Sleeping Beauty

A king and queen, long childless, rejoice at last in the birth of a daughter. Thirteen good fairies are invited to bestow blessings, but the thirteenth, angered at being excluded, casts a terrible curse: the princess shall prick her finger on a spindle before her sixteenth year and fall into death-like sleep. One good fairy, unable to undo the curse, softens it: the princess shall not die but sleep, and be awakened by a prince's love. The king orders every spindle in the kingdom destroyed. The princess grows in grace and beauty, protected from all harm. On her sixteenth birthday, she discovers an old woman in a tower spinning thread. Curious, she touches the spindle and pricks her finger. Immediately, she and all the court fall into enchanted sleep. Rose bushes grow up around the castle, hiding it from the world. Years pass—a hundred years, some say. Many princes attempt to penetrate the thorns and fail. At last, one prince of true heart reaches the princess. He gazes upon her perfect face and, moved by her innocence and beauty, kisses her forehead. The curse breaks. The princess awakens, the court stirs, and she recognizes in the prince her destined love. They marry and rule justly, their union blessed by all the kingdom.