A beautiful baby-girl was born to a Queen in a country long ago. The King and the Queen were so very happy that they had a great celebration and invited everyone in the kingdom to bless the baby. There were thirteen fairies in the kingdom, but the King and the Queen forgot to invite one fairy only.
When the celebration began, each guest gave a little gift to the baby. Each of the fairies too brought a blessing for her – beauty, intelligence, kindness, wisdom, a soft voice, and many more wonderful qualities. But before the twelfth fairy could give her gift, the thirteenth fairy who had been left out, swept in on her broomstick.
In a voice like thunder she said, “When she is fifteen, she’ll prick her finger with a spindle and die!” Before anyone could recover from the shock, she swept away in a cloud again. The Queen collapsed and wept.
The twelfth fairy came forward, and spoke gently, “I cannot undo the curse of the evil witch, but I can try to soften it a bit. The Princess will not die, but will fall into a sleep for a hundred years.”
Next day, the King ordered that all the spinning wheels and spindles in his kingdom should be destroyed. So, they were burnt, in an effort to safeguard the little princess.
She grew up into a beautiful young girl, good, kind and loving. Everyone loved her too.
On her fifteenth birthday, she saw a little door she had never seen before leading to one of the towers. She went up the winding stairs. It opened into a small room where an old woman sat spinning.
The Princess drew closer, curious to see what the old woman was doing with this strange thing. She asked her what it was and the old woman told her it was a spinning wheel and showed her how it worked. The Princess wished to try her hand at it.
The old woman was actually the wicked fairy. So, she allowed the Princess to try spinning. In a moment she pricked her finger on the spindle and fell into a deep sleep. The woman vanished along with her spinning wheel.
The twelfth fairy had been waiting and she cast a sleeping spell over the entire palace. Otherwise, the Princess would wake up with strangers in a strange land after a hundred years! The King and the Queen, the soldiers and the guards, the courtiers and the maids, all fell asleep exactly as they were.
Thick brambles grew up around the palace hiding it from sight. Stories were told in the villages around the thick forest of a beautiful princess asleep among the thorns and the roses that grew in the forest. They called her Princess Briar Rose. No one dared to enter the dark, thorny forest.
One day, when the period of hundred years was over, a Prince was passing near the forest. He too had heard the stories about Briar Rose, the sleeping Princess. To his surprise, he found a path in the forest, with roses on both sides.
He went in and reached the palace and found everything silent and still. Everyone was asleep as he walked through the gardens, the courtyards and the large chambers.
He came to the small door leading into the tower and entered it. When he reached the little room at the top, he found the Princess, beautiful and still, sleeping. He was so moved that he bent to kiss her.
And as he did so, the spell broke! Princess Rose awoke. The Prince helped her up and brought her out holding her hand. Everything in the palace was stirring again.
They went to receive the blessings of the King and the Queen. There was a great feast and celebration and the twelfth fairy blessed Princess Rose and the Prince. They were married and lived happily ever after.
