Briar Rose

Many years ago, there lived a king and a queen, and every day they would say:

"Ah, if only we had a child!" But no child came to them, no matter how much they wished for it.

One day, it so happened that the queen was sitting in her bath when a frog crawled out of the water onto the shore and said to her:

"Your wish shall be fulfilled: before a year has passed, you shall give birth to a daughter."

And what the frog said came true—the queen gave birth to a girl, and she was so beautiful that the king, overjoyed, did not know what to do. So, he organized a grand feast. He invited not only his relatives, friends, and acquaintances but also the wise women of the land, so that they might be kind and gracious to his child. There were thirteen such women in his kingdom, but since he had only twelve golden plates for them to eat from, one of them was left uninvited. The celebration was held with great splendor, and at the end, the wise women bestowed wonderful gifts upon the child: one gave her virtue, another beauty, a third wealth, and so on, with everything one could wish for in the world.

When eleven of them had made their predictions, suddenly the thirteenth appeared. She wanted to take revenge for not being invited. Without greeting anyone or even looking at them, she cried out in a loud voice:

"The princess shall prick her finger on a spindle on her fifteenth year and die!"

And without saying another word, she turned and left the hall. Everyone was terrified, but then the twelfth wise woman, who had not yet made her wish, stepped forward. Though she could not undo the evil curse, she could soften it, so she said:

"But it shall not be death, only a deep, hundred-year sleep into which the princess shall fall."

The king, wishing to protect his beloved daughter from misfortune, issued a decree: all spindles in the kingdom were to be burned.

And so, all the predictions made by the wise women came true: the girl grew to be so beautiful, modest, kind, and wise that everyone who saw her could not help but admire her.

On the day she turned fifteen, it happened that the king and queen were away, and the girl was left alone in the castle. She wandered through the castle, exploring rooms and storerooms—whatever caught her fancy—until she came to an old tower. She climbed the narrow, winding staircase and found herself before a small door. A rusty key was in the lock; she turned it, the door opened, and inside she saw a little room where an old woman sat spinning at a spindle.

"Good day, grandmother," said the princess, "what are you doing here?"

"I am spinning," replied the old woman, nodding her head.

"And what is this thing that spins so merrily?" asked the girl. She took the spindle and wanted to try spinning herself.

But as soon as she touched the spindle, the curse was fulfilled, and she pricked her finger. At that very moment, she felt the prick and fell onto a bed that stood in the little room, sinking into a deep sleep.

And this sleep spread throughout the castle. The king and queen, who had just returned home and entered the hall, also fell asleep, as did all the courtiers. The horses in the stables, the dogs in the yard, the pigeons on the roof, the flies on the walls—all fell asleep. Even the fire in the hearth froze and slept, the roast stopped sizzling, and the cook, who had been about to grab the kitchen boy by the hair for some oversight, let him go and fell asleep as well. The wind died down, and not a single leaf stirred on the trees around the castle.

And around the castle grew a thorny bramble; each year it grew taller and thicker until it finally surrounded the entire castle. It grew higher than the castle itself, and soon the castle was completely hidden, not even the flag on the tower could be seen.

And so, the tale of the beautiful sleeping princess, whom they called Briar Rose, spread across the land. From time to time, princes would come and try to make their way through the dense thicket to the castle. But it was impossible, for the thorns held fast, as if clasping hands, and the young men would become entangled, caught by the thorns, unable to free themselves, and they would perish a miserable death.

After many long years, a prince came to the land once more. He heard from an old man about the thorny thicket and the castle where the fairy-tale beauty, Princess Briar Rose, had been sleeping for a hundred years, along with the king, queen, and all the courtiers. The old man also told him what he had heard from his grandfather: that many princes had tried to break through the thorny bramble, but all had been caught by the thorns and died a pitiful death. But the young man said:

"I am not afraid. I wish to go there and see the beautiful Princess Briar Rose."

The kind old man tried to dissuade him, but the prince would not listen.

And by that time, exactly a hundred years had passed, and the day had come when Princess Briar Rose was to awaken. The prince approached the thorny thicket and saw that instead of thorns, beautiful flowers grew there. They parted before him and then closed again, forming a hedge once more. He saw horses and red hounds in the courtyard, lying asleep; pigeons sat on the roof, their heads tucked under their wings. He entered the castle and saw flies sleeping on the walls, and in the kitchen, the cook still had his hand outstretched as if about to grab the kitchen boy by the hair, while the maid sat before a black hen she was supposed to pluck.

He went further and saw all the courtiers lying asleep in the hall, and at the top, near the throne, lay the king and queen. He continued on, and everything was so quiet that he could even hear his own breathing.

At last, he came to the tower and opened the door to the little room where Briar Rose slept. She lay there, so beautiful that he could not take his eyes off her. He leaned down and kissed her. And as soon as he touched her, Briar Rose opened her eyes, awoke, and looked at him tenderly. Together, they descended from the tower.

And then the king and queen and all the courtiers awoke, and they looked at each other in amazement. The horses in the courtyard stood up and shook themselves. The hounds jumped up and wagged their tails. The pigeons on the roof lifted their heads, looked around, and flew into the fields. The flies began to crawl along the walls. The fire in the kitchen rose up again, flared, and began to cook the meal; the roast started to sizzle once more. And the cook gave the kitchen boy such a slap that he cried out, while the maid hurriedly began plucking the hen.

And so, a grand wedding was celebrated for the prince and Princess Briar Rose, and they lived happily ever after until the end of their days.

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Briar Rose

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