Little Briar Rose

Long ago there lived a king and queen who said every day, “Oh, if only we had a child!” but none came. Then one day, as the queen sat bathing, a frog crawled out of the water and said, “Your wish will be granted. Before a year has passed, you will bring a daughter into the world.” What the frog foretold came true, and the queen gave birth to a girl so beautiful that the king could not contain his joy and ordered a great feast.

He invited not only his relatives, friends and acquaintances but also the wise women of the kingdom, so that they would be kind and well-disposed toward the child. There were thirteen of them in his realm, but because he had only twelve golden plates for them to eat from, one of them had to stay at home.

The feast was celebrated with great splendour, and when it was nearly over the wise women gave the child their magic gifts: one gave virtue, another beauty, a third wealth, and so on, with everything in the world one could wish for. When eleven had spoken, the thirteenth suddenly swept in. She wanted revenge for not being invited, and without greeting or looking at anyone she cried in a loud voice: “In her fifteenth year, the king’s daughter shall prick herself on a spindle and fall down dead!” And without another word she turned and left the hall.

Everyone was horrified. Then the twelfth wise woman, whose wish was still unspoken, stepped forward. She could not undo the evil spell, only soften it, and so she said, “It shall not be death, but a deep sleep of a hundred years into which the princess falls.”

The king, who wanted to protect his beloved child from this misfortune, ordered every spindle in the whole kingdom to be burned. Meanwhile all the wise women’s gifts came true: the girl grew so beautiful, modest, kind and clever that everyone who saw her loved her.

On the very day she turned fifteen, the king and queen happened to be away, and the girl was left alone in the castle. She wandered all over it, peering into rooms and chambers as she pleased, and at last came to an old tower. She climbed the narrow winding stairs and reached a little door with a rusty key in the lock. When she turned it, the door sprang open, and there in a small room sat an old woman with a spindle, busily spinning flax.

“Good day, old mother,” said the princess. “What are you doing?” “I am spinning,” said the old woman, nodding. “And what is that thing that whirls around so merrily?” asked the girl, and she reached for the spindle to try spinning herself. The moment she touched it, the spell was fulfilled and she pricked her finger.

In that instant she fell onto the bed in a deep sleep, and the sleep spread over the whole castle. The king and queen, who had just come home, fell asleep in the great hall, and the whole court with them. The horses slept in the stable, the dogs in the yard, the pigeons on the roof and the flies on the wall. Even the fire flickering on the hearth went still and slept, the roast stopped sizzling, and the cook, who was just about to pull the kitchen boy’s hair for some mistake, let go and slept. The wind dropped, and on the trees outside not a leaf stirred.

Around the castle a hedge of briars began to grow, rising higher each year until it covered the whole castle and nothing could be seen of it, not even the flag on the roof. The story of the beautiful sleeping Briar Rose spread through the land, and from time to time kings’ sons came and tried to force their way through the hedge. But they could not: the thorns held each other fast as though they had hands, and the young men were caught in them and died a miserable death.

After many, many years, another prince came to the land and heard an old man tell of the briar hedge and the castle and the beautiful princess who had slept inside for a hundred years. The old man’s grandfather had told him how many princes had already tried and perished. “I am not afraid,” said the young man. “I will go and see Briar Rose.” The old man tried to talk him out of it, but he would not listen.

As it happened, the hundred years had just ended, and the day had come for Briar Rose to wake. When the prince approached, the briars turned into great beautiful flowers that parted of their own accord and let him through unharmed, then closed behind him like a hedge again. He passed sleeping horses and dogs, pigeons with their heads tucked under their wings, the cook with his hand still raised, and the maid sitting beside a black hen she was about to pluck. It was so quiet he could hear his own breath. At last he came to the tower and opened the door to the little room where Briar Rose lay. She was so beautiful he could not take his eyes off her, and he bent down and kissed her.

At the touch of his kiss Briar Rose opened her eyes, woke and looked at him tenderly. They went down together, and the king and queen and the whole court woke up and stared at one another in amazement. The horses stood up and shook themselves, the hounds jumped up wagging their tails, the pigeons flew off into the fields, the flies crawled on, the fire blazed up and cooked the food, the roast began to sizzle again, the cook gave the boy such a box on the ear that he yelled, and the maid finished plucking the hen. Then the wedding of the prince and Briar Rose was celebrated in splendour, and they lived happily until the end of their days.