THE SLEEPING BEAUTY

THE

SLEEPING BEAUTY

CHAPTER I

Every day the King would look at the Queen and say: "Ah, if we only had a little child," and the Queen would look at the King and sigh, and they were both very miserable about it. Then they would put on their golden crowns and sit side by side on their thrones, while lords and ladies and ambassadors from other lands came to pay them homage, and they had to smile with their lips for the sake of politeness, but there was no joy in their hearts. And that is one of the greatest disadvantages of being a King or a Queen, that one has always to hide one's feelings.

Now it happened one day that the Queen went to her bath, and having dismissed her ladies, she descended the marble steps into the water and began idly to play with some wild rose-petals which had fallen into the water. All of a sudden she heard a croaking voice that said: "O Queen, be cheerful, for the dearest wish of your heart will be granted you."

"Who is that?" cried the Queen, a little frightened, for she could see nobody.

"Look behind you," croaked the voice, "and do not be afraid, for I come only to bear you good tidings."

So the Queen looked behind her, and there was a great frog who looked at her with its big round eyes.

Now the Queen was afraid of frogs, because they are cold and clammy, but she was very polite by nature as well as breeding, so she did not show her dislike, though she could not help shrinking back a little.

"And do you tell me, Master Frog," said she, "that I shall have the wish of my heart, and do you know what that wish may be?"

"It is to have a little small child of your own," said the Frog; and the Queen nodded.

"Very well," the Frog went on, "do you see the green leaves of that almond tree on the branch by the window?"

"I do," replied the Queen wonderingly.

"Those green leaves will fade," said the Frog, "and the winter winds will blow them away. Then the branch will be bare, but in spring-time, before the leaves come again, it will be covered with pink blossom, and that blossom you shall show to a baby lying at your breast."

The Queen gave a cry of joy. A ray of sunlight came through the trees, dazzling her eyes so that she had to close them for a moment. When she opened them again the frog had gone, and nothing was to be seen but the dainty rose-petals floating on the surface of the water.

CHAPTER II

Now what joy there was in the hearts of everybody in the palace! The King was so excited that he went into council in his dressing-gown instead of his royal robe, and he did not care a bit when his courtiers smiled. There was coming and going in all the halls and corridors. Couriers on swift horses were sent out to bear the glad news to the most distant parts of the kingdom. All the bells in the churches were rung; flags were put out in the houses and streamers were hung across the roadways. Then the cannons were fired, bang, bang, bang, to tell the people that everybody was to have a holiday, so that all, from the highest to the lowest, might rejoice in their Queen's happiness.

"Never was there such a beautiful child," said the King, looking down at his little daughter as she lay in her mother's arms. He wanted very much to nurse her, but this could not be allowed, because men are so clumsy with babies.

"What shall her name be?" said the King. And he suggested all the grandest names he could call to mind, for he thought that such a wonderful child must certainly have a name to suit. But the Queen would have none of them.

"She shall be called Briar-Rose," said the Queen; and so it was arranged.

A few weeks later the christening took place. That was a splendid ceremony to be sure, for all the lords and ladies of the kingdom were present in their richest dresses, together with princes and ambassadors from distant countries. The little Princess was as good as gold all the time. She did not cry once, but opened her big blue eyes and smiled at the glittering company as though she understood everything that was going on.

There were thirteen fairies in the King's realm, but one of them lived in a lonely place on the outskirts of the kingdom. There, for the last fifty years, she had shut herself up in a ruined tower with only a black cat to keep her company, and as she kept herself to herself, everybody had forgotten her very existence. The result was that she was not invited to the christening feast, and though she had nobody but herself to blame for this, she was very angry about it. The truth of the matter is that she was always a miserable, sour creature, with no love or kindness in her heart, and nobody missed her because she had never given anybody any reason to care for her.

Well, the guests assembled in the banqueting hall of the palace and the feast began.

CHAPTER III

Below the dais were six long tables for the guests, and there was only just room between the tables for the servants to pass, so you may judge how crowded the room was. Such a glittering of silks, such a flashing of jewels, such a dazzle and splendour had never been seen since the time of the King's coronation, and all the guests were laughing and talking merrily. The court painter was there, of course, to make a picture of the gorgeous scene, and was kept so busy sketching on his tablets that he had no time to get any food, though probably he had a good meal afterwards.

And the nice things there were to eat! There were:

Then followed the smaller dishes:

One might fill pages merely by setting down the names of all the delicacies.

Each dish was brought in by the servants in a kind of procession, headed by the Master-Cook, looking as grand and solemn as an archbishop, for he was a grave and dignified person, and of course he had a great responsibility. The guests were served by little page-boys of noble birth, dressed in the liveries of their masters, and these pages handed the dishes and the wines most politely on their bended knees as they had been taught to do.

So the guests enjoyed themselves, and the fiddlers played, and the King laughed at everything everybody said, because he was in a mighty good humour, and the bright afternoon sun, shining through the western windows, lighted up the rich hangings on the walls, and flashed upon the jewels on fair ladies' fingers, and fell upon the marble pavement in a pool of gold.

And then, you know, when the merriment was at its height, something happened! There was a sudden cry, and a harsh voice, like the croaking of a raven, sounded through the room.

"Be merry, my lords and ladies," cried the voice. "Laugh while you may, but remember that tears may follow laughter."

A hush fell upon all the brilliant assembly. The Queen turned pale and shuddered. The King rose hurriedly from his place, and he and all the guests turned to look at the strange figure that had suddenly appeared in the doorway.

They saw an old woman bent almost double with age, her grey head with matted hair sunk deep between her shoulders. Her face was white and twisted with anger, and her green eyes flashed spitefully.

Slowly she advanced towards the dais, and stretching out her arm, pointed her finger at the gold plates and the gold caskets set before the fairy godmothers. "There's one," said she, with a harsh laugh, "there's two, there's twelve! Did you not know, O King, that there were thirteen wise women in your kingdom, and the thirteenth the wisest and most powerful of all? Where, then, is the plate and the casket set for me?"

The King began to make excuses, imploring the angry old fairy to forgive him for his neglect, and begging her to sit down and join them in their festivities. "For," said he, "I am sure you are very welcome."

"Is it so, indeed?" said the thirteenth fairy. "I am not too late, then, though the feast is all but done. I shall eat off silver while my sisters eat off gold, and there is no curiously-shaped casket for me. No matter, I am content, because I am in time, and I shall dower the Princess with the gift which I have brought for her!" And here the spiteful creature uttered another of her sneering laughs, which made the blood of all the guests run cold.

By dint of much coaxing the King at last managed to persuade her to sit down, and the feast proceeded. But a chill had been cast over the assembly, and nothing was quite the same as it had been before. The old crone muttered and mouthed over her food, now and again smiling to herself as though she were cherishing some secret and evil triumph. The other fairies cast anxious glances at her, for they feared her malice, and the youngest fairy of all, who happened to be seated at the end of the table, presently rose up quietly from her place and, stealing away, hid herself behind the arras. And nobody saw her go, nor did a single person remark upon her absence.

CHAPTER IV

So the sleeping child was brought and placed in her mother's arms. How tenderly she clasped the baby to her breast, bending over it as though to shield it from all harm. So sweet a sight should have touched the hardest heart, and indeed there was only one person in the room who remained unmoved, and that was the spiteful and jealous fairy, who looked up and bared her yellow teeth in a sneering grin.

"Queen," said she, "your face is pale and your lips tremble. What is it that you fear on this day of the giving of gifts?"

But the Queen shuddered and was silent.

Then a fairy rose in her place and said—

"I will begin. My gift to the Princess Briar-Rose is the gift of Beauty. She shall have eyes like stars, and hair as bright as the sunshine of the spring day on which she was born, and cheeks as fresh and fair as the petals of the flower from which she takes her name. None shall surpass her in loveliness."

Then the second fairy rose in her turn and said: "After Beauty, Wit. The Princess shall be cleverer than any ordinary mortal could ever hope to be."

"I give her Virtue," said the third. And the Queen nodded her head and smiled, for though she esteemed beauty and cleverness, she knew that neither was of any worth without goodness of heart.

So all the fairies in turn named the gift which they had brought for Briar-Rose. The fourth said that whatever the Princess put her hand to, she should do with the most exquisite grace; the fifth, that she should sing like a nightingale; the sixth that she should dance as lightly as a fairy, and so on until she had nearly all the virtues and accomplishments which even a King might desire for his daughter. But as yet, the spiteful old fairy had not said a word.

At last she rose and cast an evil glance round.

"Have you all finished?" said she. "Hear, then, my wish. On the day when she reaches her fifteenth birthday, the Princess shall prick her finger with the spindle of a spinning-wheel, and shall immediately die!"

This terrible prophecy made the whole company shudder. The Queen gave a cry and hugged the sleeping baby still closer to her breast.

"No, no! Have pity!" she cried. "Call down your dreadful fate on my head if you will, but do not harm this innocent child."

At this mournful appeal there was hardly one of the guests who could keep from tears, but the old crone only mumbled to herself as though she were uttering a spell. Then the King leapt to his feet, his hand at the jewelled hilt of the dagger that hung at his girdle. In another moment he might have stretched the wicked creature lifeless at his feet, but before he could draw the weapon from its sheath, another voice arrested him.

"Stay your hand, O King, lest even worse befall. No mortal may strike at a fairy and go unpunished. And, for the rest, take comfort, for your daughter shall not die!"

Then the twelfth fairy stepped out from behind the arras where she had been hidden. "My gift is still to come," she continued. "As far as I can, I will undo the mischief which my sister has done. It is true that I have not the power to prevent altogether what she has decreed. The Princess shall, indeed, prick her finger with the spindle of the spinning-wheel on the day when she attains her fifteenth year; but instead of dying she shall fall into a deep sleep; and this sleep shall last for a hundred years, and when that time is past, a King's son shall come to waken her."

CHAPTER V

At last there came a wizard who was wiser and more venerable than all the rest, and when he heard what was required of him he said he would go home and consult his secret books which contained the magic lore of all the ages, and which had been written by the greatest of all the magicians, Merlin himself.

Home, then, he went, to his cell, which was in a rocky cliff on the side of a mountain, and having uttered the word of power which unlocked the massive door, he entered and prepared to begin his researches.

Now the books of magic lore which Merlin had written were in many volumes, and everything in them was set down in alphabetical order, so that it could be found easily. The old wizard, therefore, turned first of all to the word Princess. Five hundred pages were devoted to this subject, and, truly, there was a great deal of very interesting information. As thus:—

(Now q.v. are the first letters of two magic words which are to be found in all dictionaries and encyclopædias to this day).

And so on. But there was never a word about how to prevent a Princess from falling into a charmed sleep through pricking her finger with the spindle of a spinning-wheel.

So when he had read all through the five hundred pages, the venerable wizard turned to the word Sleep, in the hope that he would meet with better fortune.

And there was much reliable information under this heading also. There were recipes for potent drugs which would cause sleep, and for still more potent drugs which would prevent people from going to sleep, and when the wizard came to this last he cried out eagerly, for he thought that he had succeeded in his quest, until he read on and discovered that the spell described was only for use on wicked Queens who had shamefully ill-used their step-children. It is very easy to make a mistake in magic, for it is a most complicated science.

By the time he had read through the two hundred pages devoted to the word Sleep, the venerable wizard was very uneasy, but he was a persevering person and he did not abandon his endeavours. Merlin's wise books having failed him, he cast about for other means to learn what he desired, and consulted his oracle.

Now his oracle was a stuffed crocodile hanging from the ceiling, and a voice came from it which told him to repeat the magic formula.

The magic formula is a sentence made up of all the sounds that are left out of ordinary speech, and it is a fearsome thing to listen to. It is also very exhausting to say, and after the venerable wizard had repeated it, he was obliged to rest for several hours. Then he rose again and drew pentagons on the rocky floor of his cave, and crossed triangles and circles bordered with all the signs of the Zodiac. And he stood in the middle of the pentagons and the crossed triangles and the circles and went through all sorts of strange and secret rites, but all to no purpose.

But still he would not give up trying; and he went to mysterious places in the woods and gathered strange herbs in the dark of the moon. And, returning home, he cast the herbs into a brazier and they burnt with flames of many colours, giving out clouds of dense smoke and a most horrible smell. Then, as these exercises did not bring him the result he desired, he gazed into crystals and poured ink into the palm of his hand, and did all the other things that he had learnt to do in all the years since he was apprenticed to magic as a very small boy.

And just as he was going to give up the quest in despair, a thought came into his head, and he cried aloud for joy, for he knew he had discovered what he sought. This shows how even the most difficult things may be attained by perseverance and patience.

At the top of his speed he hastened back to the palace and asked an audience of the King. This was immediately granted, for, to tell the truth, the King was awaiting his return with considerable anxiety.

"Well," said he, "have you succeeded in finding a way?"

"I have," answered the venerable wizard. "My arts have not failed me!" And he handed the King a piece of parchment on which were written the following words. They were written in Latin to make them look more important, but very likely it was not good Latin, for the venerable wizard had been apprenticed to his trade at an early age, and in consequence his classical education had been somewhat neglected. But this was the meaning of them:

The King slapped his thigh for joy. "Why, of course!" said he. "How is it that I did not myself think of such a simple solution? It seems to me, Wizard, that you have easily earned your thousand crowns!"

"Ah, Majesty," the wizard made answer, "all things are simple when once you know them."

And in this he was quite right.

CHAPTER VI

The issue of this proclamation caused a great deal of interest and excitement throughout the kingdom. All the people came out of their houses to gaze at it, for they had never seen its like before, and though very few of them knew how to read they realised that it must mean something very important. So they sent for clerks and scholars to read it to them, paying a penny apiece for the service, which pennies, the clerks and scholars, being usually extraordinarily needy persons, were very glad to earn. It usually took about three hours to read the proclamation and to explain it; and one must admit that it might have been expressed in fewer words. To do so, however, would not have been dignified, for this proclamation was what is called a legal instrument.

The very next day into each town and village of the kingdom the King's officers came riding. Before them went a trumpeter who stopped at the head of each street and blew a loud call. Having thus commanded attention he marched past the houses calling in a loud voice:

"Bring out your spinning-wheels. Bring out your spinning-wheels!"

So the people brought them out, not without grumbling, for a spinning-wheel is a very useful thing to have in a house, and in those days people spun and wove their own cloth to make their clothes. But they were afraid to disobey the King's order.

And the spinning-wheels were of all shapes and sizes, some of them new and some of them hundreds of years old, and there was hardly a house that did not possess one of some kind or another. They were all collected together and loaded into waggons and taken to the capital, where they were piled up into an immense heap in the public square.

Then the King and Queen and all the court came out and watched while the big heap was set on fire. The people came out to watch too in their thousands, and a very fine sight it was to see the enormous flames shooting up into the air and to hear the crackle and hiss of the burning wood that sounded like the discharge of a hundred muskets.

The King laughed aloud in his relief, and even the Queen smiled, while the little Princess Briar-Rose, who was held up to a window of the palace to see the bonfire, stretched out her arms to the pretty flames and crowed. But the people were not very much amused by the sight because they were their spinning-wheels which were being burnt.

"I've had my wheel for twenty years," said one woman, "and now I've none at all, and how on earth I can get along without it I don't know, with six growing lads to find breeches for!"

"Five silver crowns my wheel cost my good man last Candlemass," said another, "and there it goes up in flames and smoke."

"What is a wheel if the burning of it saves our little Princess?" quoth a third. "Come, cheer up, Mother, the King has reason for what he does and he will not see us want."