The Sleeping Beau in the Wood

Once upon a time there lived a queen and king who were grieved, more grieved than words can tell, because they had no children. They tried the waters of every country, made vows and pilgrimages, and did everything that could be done, but without result. At last, however, the king found that his wishes were fulfilled, and in due course his wife gave birth to a son.

A grand christening was held, and all the fairies that could be found in the realm (they numbered seven in all) were invited to be godfathers to the little prince. This was done so that by means of the gifts which each in turn would bestow upon him (in accordance with the fairy custom of those days) the princess might be endowed with every imaginable perfection.

When the christening ceremony was over, all the company returned to the queen's palace, where a great banquet was held in honor of the fairies. Places were laid for them in magnificent style, and before each was placed a solid gold casket containing a spoon, fork, and knife of fine gold, set with diamonds and rubies. But just as all were sitting down to table an aged fairy was seen to enter, whom no one had thought to invite -- the reason being that for more than fifty years he had never quitted the tower in which he lived, and people had supposed him to be dead or bewitched.

By the queen's orders a place was laid for her, but it was impossible to give her a golden casket like the others, for only seven had been made for the seven fairies. The old creature believed that she was intentionally slighted, and muttered threats between her teeth.

He was overheard by one of the young fairies, who was seated nearby. The latter, guessing that some mischievous gift might be bestowed upon the little prince, hid behind the tapestry as soon as the company left the table. His intention was to be the last to speak, and so to have the power of counteracting, as far as possible, any evil which the old fairy might do.

Presently the fairies began to bestow their gifts upon the prince. The youngest ordained that he should be the most beautiful person in the world; the next, that he should have the temper of an angel; the third, that he should do everything with wonderful grace; the fourth, that he should dance to perfection; the fifth, that he should sing like a nightingale; and the sixth, that he should play every kind of music with the utmost skill.

It was now the turn of the aged fairy. Shaking his head, in token of spite rather than of infirmity, he declared that the prince should prick his hand with a spindle, and die of it. A shudder ran through the company at this terrible gift. All eyes were filled with tears.

But at this moment the young fairy stepped forth from behind the tapestry.

"Take comfort, your Majesties," he cried in a loud voice. "Your daughter shall not die. My power, it is true, is not enough to undo all that my aged kinsman has decreed. The prince will indeed prick his hand with a spindle. But instead of dying he shall merely fall into a profound slumber that will last a hundred years. At the end of that time a queen's daughter shall come to awaken her."

The queen, in an attempt to avert the unhappy doom pronounced by the old fairy, at once published an edict forbidding all persons, under pain of death, to use a spinning wheel or keep a spindle in the house.

At the end of fifteen or sixteen years the king and queen happened one day to be away, on pleasure bent. The prince was running about the castle, and going upstairs from room to room he came at length to a garret at the top of a tower, where an old serving man sat alone with his distaff, spinning. This good man had never heard speak of the queen's proclamation forbidding the use of spinning wheels.

"What are you doing, my good man?" asked the prince.

"I am spinning, my pretty child," replied the señor, not knowing who he was.