Briar Rose By the Brothers Grimm Once upon a time there lived a king and queen who had no children,
And this they lamented very much.
But one day as the queen was walking by the side of the river,
A little fish lifted its head out of the water and said,
Your wish shall be fulfilled,
And you shall soon have a daughter.
What the little fish had foretold soon came to pass.
And the queen had a little girl who was very beautiful,
That the king could not cease looking on her for joy,
And determined to hold a great feast.
So he invited not only his relations,
Friends,
And neighbors,
But also all the fairies,
That they might be kind and good to his little daughter.
Now there were thirteen fairies in his kingdom,
And he had only twelve golden dishes for them to eat out of,
So that he was obliged to leave one of the fairies without an invitation.
The rest came,
And after the feast was over they gave all their best gifts to the little princess.
One gave her virtue,
Another beauty,
Another riches,
And so on till she had all that was excellent in the world.
When eleven had done blessing her,
The thirteenth,
Who had not been invited,
And was very angry on that account,
Came in,
And determined to take her revenge.
So she cried out,
The king's daughter shall,
In her fifteenth year,
Be wounded by a spindle,
And fall down dead.
Then the twelfth,
Who had not yet given her gift,
Came forward,
And said that the bad wish must be fulfilled,
But that she could soften it,
And the king's daughter should not die,
But fall asleep for a hundred years.
But the king hoped to save his dear daughter from the threatened evil,
And ordered all the spindles in the kingdom should be brought up and destroyed.
All the fairies' gifts were in the meantime fulfilled,
For the princess was so beautiful,
And well behaved,
And amiable,
And wise,
And everyone who knew her loved her.
Now it happened on the very day she turned fifteen years old that the king and queen were not at home,
And she was left alone in the palace.
So she roamed about herself,
And looked at all the rooms and chambers,
Till at last she came to an old tower,
In which there was a narrow staircase ending with a little door.
In the door there was a golden key,
And when she turned it,
The door sprang open,
And there sat an old lady spinning away very busily.
Why,
How now,
Good mother,
Said the princess,
What are you doing there?
Spinning,
Said the old lady,
And nodded her head.
How prettily that little thing turns around,
Said the princess,
And took the spindle and began to spin.
But scarcely had she touched it before the prophecy was fulfilled,
And she fell lifeless onto the ground.
However,
She was not dead,
But had only fallen into a deep sleep.
And the king and queen who just then came home,
And all their court,
Fell asleep too.
And the horses slept in the stables,
And the dogs in the yard,
And the pigeons on the housetop,
And the flies on the walls.
Even the fire in the hearth left off blazing,
And went to sleep.
And the meat was still roasting,
Stood still,
And the cook,
Who was at the moment pulling the kitchen boy by the hair,
To give him a box on the ear for something he had done,
Let him go,
And both fell asleep.
And so everything stood still,
And slept soundly.
A high hedge of thorns soon grew around the palace,
And every year,
It became higher and thicker,
Till at last the whole palace was surrounded and hidden,
So that not even the roof of the chimneys could be seen.
But there went a report through all the land of the beautiful sleeping Briar Rose.
For thus was the king's daughter called,
So that from time to time several king's sons came and tried to break through the thicket into the palace.
This they could never do,
For the thorns and bushes laid hold of them as if they were hands,
And then they were stuck fast,
And died miserably.
After many,
Many years,
There came another king's son unto the land,
And an old man came and told him the story of the thicket of thorns,
And how a beautiful palace stood behind it,
In which was a wondrous princess,
Called Briar Rose,
Asleep with all her court.
He told,
Too,
How he had heard from his grandfather that many,
Many princes had come,
And tried to break through the thicket,
But had stuck fast and died.
Then the young prince said,
All this shall not frighten me,
I will go and see Briar Rose.
The old man tried to dissuade him,
But he persisted in going.
Now that very day the hundred years was completed,
And as the prince came to the thicket he saw nothing but beautiful flowering shrubs,
Through which he passed with ease,
And they closed after him as firm as ever.
Then he came at last to the palace,
And there in the yard lay the dogs asleep,
And the horses in the stables,
And on the roof sat the pigeons fast asleep with their heads under their wings,
And when he came to the palace the flies slept on the walls,
And the cook in the kitchen was still holding up her hand,
As if she would hit the boy,
And the maid sat with a black fowl in her head,
Ready to be plucked.
Then he went on still further,
And all was so still that he could hear every breath he drew,
Till at last he came to the old tower,
And opened the door of the little room in which Briar Rose was,
And there she lay fast asleep,
And looked so beautiful that he could not take his eyes off,
And he stooped down and gave her a kiss,
But the moment he kissed her she opened her eyes and awoke,
And smiled upon him.
Then they went out together,
And presently the king and queen also awoke,
And all the court,
And they gazed on with each other in great wonder,
And the horses got up and shook themselves,
And the dogs jumped about and barked,
The pigeons took their heads from under their wings,
And looked about and flew into the fields,
The flies on the walls buzzed away,
The fire in the kitchen blazed up and cooked the dinner,
And the roast meat turned round again,
The cook gave the boy the box on his ear so he cried out,
And the maid went on plucking the fowl,
And then was the wedding of the prince and Briar Rose celebrated,
And they lived happily together all their lives.
And that is the end of our story this evening,
Until next time.
Sweet dreams.
