The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Sleeping Beauty, by C. S. Evans
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Title: The Sleeping Beauty
Author: C. S. Evans
Illustrator: Arthur Rackham
Release Date: May 12, 2008 [EBook #25451]
Language: English
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THE SLEEPING BEAUTY
_BOOKS ILLUSTRATED BY_
ARTHUR RACKHAM
CINDERELLA. 7s. 6d. net.
THE ALLIES' FAIRY BOOK. 7s. 6d. net.
ALICE IN WONDERLAND. 7s. 6d. net.
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A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM. 21s. net.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
THE·SLEEPING
BEAUTY
TOLD·BY·C·S·EVANS
AND·ILLUSTRATED·BY
ARTHUR·RACKHAM
LONDON·WILLIAM·HEINEMANN
PHILADELPHIA·J·B·LIPPINCOTT·Co
LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN, 1920.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: BRIAR ROSE]
[Illustration: ONCE UPON A TIME]
THE SLEEPING BEAUTY
CHAPTER I
ONCE upon a time there were a King and a Queen who were very unhappy
because they had no children. Everything else that the heart could wish
for was theirs. They were rich; they lived in a wonderful palace full of
the costliest treasures; their kingdom was at peace, and their people
were prosperous. Yet none of these things contented them, because they
wanted a little child of their own to love and to care for, and though
they had been married several years, no child had come to them.
[Illustration]
Every day the King would look at the Queen and say: "Ah, if we only had
a little child," and the Queen would look at the King and sigh, and they
were both very miserable about it. Then they would put on their golden
crowns and sit side by side on their thrones, while lords and ladies
and ambassadors from other lands came to pay them homage, and they had
to smile with their lips for the sake of politeness, but there was no
joy in their hearts. And that is one of the greatest disadvantages of
being a King or a Queen, that one has always to hide one's feelings.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
Now it happened one day that the Queen went to her bath, and having
dismissed her ladies, she descended the marble steps into the water
and began idly to play with some wild rose-petals which had fallen into
the water. All of a sudden she heard a croaking voice that said: "O
Queen, be cheerful, for the dearest wish of your heart will be granted
you."
[Illustration]
"Who is that?" cried the Queen, a little frightened, for she could see
nobody.
"Look behind you," croaked the voice, "and do not be afraid, for I come
only to bear you good tidings."
So the Queen looked behind her, and there was a great frog who looked at
her with its big round eyes.
Now the Queen was afraid of frogs, because they are cold and clammy, but
she was very polite by nature as well as breeding, so she did not show
her dislike, though she could not help shrinking back a little.
"And do you tell me, Master Frog," said she, "that I shall have the wish
of my heart, and do you know what that wish may be?"
"It is to have a little small child of your own," said the Frog; and the
Queen nodded.
"Very well," the Frog went on, "do you see the green leaves of that
almond tree on the branch by the window?"
"I do," replied the Queen wonderingly.
"Those green leaves will fade," said the Frog, "and the winter winds
will blow them away. Then the branch will be bare, but in spring-time,
before the leaves come again, it will be covered with pink blossom, and
that blossom you shall show to a baby lying at your breast."
[Illustration]
The Queen gave a cry of joy. A ray of sunlight came through the trees,
dazzling her eyes so that she had to close them for a moment. When she
opened them again the frog had gone, and nothing was to be seen but the
dainty rose-petals floating on the surface of the water.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
CHAPTER II
THOSE were wonderful tidings to be spoken by a frog who came no one knew
whence and went no one knew whither. But the Queen believed that the
prophecy would prove true, and she was right, for when the Spring time
came again and the almond blossom was pink upon the bough, she gave
birth to a little daughter who was so beautiful that nobody had ever
seen her like.
Now what joy there was in the hearts of everybody in the palace! The
King was so excited that he went into council in his dressing-gown
instead of his royal robe, and he did not care a bit when his courtiers
smiled. There was coming and going in all the halls and corridors.
Couriers on swift horses were sent out to bear the glad news to the most
distant parts of the kingdom. All the bells in the churches were rung;
flags were put out in the houses and streamers were hung across the
roadways. Then the cannons were fired, bang, bang, bang, to tell the
people that everybody was to have a holiday, so that all, from the
highest to the lowest, might rejoice in their Queen's happiness.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
"Never was there such a beautiful child," said the King, looking down at
his little daughter as she lay in her mother's arms. He wanted very much
to nurse her, but this could not be allowed, because men are so clumsy
with babies.
"What shall her name be?" said the King. And he suggested all the
grandest names he could call to mind, for he thought that such a
wonderful child must certainly have a name to suit. But the Queen would
have none of them.
"She shall be called Briar-Rose," said the Queen; and so it was
arranged.
[Illustration]
A few weeks later the christening took place. That was a splendid
ceremony to be sure, for all the lords and ladies of the kingdom were
present in their richest dresses, together with princes and ambassadors
from distant countries. The little Princess was as good as gold all the
time. She did not cry once, but opened her big blue eyes and smiled at
the glittering company as though she understood everything that was
going on.
[Illustration]
Outside the cathedral the roads were crowded with people waiting to see
the guests come and go. The carriages extended for nearly a mile, and as
they drove away, headed by the royal coach, in which the Queen sat with
the Princess Briar-Rose in her arms, the spectators took off their hats
and shouted and cheered. Some of the little boys perched themselves on
the branches of trees and the lamp-posts in order to get a better view,
and I have been told that there was one poor woman who saw nothing at
all, because her boy tried to climb up to an inn sign, where he dangled
in such a dangerous position that his poor old mother had to stand with
her back to the procession, holding on to his legs in a terrible state
of anxiety lest he should fall.
At the palace, a magnificent feast had been prepared.
Now it was the custom in those days, when a King's child was christened,
for all the fairies in the country to be invited to the christening
feast. Each fairy was bound to bring a gift, so of course it stood to
reason that the royal child would have everything that the heart could
possibly desire.
[Illustration]
There were thirteen fairies in the King's realm, but one of them lived
in a lonely place on the outskirts of the kingdom. There, for the last
fifty years, she had shut herself up in a ruined tower with only a black
cat to keep her company, and as she kept herself to herself, everybody
had forgotten her very existence. The result was that she was not
invited to the christening feast, and though she had nobody but herself
to blame for this, she was very angry about it. The truth of the matter
is that she was always a miserable, sour creature, with no love or
kindness in her heart, and nobody missed her because she had never given
anybody any reason to care for her.
Well, the guests assembled in the banqueting hall of the palace and the
feast began.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER III
THE King and the Queen sat on a dais at the end of the banqueting hall,
and above them in a little gallery there was a band of fiddlers and
flute-players. On either side of the royal pair sat the twelve fairy
godmothers, six on the right hand and six on the left. In front of each
fairy was a golden plate and a golden casket made to hold her knife,
fork and spoon. These caskets were beautifully carved and engraved, and
each one was of a different shape. One was in the form of a ship,
another of a shell, a third in the form of a castle with turrets, and so
on; nothing more beautiful could be imagined, for they had all been
specially made for the occasion by the cleverest goldsmiths in the
kingdom, and they were the King's presents to the fairy godmothers. He
felt very proud when the fairies spoke admiringly of these caskets and
said that they would be pleased to accept them.
Below the dais were six long tables for the guests, and there was only
just room between the tables for the servants to pass, so you may judge
how crowded the room was. Such a glittering of silks, such a flashing of
jewels, such a dazzle and splendour had never been seen since the time
of the King's coronation, and all the guests were laughing and talking
merrily. The court painter was there, of course, to make a picture of
the gorgeous scene, and was kept so busy sketching on his tablets that
he had no time to get any food, though probably he had a good meal
afterwards.
[Illustration]
And the nice things there were to eat! There were:
Force-meat balls flavoured with rare spices from the East;
Sardines from Sardinia;
Tunny fish from the Mediterranean and Sturgeon from Russia;
Steaming boars' heads with lemons in their mouths;
Turkeys, peacocks and swans;
Ortolans;
Wonderful roasts and delicious stews;
Roe deer and Bears' hams;
[Illustration]
Sweets in all sorts of curious shapes, as, for
instance, cakes like castles with little men
made of sweet-stuff for sentries on the
battlements, each complete in gilded armour and
with a halberd over his shoulder. (A rare
sight!) And eagles carved of ice hovering over
silver dishes filled with apricots.
Then followed the smaller dishes:
Tiny cakes as white and delicate as ladies'
fingers;
Birds' nests made of spun sugar (and in the
nests were eggs of marsh-mallow, and in each
egg was a tiny chicken made of caramel!);
Figs and dates from the desert;
Other fruits, in and out of season;
Syrups and preserves fetched from the four
corners of the world;
Wines cooled in snow from the distant
mountains.
One might fill pages merely by setting down the names of all the
delicacies.
[Illustration]
Each dish was brought in by the servants in a kind of procession, headed
by the Master-Cook, looking as grand and solemn as an archbishop, for he
was a grave and dignified person, and of course he had a great
responsibility. The guests were served by little page-boys of noble
birth, dressed in the liveries of their masters, and these pages handed
the dishes and the wines most politely on their bended knees as they had
been taught to do.
So the guests enjoyed themselves, and the fiddlers played, and the King
laughed at everything everybody said, because he was in a mighty good
humour, and the bright afternoon sun, shining through the western
windows, lighted up the rich hangings on the walls, and flashed upon the
jewels on fair ladies' fingers, and fell upon the marble pavement in a
pool of gold.
And then, you know, when the merriment was at its height, something
happened! There was a sudden cry, and a harsh voice, like the croaking
of a raven, sounded through the room.
"Be merry, my lords and ladies," cried the voice. "Laugh while you may,
but remember that tears may follow laughter."
A hush fell upon all the brilliant assembly. The Queen turned pale and
shuddered. The King rose hurriedly from his place, and he and all the
guests turned to look at the strange figure that had suddenly appeared
in the doorway.
They saw an old woman bent almost double with age, her grey head with
matted hair sunk deep between her shoulders. Her face was white and
twisted with anger, and her green eyes flashed spitefully.
Slowly she advanced towards the dais, and stretching out her arm,
pointed her finger at the gold plates and the gold caskets set before
the fairy godmothers. "There's one," said she, with a harsh laugh,
"there's two, there's twelve! Did you not know, O King, that there were
thirteen wise women in your kingdom, and the thirteenth the wisest and
most powerful of all? Where, then, is the plate and the casket set for
me?"
The King began to make excuses, imploring the angry old fairy to forgive
him for his neglect, and begging her to sit down and join them in their
festivities. "For," said he, "I am sure you are very welcome."
"Is it so, indeed?" said the thirteenth fairy. "I am not too late, then,
though the feast is all but done. I shall eat off silver while my
sisters eat off gold, and there is no curiously-shaped casket for me. No
matter, I am content, because I am in time, and I shall dower the
Princess with the gift which I have brought for her!" And here the
spiteful creature uttered another of her sneering laughs, which made the
blood of all the guests run cold.
By dint of much coaxing the King at last managed to persuade her to sit
down, and the feast proceeded. But a chill had been cast over the
assembly, and nothing was quite the same as it had been before. The old
crone muttered and mouthed over her food, now and again smiling to
herself as though she were cherishing some secret and evil triumph. The
other fairies cast anxious glances at her, for they feared her malice,
and the youngest fairy of all, who happened to be seated at the end of
the table, presently rose up quietly from her place and, stealing away,
hid herself behind the arras. And nobody saw her go, nor did a single
person remark upon her absence.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER IV
AND now came the time for the most important part of the ceremony, when
the fairy godmothers should declare their gifts to the royal child. All
this time the little Princess Briar-Rose had been quietly sleeping in
her cradle in the nursery, watched over by an old servant who had tended
her mother as a child. Now the King gave orders for the baby to be
brought into the banqueting hall. The guests ceased their laughter and
talk, and the musicians laid by their instruments.
So the sleeping child was brought and placed in her mother's arms. How
tenderly she clasped the baby to her breast, bending over it as though
to shield it from all harm. So sweet a sight should have touched the
hardest heart, and indeed there was only one person in the room who
remained unmoved, and that was the spiteful and jealous fairy, who
looked up and bared her yellow teeth in a sneering grin.
"Queen," said she, "your face is pale and your lips tremble. What is it
that you fear on this day of the giving of gifts?"
But the Queen shuddered and was silent.
Then a fairy rose in her place and said--
"I will begin. My gift to the Princess Briar-Rose is the gift of Beauty.
She shall have eyes like stars, and hair as bright as the sunshine of
the spring day on which she was born, and cheeks as fresh and fair as
the petals of the flower from which she takes her name. None shall
surpass her in loveliness."
Then the second fairy rose in her turn and said: "After Beauty, Wit. The
Princess shall be cleverer than any ordinary mortal could ever hope to
be."
"I give her Virtue," said the third. And the Queen nodded her head and
smiled, for though she esteemed beauty and cleverness, she knew that
neither was of any worth without goodness of heart.
[Illustration]
So all the fairies in turn named the gift which they had brought for
Briar-Rose. The fourth said that whatever the Princess put her hand to,
she should do with the most exquisite grace; the fifth, that she should
sing like a nightingale; the sixth that she should dance as lightly as
a fairy, and so on until she had nearly all the virtues and
accomplishments which even a King might desire for his daughter. But as
yet, the spiteful old fairy had not said a word.
[Illustration]
At last she rose and cast an evil glance round.
"Have you all finished?" said she. "Hear, then, my wish. On the day when
she reaches her fifteenth birthday, the Princess shall prick her finger
with the spindle of a spinning-wheel, and shall immediately die!"
This terrible prophecy made the whole company shudder. The Queen gave a
cry and hugged the sleeping baby still closer to her breast.
"No, no! Have pity!" she cried. "Call down your dreadful fate on my head
if you will, but do not harm this innocent child."
At this mournful appeal there was hardly one of the guests who could
keep from tears, but the old crone only mumbled to herself as though she
were uttering a spell. Then the King leapt to his feet, his hand at the
jewelled hilt of the dagger that hung at his girdle. In another moment
he might have stretched the wicked creature lifeless at his feet, but
before he could draw the weapon from its sheath, another voice arrested
him.
"Stay your hand, O King, lest even worse befall. No mortal may strike at
a fairy and go unpunished. And, for the rest, take comfort, for your
daughter shall not die!"
Then the twelfth fairy stepped out from behind the arras where she had
been hidden. "My gift is still to come," she continued. "As far as I
can, I will undo the mischief which my sister has done. It is true that
I have not the power to prevent altogether what she has decreed. The
Princess shall, indeed, prick her finger with the spindle of the
spinning-wheel on the day when she attains her fifteenth year; but
instead of dying she shall fall into a deep sleep; and this sleep shall
last for a hundred years, and when that time is past, a King's son shall
come to waken her."
[Illustration]
CHAPTER V
SO the worst was averted, but the fate of the poor little Princess was
still terrible enough, and it was only to be expected that the King
should do his best to prevent the prophecy from coming to fulfilment.
The first thing he did was to summon all the magicians of his own and
neighbouring countries, promising a rich reward to the one who could
show him a way to defeat the old fairy's malice. The magicians came in
scores, some with long beards reaching to their feet, some without any
beards at all, some with bald heads, and some with matted hair that
looked as though it had not been combed for centuries. For days there
were so many magicians about the palace that they were commoner than
cats, and it was impossible to enter any room without surprising one or
the other of them, sitting in deep reflection and looking as wise as
only a magician can look. But nothing came of their thinking, and one
after the other they gave up the task and departed, having first asked
for their travelling expenses.
At last there came a wizard who was wiser and more venerable than all
the rest, and when he heard what was required of him he said he would go
home and consult his secret books which contained the magic lore of all
the ages, and which had been written by the greatest of all the
magicians, Merlin himself.
Home, then, he went, to his cell, which was in a rocky cliff on the side
of a mountain, and having uttered the word of power which unlocked the
massive door, he entered and prepared to begin his researches.
[Illustration]
Now the books of magic lore which Merlin had written were in many
volumes, and everything in them was set down in alphabetical order, so
that it could be found easily. The old wizard, therefore, turned first
of all to the word _Princess_. Five hundred pages were devoted to this
subject, and, truly, there was a great deal of very interesting
information. As thus:--
PRINCESS: How to transform Goosegirl into.
Spell for causing Princess to be surrounded
with high walls of bronze, which may by no
means be broken down except by the notes of a
certain trumpet (_q.v._).
(Now _q.v._ are the first letters of two magic words which are to be
found in all dictionaries and encyclopædias to this day).
PRINCESS: Enchanted ring for.
A new and improved method by which she may be
changed into a fawn together with any members
of her family according to desire, and all of
them transformed back again into their proper
shape.
PRINCESS: An excellent device for causing a
Princess to grow tall or short by eating of a
mushroom, with directions how to find the place
where the mushroom grows, and precautions to be
taken lest by over-much nibbling she disappear
altogether.
And so on. But there was never a word about how to prevent a Princess
from falling into a charmed sleep through pricking her finger with the
spindle of a spinning-wheel.
So when he had read all through the five hundred pages, the venerable
wizard turned to the word _Sleep_, in the hope that he would meet with
better fortune.
And there was much reliable information under this heading also. There
were recipes for potent drugs which would cause sleep, and for still
more potent drugs which would prevent people from going to sleep, and
when the wizard came to this last he cried out eagerly, for he thought
that he had succeeded in his quest, until he read on and discovered that
the spell described was only for use on wicked Queens who had shamefully
ill-used their step-children. It is very easy to make a mistake in
magic, for it is a most complicated science.
By the time he had read through the two hundred pages devoted to the
word _Sleep_, the venerable wizard was very uneasy, but he was a
persevering person and he did not abandon his endeavours. Merlin's wise
books having failed him, he cast about for other means to learn what he
desired, and consulted his oracle.
Now his oracle was a stuffed crocodile hanging from the ceiling, and a
voice came from it which told him to repeat the magic formula.
The magic formula is a sentence made up of all the sounds that are left
out of ordinary speech, and it is a fearsome thing to listen to. It is
also very exhausting to say, and after the venerable wizard had repeated
it, he was obliged to rest for several hours. Then he rose again and
drew pentagons on the rocky floor of his cave, and crossed triangles and
circles bordered with all the signs of the Zodiac. And he stood in the
middle of the pentagons and the crossed triangles and the circles and
went through all sorts of strange and secret rites, but all to no
purpose.
[Illustration]
But still he would not give up trying; and he went to mysterious places
in the woods and gathered strange herbs in the dark of the moon. And,
returning home, he cast the herbs into a brazier and they burnt with
flames of many colours, giving out clouds of dense smoke and a most
horrible smell. Then, as these exercises did not bring him the result
he desired, he gazed into crystals and poured ink into the palm of his
hand, and did all the other things that he had learnt to do in all the
years since he was apprenticed to magic as a very small boy.
And just as he was going to give up the quest in despair, a thought came
into his head, and he cried aloud for joy, for he knew he had discovered
what he sought. This shows how even the most difficult things may be
attained by perseverance and patience.
At the top of his speed he hastened back to the palace and asked an
audience of the King. This was immediately granted, for, to tell the
truth, the King was awaiting his return with considerable anxiety.
"Well," said he, "have you succeeded in finding a way?"
"I have," answered the venerable wizard. "My arts have not failed me!"
And he handed the King a piece of parchment on which were written the
following words. They were written in Latin to make them look more
important, but very likely it was not good Latin, for the venerable
wizard had been apprenticed to his trade at an early age, and in
consequence his classical education had been somewhat neglected. But
this was the meaning of them:
Shall spindle prick?--then spindle burn,
No thread weave and no wheel turn;
If there's no spindle and there's no wheel,
Then no finger the spindle can feel.
The King slapped his thigh for joy. "Why, of course!" said he. "How is
it that I did not myself think of such a simple solution? It seems to
me, Wizard, that you have easily earned your thousand crowns!"
"Ah, Majesty," the wizard made answer, "all things are simple when once
you know them."
And in this he was quite right.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
CHAPTER VI
THE King lost no time in putting the wizard's counsel into effect. The
very next day he caused a proclamation to be written, and ordered copies
of it to be fixed on all the church doors, and in all the public places
of every town in his kingdom. This is the way the proclamation read:
[Illustration:
WHEREAS a certain malicious fairy, forgetful of the
duties she owes to the most high and puissant King
and Queen, rightful sovereigns of these realms, and
to the Princess Briar-Rose, their dearly loved daughter,
has, of malice aforethought, and with intent to work
grievous bodily harm to the person of the said Princess,
in the presence of the said most puissant Sovereigns
and of divers of their loyal subjects made and uttered
a prophecy, to wit: that the said Princess shall in her
fifteenth year prick her finger with the spindle of a
spinning-wheel, and that a certain dire misfortune
shall fall upon her because of that injury, to the sorrow
of her loving parents: NOW BE IT DECREED
That all spinning-wheels or instruments of spinning
whatsoever, in the possession of any subjects of the
King's most excellent Majesty, whether they be
worked by hand or by treadle or by any other device,
together with all spindles, shuttles, bobbins, and all
other accessories or appurtenances thereunto belonging,
shall forthwith be rendered up to the officers of the
King's most excellent Majesty appointed to receive
them. AND BE IT FURTHER DECREED
That if any person or persons fail to observe or obey
this edict or ordinance by unlawfully retaining any
instrument of spinning or accessory thereunto, such
persons shall be dealt with according to the full rigour
of the law, and shall suffer the penalty of death.
Given under our royal hand and seal.]
The issue of this proclamation caused a great deal of interest and
excitement throughout the kingdom. All the people came out of their
houses to gaze at it, for they had never seen its like before, and
though very few of them knew how to read they realised that it must mean
something very important. So they sent for clerks and scholars to read
it to them, paying a penny apiece for the service, which pennies, the
clerks and scholars, being usually extraordinarily needy persons, were
very glad to earn. It usually took about three hours to read the
proclamation and to explain it; and one must admit that it might have
been expressed in fewer words. To do so, however, would not have been
dignified, for this proclamation was what is called a legal instrument.
The very next day into each town and village of the kingdom the King's
officers came riding. Before them went a trumpeter who stopped at the
head of each street and blew a loud call. Having thus commanded
attention he marched past the houses calling in a loud voice:
"Bring out your spinning-wheels. Bring out your spinning-wheels!"
So the people brought them out, not without grumbling, for a
spinning-wheel is a very useful thing to have in a house, and in those
days people spun and wove their own cloth to make their clothes. But
they were afraid to disobey the King's order.
And the spinning-wheels were of all shapes and sizes, some of them new
and some of them hundreds of years old, and there was hardly a house
that did not possess one of some kind or another. They were all
collected together and loaded into waggons and taken to the capital,
where they were piled up into an immense heap in the public square.
Then the King and Queen and all the court came out and watched while the
big heap was set on fire. The people came out to watch too in their
thousands, and a very fine sight it was to see the enormous flames
shooting up into the air and to hear the crackle and hiss of the burning
wood that sounded like the discharge of a hundred muskets.
The King laughed aloud in his relief, and even the Queen smiled, while
the little Princess Briar-Rose, who was held up to a window of the
palace to see the bonfire, stretched out her arms to the pretty flames
and crowed. But the people were not very much amused by the sight
because they were their spinning-wheels which were being burnt.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
"I've had my wheel for twenty years," said one woman, "and now I've none
at all, and how on earth I can get along without it I don't know, with
six growing lads to find breeches for!"
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
"Five silver crowns my wheel cost my good man last Candlemass," said
another, "and there it goes up in flames and smoke."
"What is a wheel if the burning of it saves our little Princess?" quoth
a third. "Come, cheer up, Mother, the King has reason for what he does
and he will not see us want."
And this man was right. The King had no wish to oppress his subjects,
for no sooner was the pile reduced to ashes than he caused another
proclamation to be issued, saying that the owner of every spinning-wheel
should be paid for its loss. And not only so, but the King told his
merchants to buy spun yarn from neighbouring countries so that the
people might be able to weave, even though they could not spin.
CHAPTER VII
THE little Princess Briar-Rose, of course, knew nothing of the strange
events that had happened at the feast of her christening, and the King
gave orders that nobody should even mention the subject to her. It is
not a pleasant thing to know that the fairies have decreed that one
shall fall asleep for a hundred years on one's fifteenth birthday, even
though one is to be awakened by a handsome Prince at the end of that
time. So all the lords-in-waiting and the ladies-in-waiting had to be
very careful and discreet. If they told the Princess a story, they had
to keep the word "spinning" out of it; and if they showed her a book
they had to take pains to see it did not contain a picture of a
spinning-wheel, or any reference to a distaff or spindle, lest she
should ask what they were. The King's Customs officers, on the
boundaries of the kingdom, had to examine every waggon-load of
merchandise that came into the country for fear it should contain a
spinning-wheel; and if anybody was found trying to smuggle one in he was
brought before the judges and punished.
By these devices the King felt certain that he had averted the fate laid
upon his daughter.
But the promises of the other wise women were fulfilled to the letter,
for the young Princess grew up to be the most beautiful, gifted and
gracious maiden in all the world. That, at any rate, was what everybody
in the palace said, from the lords and ladies down to the scullions in
the kitchen, and although people are inclined sometimes to flatter
Royalty, in this case there was reason for their admiration.
To begin with, the Princess was as lovely as a spring morning, with eyes
of the purest, softest blue, and hair in which the rays of the sun
seemed to be entangled. When she came into a room people stopped
whatever they were doing to look at her, and everyone felt happier
because she was there.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
And her cleverness! She never had any trouble with her letters or her
multiplication table. She could cipher as easily as she could spell; she
knew the history of her own country and of every country round it; and
nobody could puzzle her with the hardest question in geography. She
could sew and embroider, and knit and paint and draw; she could repeat
poetry in five different languages; she studied mathematics and botany
and astronomy and even law. In short, there was no end to her knowledge,
and all because she had those fairies for her godmothers.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
Besides this, there were all her other accomplishments; she could play
on all sorts of musical instruments, as, for instance, fiddle and
zither, large harp and jew's-harp, church organ and mouth organ, flute
and penny-whistle, and even on the nursery comb; she could sing like a
nightingale and dance like a fairy.
[Illustration]
And yet she was never conceited or puffed-up, as some good-looking and
accomplished people are apt to be. On the contrary, she was always
sweet-tempered and modest, and for this reason she was loved. People may
admire good looks and a graceful deportment, and they may respect
ability, but it is only sweetness of nature and goodness of heart that
can win love. And these things were the gift of the third fairy.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
So the years passed, and at last came the day when the Princess
Briar-Rose was fifteen years of age.
[Illustration]
What a day that was! Everybody came to wish her many happy returns, and
she had so many presents that at least a dozen servants were kept busy
unwrapping the parcels. The King gave her a white pony with a saddle of
red velvet, and bridle and stirrups of gold, while the Queen's present
was a beautiful and costly necklace of pearls. Even the boy who turned
the spit in the kitchen brought her something, and though it was only a
little wooden shoe which he had carved with his own hands, the Princess
prized it just as much as though it had been made of gold.
The only person who was not happy on the Princess's birthday was the
Queen, and she went about with a pale face and a look of great anxiety.
"Come, come, my love," said the King, "what is the matter with you?
Surely you are not thinking of that foolish old prophecy!"
"How can I help thinking about it?" the Queen answered. "I have not been
able to get it out of my mind for fifteen years, and now that the day
has come I am afraid."
"Make your mind easy," said the King. "Nothing is going to happen. Why,
there's not a spinning-wheel within a hundred miles. I have taken good
care of that!" And he went away chuckling, to attend a meeting of his
Cabinet. But the Queen shook her head.
[Illustration]
Now while the King and Queen were talking, the Princess Briar-Rose was
wandering about in the castle, visiting room after room, as she had done
many times before. The castle was so big that a stranger might easily
have been lost in its maze of stairways and corridors, but Briar-Rose
knew every part of it quite well, from the great kitchens below ground,
where on feast days a score of cooks prepared the dinner for hundreds of
guests, to the topmost turret above the battlements, where the sentries
kept watch with their pikes on their shoulders. There was only one part
of the castle which Briar-Rose had never explored, and that was an
ancient tower which rose from the eastern end. The door of that tower
was always locked, and although the Princess had often tried to find
the key she had never succeeded. The servants told her that the tower
had not been inhabited for nearly a hundred years, and it had never been
entered within the memory of anybody in the castle.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
To-day Briar-Rose flitted restlessly from place to place. She peeped
into the kitchen and saw the kitchen boys turning the spits on which
whole oxen were being roasted. Then she went into the empty throne room
and saw the golden thrones side by side upon the dais, and the rich
tapestry, glowing with all the colours of the rainbow, on the walls.
After that she mounted to the battlements from which she could see over
miles and miles of her father's kingdom, and not content with that, she
ran up the staircases into the turrets and looked through their narrow
slits of windows upon the courtyard below, so far down that the people
walking therein seemed no bigger than mice. And then she came down again
and continued her wanderings, searching in all sorts of out-of-the-way
corners, until at last she found herself before the door of the ancient
tower into which she had never been. And as she looked at the door, she
gave a start of surprise and then a cry of joy.
There was a key in the lock.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER VIII
IT was a rusty key, and Briar-Rose was afraid that she might not be able
to turn it, but to her surprise it turned quite easily. The heavy door
swung inward on its ancient hinges with many a creak and groan, and she
found herself in a little dark room thickly carpeted with the dust of
years. From this room a winding staircase led upward, and Briar-Rose was
just about to climb the stair when a sudden noise made her start back in
alarm.
[Illustration]
_Whirr!_ There was a beating of wings, a flurry and a scuffle, and past
her face flew a dark shape, with gleaming, yellow eyes. It was only an
owl who was hiding in the tower out of the sunlight, but he gave poor
Briar-Rose a great fright, and she was in two minds whether to turn back
or not, but the winding staircase looked very inviting and she wanted to
see whither it led, so gathering up her skirts to avoid any creepy
things that might be crawling about, she ran up the stairway as fast as
she could, round and round until she reached the top. There she came
upon another door.
In this door also was a rusty key, and Briar-Rose turned it as easily as
she had turned the first. Then she pushed open the door and entered.
She found herself in a small room lighted by narrow windows. Beneath one
of these windows was a couch, and in front of it sat an old woman with a
spinning-wheel.
"Good-morrow, Motherkin," said the Princess. "What are you doing?"
"I am spinning, my pretty child," answered the old woman without ceasing
her work.
"Spinning?" asked the Princess. "Oh, do let me see! What is that thing
which goes round so merrily?"
"That is the spinning-wheel," said the old woman. "Why, child, you speak
as though you had never seen such a thing before."
"Indeed, I have not," said the Princess. "How interesting it is! I
wonder whether I could do it as well as you. Will you let me try?"
"Why, of course," said the old woman, "every young girl should know how
to spin. Here you are, my dear," and she gave Briar-Rose the spindle.
Now whether the Princess in her eagerness to seize the spindle grasped
it too roughly, or whether it was just because the fairy had ordained
that it should be so, I do not know, but anyhow the sharp iron point
pricked her hand, and immediately she fell backward on to the couch in a
deep sleep.
And in that very moment sleep fell upon every man, woman and child in
the castle, and upon every living thing within its gates. The King, who
was sitting at the Council-board with his ministers, stopped speaking in
the middle of a sentence, and remained with his mouth open, in the act
of uttering a word, and nobody remarked the strangeness of his conduct,
for all his ministers were asleep too, just as they sat. Outside the
door the sentry leaned upon his pike. In the Queen's chamber the
ladies-in-waiting fell into a profound slumber in the very midst of what
they were doing--one as she was hemming a handkerchief, another over her
embroidery, still another while she was talking to her parrot. The Queen
slept in her chair, and a little page-boy who was singing fell asleep in
the middle of a note.
All through the castle the charmed slumber spread. Courtiers, officers,
stewards, cooks, errand-boys, soldiers, beadles,--nay the very horses in
the stables and the dogs in their kennels were stricken motionless as
though they were dead. The flies ceased to buzz at the windows and the
pigeons to coo upon the roof. In the great kitchen the scullions fell
asleep as they were washing up the dishes, and a cook in the very act of
boxing the ears of a kitchen-knave.
[Illustration]
But not for a hundred years would he feel that blow, or be able to utter
the cry that was on the tip of his tongue. The dog fell asleep under
the table as he was gnawing a bone; the cat in front of a mouse-hole,
the mouse itself on the other side of the skirting-board, with its
little sharp nose outstretched to sniff the air suspiciously. Even the
spits which were turning at the fire, laden with partridges and
pheasants cooking for the Princess's birthday feast--even they ceased to
turn, and the very fire stopped flickering and the flames sank down.
[Illustration]
A deep silence fell over the castle. In the fields the lambs ceased to
bleat, the horses to neigh and the cows to low. The birds in the trees
were silent. One moment the air was full of the music of their
twittering; the next, all was as still as in a desert. The very wind
dropped to sleep in the woods; not a leaf stirred, and the white clouds
were motionless in the sky.
* * * * *
So sleep fell upon the enchanted castle and upon all within it, because
of the Princess Briar-Rose, who lay there on her couch in the ancient
tower waiting till the hundred years should be past and the Prince
should come to waken her.
And all round the castle there grew up a hedge of thorn, tangled with
ivy, woodbine and creeping plants, so dense that from a distance it
seemed like a little wood. Higher and higher it grew, closing round the
castle like a wall until all that could be seen was the top of the
highest tower, and the flagstaff from which the royal standard hung limp
and motionless.
And the years went by, each with its changing seasons. Spring came and
brought to the fields and woods outside the new life of leaf and flower.
The trees awoke from their winter sleep and clothed themselves
gloriously in green; the birds began to sing again and the swallows and
martins built their nests under the eaves; children laughed and clapped
their hands because they were happy in the bright sunshine, and old
people felt their hearts filled with joy when they saw the mist of
bluebells in the woods and the daffodils dancing in the breeze.
[Illustration]
But within the thorn hedge no life stirred, and neither flower nor tree
answered the call of spring.
[Illustration]
As time went on, the people who were young when the palace was enchanted
grew old and died, but they never forgot the prophecy that one of these
days the sleeping Princess should awaken; and they told the story to
their children, who told it in their turn, changing it a little because
it was only a tale to them. And so, after many years, the legend spread
abroad to neighbouring countries, and many a young prince dreamed that
it was he who was destined to break the spell and waken the sleeping
Princess.
Now and again one would take the quest upon him and try to force his way
through the thick hedge. But no one succeeded. The sharp thorns gripped
the unhappy young men like clutching hands, and held them fast, so that
they could neither go forward nor back, and they perished miserably.
Their bones, whitened by the sun and wind, remained there as a warning
for all to see, and the creeping plants grew over them.
CHAPTER IX
A HUNDRED years passed away. At the end of that time it happened one day
that a young Prince who was hunting in the neighbourhood caught sight of
the towers of the enchanted castle rising above the dense forest. He had
never been in that part of the country before, and had heard nothing of
the story of the Sleeping Princess, so he asked the first people he met
what those towers were, and to whom the castle belonged.
Everybody told him a different tale. One said that it was an old castle
haunted by spirits; another, that it was a meeting-place for all the
witches and sorcerers in the land, who gathered there to practise their
secret rites.
"No, no," said a third. "That castle is the home of a giant, and all the
people in these parts are very much afraid of him, so I have been told,
because he steals their cattle and their crops, and even carries off
their children to be his servants. And they cannot go to the rescue of
those he has imprisoned in this way, because of the forest all round the
castle, which is so dense that nobody can force his way through."
And so they went on, one saying one thing, and one another, for each
repeated what he had heard. At last an old peasant stepped forward.
"Fifty years ago, my Prince," said he, "my father told me the story of
that castle, and since he was born in these parts, I think it was the
true story, and I will tell it you if you would like to hear it."
The Prince nodded eagerly, and the old man went on:
"My father said that years before he himself was born a King and Queen
lived in the castle with their daughter, the most beautiful Princess
that ever was seen. In some way or other they angered the fairies, who
put a spell upon the place and upon every one within it, so that they
fell into a deep sleep. My father said that this sleep would last a
hundred years, but at the end of that time a King's son should come and
waken the beautiful Princess and make her his bride."
When the young Prince heard these words he felt his heart beat quickly.
Something seemed to tell him that he and no other was the King's son who
was destined to remove the spell, and he cried: "Show me the way to the
castle, for I will take this adventure upon me."
[Illustration]
But the old man shook his head. "I have not yet told you all, my Prince.
Many are the young men who have tried to force their way through the
thick wood that guards the enchanted castle. Each of them thought that
he, and he alone, was destined to awaken the Sleeping Beauty, and each
of them set out with high hopes; but none of them all came back, and
their bones, whitened by the wind and rain, lie among the thorns of the
thick hedge, a fearful warning to the venturesome. I pray you,
therefore, my Prince, do nothing rash, but think well before you take
upon yourself this perilous quest."
[Illustration]
"What," cried the Prince with flashing eyes, "shall I hold back when
others have dared? This very hour I will attempt to enter the castle,
and if I do not return, carry home the news of how I have died."
Then without paying any heed to the words of those who would prevent him
from rushing into such danger, the eager young man set out, his heart on
fire with thoughts of love and glory. Nobody showed him the way, but he
could see the towers of the castle rising above the distant wood, and
when he entered the wood itself, and the towers were hidden, each path
he took led him nearer to the place where he would be.
At last he came to an open glade, and there before him was a tangled
hedge of thorn, stretching in either direction as far as the eye could
see.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
CHAPTER X
AND now, as the Prince drew nearer, he could see that the story he had
heard about that terrible place was true, for held in the tangle of
briar were the bones of many unhappy young men who had tried to force
their way through to the castle. Rags and tatters of their finery hung
upon the great thorns that pointed menacingly like sharp claws. Here and
there upon the ground beneath lay pieces of rusty armour, a helmet
surrounded by a coronet of gold that once had belonged to a King's son,
a shield with a Prince's device, a sword with jewel-encrusted hilt worth
a King's ransom. There they lay, all disregarded among the blanched
bones upon the grass, and the ground-ivy spread out its leaves to cover
them.
Not a sound broke the deep and awful silence. No bird sang, no insect
droned; there was no scurry of woodland creatures among the leaves, no
sigh of wind in the trees. In all that place only the thorn hedge seemed
threateningly alive, waiting to destroy the intruder who should attempt
to force the secret it guarded.
Who would blame the Prince if for a moment his heart had almost failed
him? There was no gap in that hedge, and the great thorns were sharp as
dagger blades to stab his flesh. But if the Prince hesitated it was not
for long. "Have I come so far to turn back now?" he thought. "These
others who have died were brave men, and though they failed, with a
courage as great as theirs I may succeed." And without wasting another
moment the Prince began to force his way through the hedge.
And now he noticed with surprise that those thorns which looked so sharp
and cruel became soft as thistledown as soon as he touched them, and the
trailing bramble branches did not entangle him but bent aside at his
touch as though they had been stems of grass. The hedge opened before
him, and as he went through it pink blossoms of wild roses bloomed on
the branches, until the tangled wall became a mass of flowers.
At last the Prince found himself on the other side of the hedge in the
gardens of the castle. Before him he could see the high towers and
turrets bathed in the fresh light of the morning sun, and as he hastened
towards them he noticed that the gardens were as trim and tidy as though
they had just been tended by the gardeners. There was no moss or weed
upon the smooth paths, the turf on the lawns was as short and firm as
though it had just been mown, and in the flower-beds everything was in
the most careful order. Spring flowers were blooming there, but they
bowed their heads upon their stalks, and even the trees seemed to hang
their arms as though asleep.
[Illustration]
Everywhere there was the same deep silence. The air, which should have
been full of the twittering of birds, was heavy and languorous. There
was no flutter of butterfly-wings or darting of flies; the fountains on
the lawns were not playing, and as the Prince glanced over the edge of
the marble basin of one of them he could see the goldfish beneath the
water-lily leaves lying still, with never a wave of the tail or flicker
of fin.
[Illustration]
So he went on over the lawns and terraces and never a waking thing did
he see, but when he came to the courtyard he saw a soldier standing
there, leaning on his pike with his head bent upon his chest. At first
the Prince thought that he was dead, but his cheek was fresh and ruddy
and it was quite plain to see that he was merely asleep. In the
courtyard itself were other human forms, all still and silent. A row of
pikemen leaned against the wall and in front of them, stretched out upon
the ground, snored the sergeant who had been drilling them when the
spell came upon the castle. A young squire, with a sleeping hawk upon
his wrist, slept leaning against a sleeping horse which he had been
about to mount. Near by lay a page with a hound in leash, both sleeping
as soundly as though they never would awake, and through a window in the
stables the Prince saw a groom lying with a straw in his mouth.
[Illustration]
In the stables themselves a like condition of things prevailed. The
horses slept at their stalls with their noses to the mangers, standing
on their four legs just as they were when they were enchanted a hundred
years before, and on the back of one of them sat the stable-cat. Here
and there upon the ground lay grooms and ostlers, fast asleep among the
straw.
From the stables the Prince made his way to the great kitchen where he
saw equally strange sights, and he could not help smiling when he came
upon the cook with her hand still outstretched to clout the head of the
unhappy scullion whom she had by the ear. Before the fires hung the
spitted partridges and fowls that were cooking for the Princess's
birthday feast, and at the table a maid had fallen asleep with her hands
in a large trough full of dough. She had been making the pastry for a
pie when the sleep fell upon her, and by her side was another maid who
had been plucking a black hen. At the sink a kitchen-knave was leaning
over the pot he had been scouring.
Then the Prince went out into the great hall and saw the courtiers
asleep in the window alcoves, or stretched out upon the polished floor.
Everywhere was a silence so profound that the Prince was almost alarmed
to hear his own breathing, and the beating of his heart sounded like a
muffled drum. On and on he went, through rooms and corridors, up
staircases and down staircases, into the Queen's chamber where he saw
the Queen and her ladies as still and silent as the rest; one of those
ladies had been reading to the Queen at the moment when the charmed
sleep fell upon the castle, and the book, a History of Troy, still lay
open on her lap. Then the Prince went into the King's room where his
Majesty sat with his ministers of state round the Council board. He
almost lingered there, for it was very curious to see those nobles as
quiet and motionless as though they had been waxworks in a show. Some of
them were frowning as though in deep thought, and some smiling as though
they had suddenly remembered something clever to say. The King himself,
at the head of the Council table, had evidently fallen asleep in the
very midst of a speech, for his arm lay outstretched on the table with
pointing finger, and, by his side, his secretary's fingers still held
the pen with which he was inscribing on a roll of parchment the royal
words.
So the Prince hurried through the castle from top to bottom until he had
glanced into every room and opened every door. And still he knew that
there was something more to see, for nowhere had he come across the
sleeping Princess. Many maidens he had seen of surpassing beauty, but
his heart told him that none of them all was the maiden whom he had come
to awaken.
Down he went into the courtyard again and found another stairway which
led to the battlements. There stood the watchmen whose duty it was to
look out over the country and report the arrival of travellers, but
they, too, were all asleep, though one of them had his horn in his hand
as though he had been about to blow it when he was suddenly overcome by
the charmed slumber.
From the battlements the Prince climbed, in turn, into each of the
turrets, but there was nobody in them at all, and no living thing except
the owls asleep in the crevices of the walls, and the bats that hung
head downward from the rafters. Now only one small turret remained to be
explored. It was the oldest of the turrets, almost a ruin, and plainly
long unused, for the iron door was rusty and the ivy trailed about the
walls.
The Prince approached it with a beating heart, for there he knew he
should find what he sought. He threw open the creaking door; with
impatient feet he mounted the crazy, winding stair, opened the door at
the top and entered a little dark room.
And then--and then he started forward with a cry of joy and wonder, for
lying on the couch below the narrow window he saw the Princess.
She was lying upon a couch with her lovely hair spread out like a stream
of gold; and, oh! no words can tell how beautiful she was. Softly the
Prince came near and bent over her. He touched her hand; it was warm as
in life, but she did not stir. No sound of breathing came from her
parted lips, fresh and sweet as the petals of a rose; her eyes were
closed.
For a long time the Prince stood and gazed upon her, for never in all
his life had he seen a maiden so lovely. Then suddenly he bent down and
kissed her lips.
[Illustration]
That was the end of the enchantment. The Princess's eyelids quivered;
languidly she moved her head and stretched out her arms. Her eyes opened
and she smiled.
"Is it you, my Prince?" she said. "How long you have kept me waiting!"
[Illustration]
CHAPTER XI
IN that very moment the charm was broken and the castle awoke.
[Illustration]
Instead of the profound silence there came a hustle and confusion of
noise. Clocks began to strike, doors began to slam, dogs began to bark,
cocks began to crow and hens to cluck; a breeze sprang up outside and
set the branches of the trees swaying and creaking; the doves began to
coo upon the roofs, the swallows to twitter under the eaves, flies came
out and buzzed about the window, mice squeaked in the wainscot and ran
scampering along the rafters. The fountain in the garden leapt up sixty
feet into the air, and the goldfish swam among the water-lily leaves;
ants left their nests and foraged about the paths, the butterflies
danced and fluttered over the flowers, which lifted their heads as
though to drink in the rays of the sun. In every tree in the garden a
thrush woke up and began to sing; sparrows chirped, jays screamed,
blue-tits chattered, and the chiff-chaff uttered his strange note. In
the woods a cuckoo called and blackbird fluted to blackbird in the
hedge. In the stables the horses awoke and champed at their stalls; the
cat jumped down and ran after a mouse which crept out from under the
straw. The sentry at the courtyard gate woke up and rubbed his eyes and
came smartly to attention, looking round uneasily, for he thought he had
only been asleep for a few minutes and was afraid that somebody might
have seen him who would report him to the sergeant. The pikemen also
woke with a start, and the sergeant woke too, and bellowed an order in a
loud and angry voice, for he was ashamed of himself for sleeping in
front of his men. The young squire who was going hawking fitted his
falcon's hood and mounted his steed; the page-boy with the hound went
off to his master. On the topmost tower of the castle the royal
standard, which had been drooping against the flagstaff, filled out and
waved freely in the breeze.
[Illustration]
The hedge which had grown up to surround the enchanted castle broke in
and disappeared; peacocks squalled and strutted on the lawns, martins
flitted to and from their nests under the eaves, pigs began to grunt,
oxen to low, sheep to bleat, rooks to caw and children to laugh and
sing. In short, all the sounds which we hear every day and all the time
and never notice, began again and seemed so loud in contrast to the
deadly silence that they almost cracked the ears.
And in every room in the castle the people who had been lying asleep for
a hundred years woke up and went on with what they had been doing just
as though nothing had happened. In the kitchen the flames of the fire
leapt up with a hiss and a roar. The kettle began to boil, the stew-pot
to bubble, and the meat before the fire to steam and hiss as the little
boy turned the spit.
"Take that," cried the cook, giving the scullion the clout she had
promised a hundred years before. "Take that for a lazy knave."
"Goodness," yawned the maid who had been plucking the black hen; "I
wonder what made me drop off to sleep like that? Well, well, it's to be
hoped the cook didn't see me!" And my word, how she made the feathers
fly!
[Illustration]
_Miaou!_ cried the cat in disgust as he made a pounce at the mouse-hole
he had been watching, for the little mouse who had poked his nose
out a hundred years before drew it back like a flash and scampered away.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
"Dear me!" said the servant who was washing the dishes; "I do believe I
have been to sleep with this crock in my hand. It's a mercy I didn't let
it fall!" And he went on with his scouring. It was the same thing in the
dairy where the maids had fallen asleep while they were skimming the
cream and churning the butter. And the cream was not sour for all that a
hundred years had passed, nor was the butter rank. But a fly which had
been sleeping on the edge of one of the milk-pans woke up and flew down
to taste the milk, and fell in and was drowned, so he was none the
better because the spell had been taken off the castle.
[Illustration]
In the Queen's ante-chamber the maids-of-honour and the
ladies-in-waiting sat up and yawned and stretched themselves. Each one
of them thought that she was the only one who had fallen asleep, and
they all began to explain at the same time that they had only closed
their eyes for forty seconds. "It was the heat," they all said to each
other. "The sun is very hot for this time of year."
In the King's council chamber the King and all his ministers woke up
with a start. The ministers rubbed their eyes and looked very sheepish,
for each of them thought that he was alone in being caught napping.
"Your Majesty was saying . . . ?" said the Prime Minister respectfully,
leaning forward.
"I was saying . . ." said the King. "What was I saying?" And he stretched
out his arms and yawned. "I crave your pardon, my lords. I do believe
I've been asleep. Heigho! but my joints are stiff."
"It was but an after-dinner nap," said the Prime Minister. "Your Majesty
is overspent with the hard hunting yesterday. Is it your Majesty's will
that we should proceed with our business, or shall the Council rise
until to-morrow?"
"Go on, my lords, go on," cried the King heartily. "My little nap has
wonderfully refreshed me. What say you, shall we pass that bill we were
discussing a few minutes ago?"
But at this moment a page came into the room with a message from the
Queen, and as soon as he received it the King left his seat in the
council chamber and went to her.
Alone, among all the people in the castle, the Queen had realised
immediately she awoke from her charmed sleep, exactly what had happened.
She remembered the words of the fairy godmother, and she knew that what
she had foretold had come to pass, and that the sleep from which she and
everybody else in the castle had just awakened had lasted a hundred
years.
Her first thought was of her daughter, the Princess Briar-Rose. Where
was she, and what had happened to her? If she, too, had merely fallen
asleep, all was well, but suppose the doom first spoken by the
thirteenth fairy had taken effect?
In a few words she told the King all that was in her mind, and without
delay messengers were sent all over the castle to look for the Princess.
In the meantime Briar-Rose and the young Prince were talking together in
the ruined tower. For the first time she heard the story of the
enchantment, and her eyes grew round with wonder as she listened to her
lover's account of the strange things that had happened in the castle.
When he told of the great hedge and its cruel thorns, and of the many
young men who died in trying to force their way through it, her eyes
filled with tears.
"How great their courage was," she sighed. "Oh, if only I could bring
them back to life."
But the Prince kissed her tears away, and hastened past that part of his
tale, and presently she was smiling again and happy, because she
understood that everything had happened as it was bound to happen.
Then the Prince took her hand and raised her from the couch on which she
had slept so long, and they went down the winding stair together and
came to the battlements, where they found a score of breathless people
who had been running up and down in search of her.
And how surprised these people were to find her in that place,
accompanied by a young man they had never seen before! She seemed to
have grown more beautiful than ever during her long sleep, and they were
amazed by her loveliness.
[Illustration]
And how may we describe the joy of the King and Queen when they saw
their daughter again and knew that the good fairy had kept her word? The
King was so delighted that all he could say was "Bless my soul! bless my
soul!" And the Queen could say nothing at all, for she was weeping for
joy.
What a feast there was that night! In spite of the hundred years that
had gone by it was still the Princess's birthday, and she was in reality
no more than fifteen years old, for time had stood still for her. So she
had her birthday feast just the same, and it was her betrothal feast
too, for the King joined the hands of the young Prince and his daughter
and gave them his blessing.
THE END
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY
RICHARD CLAY & SONS, LIMITED,
BRUNSWICK ST., STAMFORD ST., S.E. 1,
AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK.
* * * * *
Transcriber's Note:
Page 78, a closing quote was added after (can force his way through.)
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