Themes

This story was originally put to pen by French writer Charles Perrault when he published his collection of fairy tales "Stories of Olden Times" in 1697. The French title of the tale was "La belle au bois dormant," which means "The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood." The tale has since been adopted into various versions in the many countries of the world--in Russia it is known as Sleeping Princess... There once lived a King and a Queen. They had nor son nor daughter, and they prayed to God every night so that they could have a child. At last the Queen gave birth to a long-awaited daughter. The happy parents organized a sumptuous feast and invited seven Fairies. In that times Fairies had a marvelous custom to endow their goddaughters with merits and virtues. When the feast was in full swing an eighth Fairy came. She lived in a deserted part of the Kingdom and the King forgot to invite her. The neglected Fairy felt very insulted and mumbled threats. The youngest of the kind seven Fairies heard her threats and suspected her of wishing the little Princess something horrible. To secure the child, the observant Fairy decided to endow the girl in the last turn. She knew that the final say was the most important. At last the first six Fairies came to the Princess's nursery. They endowed the girl with beauty, charm, quick-wittedness, gracefulness, kindness and musical talents. Suddenly, the neglected Fairy came to the cradle and made a horrible wish: "The Princess will die after pricking her finger with a spindle." Everybody were in shock after having heard it. Fortunately, the last of the seven kind Fairies said her final say: "The Princess won't die. She will only fell asleep after pricking her finger with a spindle. The Princess will sleep 100 years till a handsome Prince will awake her with his kiss. The prediction came true when the Princess was sixteen. The Kind Fairy learned it and flew in the Kingdom in the carriage driving with a winged Dragon. She supposed that the girl would be very sad and unhappy after awaking in the deserted Kingdom. In order to avoid it she touched everybody in the Kingdom with her Magic Stick and at that moment they fell asleep. One hundred years passed and one day a handsome Prince found the enchanted Kingdom in the thick forest. He entered the Palace and found there many sleeping people and the incomparably beautiful girl who also was asleep. The Prince kissed her and at that moment the Princess opened her eyes. Soon everybody in the Kingdom woke up. The Prince and the Princess fell in love with each other at first sight, married and lived happily.