone; the cat in front of a mouse-hole,\nthe mouse itself on the other side of the skirting-board, with its\nlittle sharp nose outstretched to sniff the air suspiciously. Even the\nspits which were turning at the fire, laden with partridges and\npheasants cooking for the Princess's birthday feast--even they ceased to\nturn, and the very fire stopped flickering and the flames sank down.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nA deep silence fell over the castle. In the fields the lambs ceased to\nbleat, the horses to neigh and the cows to low. The birds in the trees\nwere silent. One moment the air was full of the music of their\ntwittering; the next, all was as still as in a desert. The very wind\ndropped to sleep in the woods; not a leaf stirred, and the white clouds\nwere motionless in the sky.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nSo sleep fell upon the enchanted castle and upon all within it, because\nof the Princess Briar-Rose, who lay there on her couch in the ancient\ntower waiting till the hundred years should be past and the Prince\nshould come to waken her.\n\nAnd all round the castle there grew up a hedge of thorn, tangled with\nivy, woodbine and creeping plants, so dense that from a distance it\nseemed like a little wood. Higher and higher it grew, closing round the\ncastle like a wall until all that could be seen was the top of the\nhighest tower, and the flagstaff from which the royal standard hung limp\nand motionless.\n\nAnd the years went by, each with its changing seasons. Spring came and\nbrought to the fields and woods outside the new life of leaf and flower.\nThe trees awoke from their winter sleep and clothed themselves\ngloriously in green; the birds began to sing again and the swallows and\nmartins built their nests under the eaves; children laughed and clapped\ntheir hands because they were happy in the bright sunshine, and old\npeople felt their hearts filled with joy when they saw the mist of\nbluebells in the woods and the daffodils dancing in the breeze.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut within the thorn hedge no life stirred, and neither flower nor tree\nanswered the call of spring.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAs time went on, the people who were young when the palace was enchanted\ngrew old and died, but they never forgot the prophecy that one of these\ndays the sleeping Princess should awaken; and they told the story to\ntheir children, who told it in their turn, changing it a little because\nit was only a tale to them. And so, after many years, the legend spread\nabroad to neighbouring countries, and many a young prince dreamed that\nit was he who was destined to break the spell and waken the sleeping\nPrincess.\n\nNow and again one would take the quest upon him and try to force his way\nthrough the thick hedge. But no one succeeded. The sharp thorns gripped\nthe unhappy young men like clutching hands, and held them fast, so that\nthey could neither go forward nor back, and they perished miserably.\nTheir bones, whitened by the sun and wind, remained there as a warning\nfor all to see, and the creeping plants grew over them.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX\n\n\nA HUNDRED years passed away. At the end of that time it happened one day\nthat a young Prince who was hunting in the neighbourhood caught sight of\nthe towers of the enchanted castle rising above the dense forest. He had\nnever been in that part of the country before, and had heard nothing of\nthe story of the Sleeping Princess, so he asked the first people he met\nwhat those towers were, and to whom the castle belonged.\n\nEverybody told him a different tale. One said that it was an old castle\nhaunted by spirits; another, that it was a meeting-place for all the\nwitches and sorcerers in the land, who gathered there to practise their\nsecret rites.\n\n\"No, no,\" said a third. \"That castle is the home of a giant, and all the\npeople in these parts are very much afraid of him, so I have been told,\nbecause he steals their cattle and their crops, and even carries off\ntheir children to be his servants. And they cannot go to the rescue of\nthose he has imprisoned in this way, because of the forest all round the\ncastle, which is so dense that nobody can force his way through.\"\n\nAnd so they went on, one saying one thing, and one another, for each\nrepeated what he had heard. At last an old peasant stepped forward.\n\n\"Fifty years ago, my Prince,\" said he, \"my father told me the story of\nthat castle, and since he was born in these parts, I think it was the\ntrue story, and I will tell it you if you would like to hear it.\"\n\nThe Prince nodded eagerly, and the old man went on:\n\n\"My father said that years before he himself was born a King and Queen\nlived in the castle with their daughter, the most beautiful Princess\nthat ever was seen. In some way or other they angered the fairies, who\nput a spell upon the place and upon every one within it, so that they\nfell into a deep sleep. My father said that this sleep would last a\nhundred years, but at the end of that time a King's son should come and\nwaken the beautiful Princess and make her his bride.\"\n\nWhen the young Prince heard these words he felt his heart beat quickly.\nSomething seemed to tell him that he and no other was the King's son who\nwas destined to remove the spell, and he cried: \"Show me the way to the\ncastle, for I will take this adventure upon me.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut the old man shook his head. \"I have not yet told you all, my Prince.\nMany are the young men who have tried to force their way through the\nthick wood that guards the enchanted castle. Each of them thought that\nhe, and he alone, was destined to awaken the Sleeping Beauty, and each\nof them set out with high hopes; but none of them all came back, and\ntheir bones, whitened by the wind and rain, lie among the thorns of the\nthick hedge, a fearful warning to the venturesome. I pray you,\ntherefore, my Prince, do nothing rash, but think well before you take\nupon yourself this perilous quest.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"What,\" cried the Prince with flashing eyes, \"shall I hold back when\nothers have dared? This very hour I will attempt to enter the castle,\nand if I do not return, carry home the news of how I have died.\"\n\nThen without paying any heed to the words of those who would prevent him\nfrom rushing into such danger, the eager young man set out, his heart on\nfire with thoughts of love and glory. Nobody showed him the way, but he\ncould see the towers of the castle rising above the distant wood, and\nwhen he entered the wood itself, and the towers were hidden, each path\nhe took led him nearer to the place where he would be.\n\nAt last he came to an open glade, and there before him was a tangled\nhedge of thorn, stretching in either direction as far as the eye could\nsee.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X\n\n\nAND now, as the Prince drew nearer, he could see that the story he had\nheard about that terrible place was true, for held in the tangle of\nbriar were the bones of many unhappy young men who had tried to force\ntheir way through to the castle. Rags and tatters of their finery hung\nupon the great thorns that pointed menacingly like sharp claws. Here and\nthere upon the ground beneath lay pieces of rusty armour, a helmet\nsurrounded by a coronet of gold that once had belonged to a King's son,\na shield with a Prince's device, a sword with jewel-encrusted hilt worth\na King's ransom. There they lay, all disregarded among the blanched\nbones upon the grass, and the ground-ivy spread out its leaves to cover\nthem.\n\nNot a sound broke the deep and awful silence. No bird sang, no insect\ndroned; there was no scurry of woodland creatures among the leaves, no\nsigh of wind in the trees. In all that place only the thorn hedge seemed\nthreateningly alive, waiting to destroy the intruder who should attempt\nto force the secret it guarded.\n\nWho would blame the Prince if for a moment his heart had almost failed\nhim? There was no gap in that hedge, and the great thorns were sharp as\ndagger blades to stab his flesh. But if the Prince hesitated it was not\nfor long. \"Have I come so far to turn back now?\" he thought. \"These\nothers who have died were brave men, and though they failed, with a\ncourage as great as theirs I may succeed.\" And without wasting another\nmoment the Prince began to force his way through the hedge.\n\nAnd now he noticed with surprise that those thorns which looked so sharp\nand cruel became soft as thistledown as soon as he touched them, and the\ntrailing bramble branches did not entangle him but bent aside at his\ntouch as though they had been stems of grass. The hedge opened before\nhim, and as he went through it pink blossoms of wild roses bloomed on\nthe branches, until the tangled wall became a mass of flowers.\n\nAt last the Prince found himself on the other side of the hedge in the\ngardens of the castle. Before him he could see the high towers and\nturrets bathed in the fresh light of the morning sun, and as he hastened\ntowards them he noticed that the gardens were as trim and tidy as though\nthey had just been tended by the gardeners. There was no moss or weed\nupon the smooth paths, the turf on the lawns was as short and firm as\nthough it had just been mown, and in the flower-beds everything was in\nthe most careful order. Spring flowers were blooming there, but they\nbowed their heads upon their stalks, and even the trees seemed to hang\ntheir arms as though asleep.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nEverywhere there was the same deep silence. The air, which should have\nbeen full of the twittering of birds, was heavy and languorous. There\nwas no flutter of butterfly-wings or darting of flies; the fountains on\nthe lawns were not playing, and as the Prince glanced over the edge of\nthe marble basin of one of them he could see the goldfish beneath the\nwater-lily leaves lying still, with never a wave of the tail or flicker\nof fin.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSo he went on over the lawns and terraces and never a waking thing did\nhe see, but when he came to the courtyard he saw a soldier standing\nthere, leaning on his pike with his head bent upon his chest. At first\nthe Prince thought that he was dead, but his cheek was fresh and ruddy\nand it was quite plain to see that he was merely asleep. In the\ncourtyard itself were other human forms, all still and silent. A row of\npikemen leaned against the wall and in front of them, stretched out upon\nthe ground, snored the sergeant who had been drilling them when the\nspell came upon the castle. A young squire, with a sleeping hawk upon\nhis wrist, slept leaning against a sleeping horse which he had been\nabout to mount. Near by lay a page with a hound in leash, both sleeping\nas soundly as though they never would awake, and through a window in the\nstables the Prince saw a groom lying with a straw in his mouth.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nIn the stables themselves a like condition of things prevailed. The\nhorses slept at their stalls with their noses to the mangers, standing\non their four legs just as they were when they were enchanted a hundred\nyears before, and on the back of one of them sat the stable-cat. Here\nand there upon the ground lay grooms and ostlers, fast asleep among the\nstraw.\n\nFrom the stables the Prince made his way to the great kitchen where he\nsaw equally strange sights, and he could not help smiling when he came\nupon the cook with her hand still outstretched to clout the head of the\nunhappy scullion whom she had by the ear. Before the fires hung the\nspitted partridges and fowls that were cooking for the Princess's\nbirthday feast, and at the table a maid had fallen asleep with her hands\nin a large trough full of dough. She had been making the pastry for a\npie when the sleep fell upon her, and by her side was another maid who\nhad been plucking a black hen. At the sink a kitchen-knave was leaning\nover the pot he had been scouring.\n\nThen the Prince went out into the great hall and saw the courtiers\nasleep in the window alcoves, or stretched out upon the polished floor.\nEverywhere was a silence so profound that the Prince was almost alarmed\nto hear his own breathing, and the beating of his heart sounded like a\nmuffled drum. On and on he went, through rooms and corridors, up\nstaircases and down staircases, into the Queen's chamber where he saw\nthe Queen and her ladies as still and silent as the rest; one of those\nladies had been reading to the Queen at the moment when the charmed\nsleep fell upon the castle, and the book, a History of Troy, still lay\nopen on her lap. Then the Prince went into the King's room where his\nMajesty sat with his ministers of state round the Council board. He\nalmost lingered there, for it was very curious to see those nobles as\nquiet and motionless as though they had been waxworks in a show. Some of\nthem were frowning as though in deep thought, and some smiling as though\nthey had suddenly remembered something clever to say. The King himself,\nat the head of the Council table, had evidently fallen asleep in the\nvery midst of a speech, for his arm lay outstretched on the table with\npointing finger, and, by his side, his secretary's fingers still held\nthe pen with which he was inscribing on a roll of parchment the royal\nwords.\n\nSo the Prince hurried through the castle from top to bottom until he had\nglanced into every room and opened every door. And still he knew that\nthere was something more to see, for nowhere had he come across the\nsleeping Princess. Many maidens he had seen of surpassing beauty, but\nhis heart told him that none of them all was the maiden whom he had come\nto awaken.\n\nDown he went into the courtyard again and found another stairway which\nled to the battlements. There stood the watchmen whose duty it was to\nlook out over the country and report the arrival of travellers, but\nthey, too, were all asleep, though one of them had his horn in his hand\nas though he had been about to blow it when he was suddenly overcome by\nthe charmed slumber.\n\nFrom the battlements the Prince climbed, in turn, into each of the\nturrets, but there was nobody in them at all, and no living thing except\nthe owls asleep in the crevices of the walls, and the bats that hung\nhead downward from the rafters. Now only one small turret remained to be\nexplored. It was the oldest of the turrets, almost a ruin, and plainly\nlong unused, for the iron door was rusty and the ivy trailed about the\nwalls.\n\nThe Prince approached it with a beating heart, for there he knew he\nshould find what he sought. He threw open the creaking door; with\nimpatient feet he mounted the crazy, winding stair, opened the door at\nthe top and entered a little dark room.\n\nAnd then--and then he started forward with a cry of joy and wonder, for\nlying on the couch below the narrow window he saw the Princess.\n\nShe was lying upon a couch with her lovely hair spread out like a stream\nof gold; and, oh! no words can tell how beautiful she was. Softly the\nPrince came near and bent over her. He touched her hand; it was warm as\nin life, but she did not stir. No sound of breathing came from her\nparted lips, fresh and sweet as the petals of a rose; her eyes were\nclosed.\n\nFor a long time the Prince stood and gazed upon her, for never in all\nhis life had he seen a maiden so lovely. Then suddenly he bent down and\nkissed her lips.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThat was the end of the enchantment. The Princess's eyelids quivered;\nlanguidly she moved her head and stretched out her arms. Her eyes opened\nand she smiled.\n\n\"Is it you, my Prince?\" she said. \"How long you have kept me waiting!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI\n\n\nIN that very moment the charm was broken and the castle awoke.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nInstead of the profound silence there came a hustle and confusion of\nnoise. Clocks began to strike, doors began to slam, dogs began to bark,\ncocks began to crow and hens to cluck; a breeze sprang up outside and\nset the branches of the trees swaying and creaking; the doves began to\ncoo upon the roofs, the swallows to twitter under the eaves, flies came\nout and buzzed about the window, mice squeaked in the wainscot and ran\nscampering along the rafters. The fountain in the garden leapt up sixty\nfeet into the air, and the goldfish swam among the water-lily leaves;\nants left their nests and foraged about the paths, the butterflies\ndanced and fluttered over the flowers, which lifted their heads as\nthough to drink in the rays of the sun. In every tree in the garden a\nthrush woke up and began to sing; sparrows chirped, jays screamed,\nblue-tits chattered, and the chiff-chaff uttered his strange note. In\nthe woods a cuckoo called and blackbird fluted to blackbird in the\nhedge. In the stables the horses awoke and champed at their stalls; the\ncat jumped down and ran after a mouse which crept out from under the\nstraw. The sentry at the courtyard gate woke up and rubbed his eyes and\ncame smartly to attention, looking round uneasily, for he thought he had\nonly been asleep for a few minutes and was afraid that somebody might\nhave seen him who would report him to the sergeant. The pikemen also\nwoke with a start, and the sergeant woke too, and bellowed an order in a\nloud and angry voice, for he was ashamed of himself for sleeping in\nfront of his men. The young squire who was going hawking fitted his\nfalcon's hood and mounted his steed; the page-boy with the hound went\noff to his master. On the topmost tower of the castle the royal\nstandard, which had been drooping against the flagstaff, filled out and\nwaved freely in the breeze.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe hedge which had grown up to surround the enchanted castle broke in\nand disappeared; peacocks squalled and strutted on the lawns, martins\nflitted to and from their nests under the eaves, pigs began to grunt,\noxen to low, sheep to bleat, rooks to caw and children to laugh and\nsing. In short, all the sounds which we hear every day and all the time\nand never notice, began again and seemed so loud in contrast to the\ndeadly silence that they almost cracked the ears.\n\nAnd in every room in the castle the people who had been lying asleep for\na hundred years woke up and went on with what they had been doing just\nas though nothing had happened. In the kitchen the flames of the fire\nleapt up with a hiss and a roar. The kettle began to boil, the stew-pot\nto bubble, and the meat before the fire to steam and hiss as the little\nboy turned the spit.\n\n\"Take that,\" cried the cook, giving the scullion the clout she had\npromised a hundred years before. \"Take that for a lazy knave.\"\n\n\"Goodness,\" yawned the maid who had been plucking the black hen; \"I\nwonder what made me drop off to sleep like that? Well, well, it's to be\nhoped the cook didn't see me!\" And my word, how she made the feathers\nfly!\n\n[Illustration]\n\n_Miaou!_ cried the cat in disgust as he made a pounce at the mouse-hole\nhe had been watching, for the little mouse who had poked his nose\nout a hundred years before drew it back like a flash and scampered away.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Dear me!\" said the servant who was washing the dishes; \"I do believe I\nhave been to sleep with this crock in my hand. It's a mercy I didn't let\nit fall!\" And he went on with his scouring. It was the same thing in the\ndairy where the maids had fallen asleep while they were skimming the\ncream and churning the butter. And the cream was not sour for all that a\nhundred years had passed, nor was the butter rank. But a fly which had\nbeen sleeping on the edge of one of the milk-pans woke up and flew down\nto taste the milk, and fell in and was drowned, so he was none the\nbetter because the spell had been taken off the castle.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nIn the Queen's ante-chamber the maids-of-honour and the\nladies-in-waiting sat up and yawned and stretched themselves. Each one\nof them thought that she was the only one who had fallen asleep, and\nthey all began to explain at the same time that they had only closed\ntheir eyes for forty seconds. \"It was the heat,\" they all said to each\nother. \"The sun is very hot for this time of year.\"\n\nIn the King's council chamber the King and all his ministers woke up\nwith a start. The ministers rubbed their eyes and looked very sheepish,\nfor each of them thought that he was alone in being caught napping.\n\n\"Your Majesty was saying . . . ?\" said the Prime Minister respectfully,\nleaning forward.\n\n\"I was saying . . .\" said the King. \"What was I saying?\" And he stretched\nout his arms and yawned. \"I crave your pardon, my lords. I do believe\nI've been asleep. Heigho! but my joints are stiff.\"\n\n\"It was but an after-dinner nap,\" said the Prime Minister. \"Your Majesty\nis overspent with the hard hunting yesterday. Is it your Majesty's will\nthat we should proceed with our business, or shall the Council rise\nuntil to-morrow?\"\n\n\"Go on, my lords, go on,\" cried the King heartily. \"My little nap has\nwonderfully refreshed me. What say you, shall we pass that bill we were\ndiscussing a few minutes ago?\"\n\nBut at this moment a page came into the room with a message from the\nQueen, and as soon as he received it the King left his seat in the\ncouncil chamber and went to her.\n\nAlone, among all the people in the castle, the Queen had realised\nimmediately she awoke from her charmed sleep, exactly what had happened.\nShe remembered the words of the fairy godmother, and she knew that what\nshe had foretold had come to pass, and that the sleep from which she and\neverybody else in the castle had just awakened had lasted a hundred\nyears.\n\nHer first thought was of her daughter, the Princess Briar-Rose. Where\nwas she, and what had happened to her? If she, too, had merely fallen\nasleep, all was well, but suppose the doom first spoken by the\nthirteenth fairy had taken effect?\n\nIn a few words she told the King all that was in her mind, and without\ndelay messengers were sent all over the castle to look for the Princess.\n\nIn the meantime Briar-Rose and the young Prince were talking together in\nthe ruined tower. For the first time she heard the story of the\nenchantment, and her eyes grew round with wonder as she listened to her\nlover's account of the strange things that had happened in the castle.\nWhen he told of the great hedge and its cruel thorns, and of the many\nyoung men who died in trying to force their way through it, her eyes\nfilled with tears.\n\n\"How great their courage was,\" she sighed. \"Oh, if only I could bring\nthem back to life.\"\n\nBut the Prince kissed her tears away, and hastened past that part of his\ntale, and presently she was smiling again and happy, because she\nunderstood that everything had happened as it was bound to happen.\n\nThen the Prince took her hand and raised her from the couch on which she\nhad slept so long, and they went down the winding stair together and\ncame to the battlements, where they found a score of breathless people\nwho had been running up and down in search of her.\n\nAnd how surprised these people were to find her in that place,\naccompanied by a young man they had never seen before! She seemed to\nhave grown more beautiful than ever during her long sleep, and they were\namazed by her loveliness.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnd how may we describe the joy of the King and Queen when they saw\ntheir daughter again and knew that the good fairy had kept her word? The\nKing was so delighted that all he could say was \"Bless my soul! bless my\nsoul!\" And the Queen could say nothing at all, for she was weeping for\njoy.\n\nWhat a feast there was that night! In spite of the hundred years that\nhad gone by it was still the Princess's birthday, and she was in reality\nno more than fifteen years old, for time had stood still for her. So she\nhad her birthday feast just the same, and it was her betrothal feast\ntoo, for the King joined the hands of the young Prince and his daughter\nand gave them his blessing.\n\n\nTHE END\n\n\n\n\n        PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY\n        RICHARD CLAY & SONS, LIMITED,\n        BRUNSWICK ST., STAMFORD ST., S.E. 1,\n             AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTranscriber's Note:\n\nPage 78, a closing quote was added after (can force his way through.)","title":"The Sleeping Beauty","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":11623}