Translation:Sleeping Beauty

Layout 2

For other versions of this work, see Sleeping Beauty.

 

 

In a faraway land where powerful kings reigned, a little princess was born, and the Fairies were invited to her baptism as her godmothers. After the religious ceremony,

 

 

a sumptuous banquet was served in the palace and the Fairies ate with solid gold utensils trimmed with gemstones, given by the parents of the newborn. When the guests had sat in their seats at the table, there entered

 

 

into the hall one very old Fairy, who did not receive an invitation because she was presumed dead. The kings showed her to a prominent place, but they could not provide her with gold utensils like the other Fairies, so the old lady, feeling annoyed, begin murmuring through her teeth.

At the end of the banquet, each of the godmothers gave the little princess a special gift, but the spiteful old lady foretold that "the little girl would cut the palm of her hand with a spindle and the wound would cause her to die."

One of the good Fairies, who heard the sad prophecy when leaving, returned to the child's side and, caressing her, said, "I cannot prevent you from hurting your hand with a spindle,

but instead of killing you, I can make the wound cause you to fall into a deep sleep that will last one hundred years, and this is what will happen."

To prevent the fulfillment of the sad prophecy, the kings prohibited, strictly and under extremely severe penalties, the use of spindles in the entire kingdom, and so notified all of their subjects, by means of edicts and

people that read them in all villages and places. Notwithstanding the effort, when the princess turned sixteen, while roaming though the palace rooms one day she reached an attic inhabited by an old lady, who unaware of the king's edicts was spinning with a spindle.

"What a distracting occupation!" the princess said upon seeing her, and as she was a lively person and the prophecy needed fulfillment, she took over the spindle and it went through her hand, and the old lady could not prevent it.

The young woman fell on the floor, and the old woman, believing she was dead, began screaming asking for help.

To her cries, the king and the queen and all the palace servants soon arrived, and immediately requested the presence of the Fairy that protected the princess, who at that time was at a distance of two thousand leagues. A dwarf, wearing boots that advanced twenty leagues with every step, set off immediately in search of the Fairy; the fairy, riding in a strange car driven by a black young man, showed up

at the palace a few hours later.

"She is asleep," the fairy said upon seeing the princess, who had already been placed in a sumptuous bed, "And so that, when she wakes up in one hundred years, she is not surprised when seeing strange things and people around her, the servants and chamber maids that work for her will also sleep for one century, and all the many objects surrounding her will remain in the same condition, without growing old or wearing out.

And, the Fairy touching with her magic wand all things and people destined to sleep for one hundred years, they all instantly went to sleep.

The kings then left the palace, which was in the middle of the forest, and ordered by edicts that no one went near it, which could not be done anyway, because soon

there grew around it an infinite number of trees, large and small, that formed a sort of wall, completely preventing passage to all living beings.

One hundred years later, the son of the current king of the country went hunting nearby, and his servants informed him that in the old palace, whose towers could be seen above the large trees

of that impenetrable forest, slept a very beautiful princess since one century earlier. The prince, with a heart inflamed by sudden love, went towards the wall of trees and thorn growths, which opened to allow him in, but it then closed again after him, so his group could not follow.

He went into the ancient palace, and after going through many galleries and rooms, where he only found people sleeping, he reached the bedroom where the beautiful princess rested, at the precise moment when she, waking up, returned again to life.

The prince, astonished at the sublime beauty of an enchanting young woman, went to his knees and declared his love. As all servants of the palace woke up at the same time, both youngsters went to a luxurious parlor where they were served a splendid and succulent banquet, at which reigned the craziest joy. The prince then returned to his regal dwelling and told his parents what had happened to him. The entire court,

dressed for the occasion, went to the forest, and after admiring the extraordinary beauty of the genteel princess, took her into the city, where the couple got married immediately, throwing large parties throughout the kingdom to celebrate this happy occasion.

Three years later the king died, and the prince

took the crown, when he had already fathered two beautiful children named Aurora and Sol (a girl and a boy).

The mother of the new king was an ogre and, as she hated her daughter-in-law and her little grandchildren, ordered the cook to kill one of them each day and serve them cooked; however, the cook, feeling for the kids and the young and beautiful queen, took the children into hiding instead of obeying the queen mother.

The ogre, upset, ordered a large tank to be filled with frogs, snakes and all kinds of animals, with the purpose of throwing in it both children and their mother, to enjoy seeing them die and eat them later… however, at the moment when this monstrous crime was to occur, the king, the children's father, appeared, and immediately ordered that this vile execution be stopped.

The ogre, upon seeing her diabolic plans frustrated, threw herself in the tank, and the frogs and snakes there ate her in a moment. Such is the fate of bad people that enjoy making good people suffer!