Grimm's Tales of Beedle of the Bard

Sleeping Beauty

Once upon a time, there lived a king and queen who were childless. One day the queen sat in her garden sobbing.

" I wish," she sobbed "more than anything, I wish to have a child."

The king saw this and thought there must be a magic spell to help them. So with that, the king asked all the witches and wizards in the kingdom to find a spell or potion so the royals could have a child. Knowing this was an impossible task, not single witch or wizard would even try to make a potion to help the king or queen.

Since no one was stepping forward, the king put out a handsome prize for the witch or wizard that would help. Still, no one helped. As a last resort, the king and queen went door to door begging for help. Once the royals learned what they were asking for was an impossible task, they fell into despair.

" I wish," the queen sobbed,"more than anything, more than the moon, more than riches, I wish to have a child."

From the distance, a young witch pitied the king and queen.

"Your majesties," the witch stepped from her chores,"I may be able to help."

"But the others, they said this is impossible,"  the king said.

"It is, I'm not making no promises but I will do my best to help to make the queen unbarren," the witch said.

After months of explosions, accidentally turning the queen's skin purple, and other misadventures, the king and queen had a child.

The child was beautiful, the king rejoiced and had a grand feast. He invited all the witches and wizards in the kingdom to the feast. They all presented the child with gifts such as magical toys or a flying broomstick or their most prized possession (they felt bad that they didn't help).

One of the witches decided to do a reading of the child's future as her gift.

"Ah, Rose-Bud will be beautiful, kind,well-behaved, amiable and....."

"And?" The king asked.

"I don't know how to tell you this, your Majesty," the seer said.

"Just tell us," the queen said anxiously.

" Well, on her fifteenth birthday the princess will be wounded by a spindle and.... fall down dead....."

The king and queen were frightened by the prophecy. After the feast, the king ordered all the spindles to be destroyed at once. The witches predictions in the mean time came true. Rose-Bud was beautiful, kind, well-behaved, and amiable. Everyone who who met her loved her. Not only was she everything the witch predicted, but Rose-Bud was a witch herself. Rose-Bud was talented, she often used her magic to help others.

One Rose-Bud's fifteenth birthday, the king and queen were not home. Rose-Bud roamed the castle when she decided to try to spin straw into gold. She had heard rumor from another kingdom that a girl could do this so Rose-Bud thought she could try. At first, nothing happened. Rose-Bud thought you had to put a certain spell on the spindle to turn the straw into gold. Several spells later, Rose-Bud thought you had to use a certain potion to put on the spindle. Hundreds of potion and spell combinations later, Rose-Bud was confident that she was able to spin now.

When she set up to spin, Rose-Bud accidentally pricked her finger and fell down lifelessly. The prophecy was fulfilled, however Rose-Bud was not dead but put in a deep sleep.Whatever curse or spell Rose-Bud accidentally produced was strong enough to put the whole kingdom asleep.

After her journey to another kingdom, the witch who helped the king and queen get a child came back and found that everyone was asleep. She also spotted thrives robbing everyone. The witch decided to place a hedge of thorns around her beloved kingdom.

Years later, a young man came to see if the stories were true. He had heard that a kingdom hid behind thorns and a beautiful princess layed asleep in a castle. The witch spotted the prince and spoke to him.

"Stop!" The witch said.

"And why so, my fair lady?" The Prince asked.

"I wouldn't try to go through the thorns if I was you," the witch said.

"And how did you know that was my plan?" The prince asked.

"Everyone tries to cross my thorn hedge," the wicth answered.

"So you are the witch who placed the curse on this fair kingdom," the Prince said, drawing out his sword.

"Curse? My dear boy I was not the cause of this slumber. However I did grow the thorns to keep the thieves out," the witch explained.

" If you can conjure thorns up I am sure you can take them down for a curious prince."

"How do I know your not fooling me," the witch said. "You could be a clever thief."

To show that the prince was true, he laid down his sword, took off his gold pouch, and laid down his dagger. The witch whipped out her wand and made the hedge shrivel down.

"I will accompany you, my prince," the witch said.

And so the witch and prince explored the kingdom. Finally they came across Rose-Bud. The prince asked why the witch didn't try to lift the curse but the witch explained that she did.

"Nothing worked," the witch explained. "So I gave up."

"Maybe you just need someone to help!"

"My prince nothing-"

"Please, let me help," the prince begged.

"Al-alright."

Many hours passed and the prince and witch weren't any closer to waking up the princess. Eventually, a small miracle happened. The prince accidentally poured in the wrong ingredient and dropped the potion onto the princess's lips.

The princess awoke smiling as the kingdom awoke too.

"You clumsy prince you did it!" The witch cried.

"We did it kind witch!" The Prince exclaimed.

The kingdom rejoiced. Rose-Bud and the Prince eventually married, and the witch was made a lady and was given more riches than she needed. And they lived happily together as long as they lived.