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Briar Rose. A long time ago there were a king andqueen who said every day,
ah, if only we had a child. But they never hadone. But it happened that once when the queen
was bathing, a frog crept out of the water ontothe land, and said to her,
your wish shall be fulfilled, before a year hasgone by, you shall have a daughter.
What the frog had said came true, and the queenhad a little girl who was so pretty that the king
could not contain himself for joy, and ordered agreat feast. He invited not only his kindred,
friends and acquaintance, but also the wise women,in order that they might be kind and well
disposed towards the child. There were 13 of themin his kingdom, but, as he had only 12 golden
plates for them to eat out of, one of them had tobe left at home. The feast was held with all
manner of splendor and when it came to an end thewise women bestowed their magic gifts upon the
baby, one gave virtue, another beauty, a thirdriches, and so on with everything in the world
that one can wish for. When eleven of them hadmade their promises, suddenly the thirteenth
came in. She wished to avenge herself for nothaving been invited, and without greeting, or
even looking at any one, she cried with a loudvoice, the king's daughter shall in her fifteenth
year prick herself with a spindle, and fall downdead. And, without saying a word more,
she turned round and left the room. They were allshocked, but the twelfth, whose good wish still
remained unspoken, came forward, and as she couldnot undo the evil sentence, but only soften it,
she said, it shall not be death, but a deep sleepof a hundred years, into which the princess
shall fall. The king, who would fain keep his dearchild from the misfortune, gave orders that
every spindle in the whole kingdom should beburnt. Meanwhile the gifts of the wise women
were plenteously fulfilled on the young girl, forshe was so beautiful, modest, good-natured,
and wise, that every one who saw her was bound tolove her. It happened that on the very day when
she was fifteen years old, the king and queen werenot at home, and the maiden was left in
the palace quite alone. So she went round into allsorts of places, looked into rooms and bed
chambers just as she liked, and at last came to anold tower. She climbed up the narrow winding
staircase, and reached a little door. A rusty keywas in the lock, and when she turned it the door
sprang open, and there in a little room sat an oldwoman with a spindle, busily spinning her flax.
Good day, old dame, said the king's daughter, whatare you doing there? I am spinning,
said the old woman, and nodded her head. What sortof thing is that,
that rattles round so merrily? said the girl, andshe took the spindle and wanted to spin too.
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But scarcely had she touched the spindle when themagic decree was fulfilled,
and she pricked her finger with it. And, in thevery moment when she felt the prick,
she fell down upon the bed that stood there andlay in a deep sleep.
And this sleep extended over the whole palace. Theking and queen who had just come home,
and had entered the great hall, began to go tosleep, and the whole of the court with them.
The horses, too, went to sleep in the stable, thedogs in the yard, the pigeons upon the roof,
the flies on the wall, even the fire that wasflaming on the hearth became quiet and slept,
the roast meat left off frizzling, and the cook,who was just going to pull the hair of the
scullery boy, because he had forgotten something,let him go, and went to sleep.
And the wind fell, and on the trees before thecastle not a leaf moved again.
But round about the castle there began to grow ahedge of thorns, which every year became higher,
and at last grew close up round the castle and allover it, so that there was nothing of it to be
seen, not even the flag upon the roof. But thestory of the beautiful sleeping briar rose,
for so the princess was named, when about thecountry, so that from time to time king's sons
came and tried to get through the thorny hedgeinto the castle. But they found it impossible,
for the thorns held fast together, as if they hadhands, and the youths were caught in them,
could not get loose again, and died a miserabledeath. After long, long years a king's son came
again to that country, and heard an old mantalking about the thorn hedge, and that a castle
was said to stand behind it in which a wonderfullybeautiful princess, named briar rose, had been
asleep for a hundred years, and that the king andqueen and the whole court were asleep likewise.
He had heard, too, from his grandfather, that manyking's sons had already come, and had tried
to get through the thorny hedge, but they hadremained sticking fast in it, and had died a
pitiful death. Then the youths said, I am notafraid, I will go and see the beautiful briar
rose. The good old man might dissuade him as hewould, he did not listen to his words.
But by this time the hundred years had justpassed, and the day had come when briar rose was
to awake again. When the king's son came near tothe thorn hedge, it was nothing but large and
beautiful flowers, which parted from each other oftheir own accord, and let him pass unhurt,
then they closed again behind him like a hedge. Inthe castle yard he saw the horses and the
spotted hounds lying asleep, on the roof sat thepigeons with their heads under their wings.
And when he entered the house, the flies wereasleep upon the wall, the cook in the kitchen
was still holding out his hand to seize the boy,and the maid was sitting by the black hen which
she was going to pluck. He went on farther, and inthe great hall he saw the whole of the court
lying asleep, and up by the throne lay the kingand queen. Then he went on still farther, and all
was so quiet that a breath could be heard, and atlast he came to the tower, and opened the door
into the little room where briar rose wassleeping. There she lay, so beautiful that he
could not turn his eyes away, and he stooped downand gave her a kiss. But as soon as he kissed
her briar rose opened her eyes and awoke, andlooked at him quite sweetly. Then they went down
together, and the king awoke, and the queen, andthe whole court, and looked at each other in great
astonishment. And the horses in the courtyardstood up and shook themselves, the hounds jumped
up and wagged their tails, the pigeons upon theroof pulled out their heads from under their
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wings, looked round, and flew into the opencountry, the flies on the wall crept again,
the fire in the kitchen burned up and flickeredand cooked the meat, the joint began to turn and
frizzle again, and the cook gave the boy such abox on the ear that he screamed, and the maid
plucked the fowl ready for the spit. And then themarriage of the king's son with briar rose was
celebrated with all splendor, and they livedcontented to the end of their days.
