The Sleeping Beauty

Once upon a time, in a beautiful castle,

lived a king and a queen who were very happy,

as a baby princess had just been born to them.

She was so beautiful that they decided to call her just Beauty.

The king decided to hold a great feast and to invite all the fairies of his kingdom.

The king wrote to all the 13 fairies in his kingdom

and the queen counted the golden dishes they would eat from.

To their dismay, they found there were only 12 dishes.

One fairy must be left out.

Next day, the king's page carried the invitations

to all the fairies of the kingdom, except one.

They were all delighted to hear of the birth of the princess

and said they would come to the feast.

At the feast, the fairies gave all their best gifts to the little princess.;

Virtue, beauty, riches,

a voice for singing, lips for kissing and feet for dancing,

all that was good and right for a baby princess to have.

But a small, black messenger flew to the thirteenth fairy

who had not been invited to the feast, and told her what was going on.

The thirteenth fairy was a wicked fairy and was very angry.

This is my gift for Beauty.

Fifteen years she will live with your gifts,

but on her fifteenth birthday, she will prick

her finger with a spindle and will die.

The king and queen were heartbroken at the wicked fairy's spell

and all the fairies were dismayed.

But the rose fairy, who had not yet given her gift,

used her power to alter the spell.

If the princess pricked her finger, she would not die but fall asleep,

and would be wakened by a kiss after a hundred years.

To try to prevent the spell,

the king ordered that all the spindles in his kingdom should be destroyed.

Everywhere, housewives brought out their spindles

and the king's men carried them away.

And time passed. It was the princess's fifteenth birthday.

Wandering in the garden, Beauty came upon a strange, high tower

and looking up, she saw an old woman beckoning to her.

It was really the wicked fairy.