|
Sleeping Beauty On the day Princess Talia was born, the king asked all the seers and wise men to tell her fortune. Each of them concluded that she would be exposed to danger from a splinter of flax, thus the king ordered that no hemp or flax should ever enter into his castle. However, one day when Talia had grown up she saw an old woman who was spinning pass by and became delighted by the bobbing of the spindle. In her curiosity she took the distaff and began to draw out the thread. A splinter of hemp caught under her fingernail and she immediately fell as if dead upon the ground. The king was so upset he placed her on velvet thrown and left his kingdom forever to forget his sorrow. Years later another king was hunting and his falcon
flew into a window of the old castle and wouldn't return. The king
went inside to find the falcon where he found Telia asleep. Nothing
would wake her, but he fell so deeply in love with her that he made
love to her and then left and forgot the whole "affair". Much later the king finally remembered Telia. He went to the castle and was ecstatic to find her awake and with the two beautiful children. From then on they were always on his mind. Unlike his wife had been… oops! When the queen found out about his infidelity she invited the children to the castle under the kings seal. She then ordered the cook to serve the children to the king for dinner. The cook hid the children in his home and cooked a two goat kids, which the queen served to the king. Later the queen sent for Telia, which she planned to have thrown into a large fire because she was the reason for the king's infidelity. At the very last moment the king showed up and saved Telia, then had his wife thrown into the fire. He married Telia and was reunited with his children. The story ends with this: "Lucky people, so 'tis said, Are blessed by Fortune whilst in bed." Later on when Charles Perrault revised the story,
he added a sense of decorum and "refinement" to the tale.
It was Perrault who came up with the fairies who gave gifts to the
princess and her father banning all the spinning wheels. It was
also Perrault's fairies that changed the curse from death to a deep
sleep. After she falls asleep, the fairies return and put the entire
kingdom to sleep. In his version the curse would last 100 years
during which trees and forests overrun the castle. At the exact
moment the princess wakes, a prince happens to ride by. The thorns
separate and lead him to the princess. In his version there is no
kissing. However, the jealous wife became the prince's mother who
is an ogress. He keeps his wife and children secret until he is
crowned king to keep her from eating them. At the end of the story
the new king is just in time to save his family from his mother. Itt was also the Grimm Brothers who added romance
to the story. Many youths try to get into the castle, but are deemed
"unworthy". After 100 years a prince gains access to the
castle, and falls in love with the princess, "There she lay,
so beautiful that he could not turn his eyes away; and he stooped
down and gave her a kiss. But as soon as he kissed her, Briar-rose
opened her eyes and awoke, and looked at him quite sweetly."
In the Grimm's retelling the after story of cannibalism is omitted
completely. |
|
