Sleeping Beauty

Long ago, a king and queen had a baby!

She was a beautiful princess!

They were so happy!

They had waited many years for a child!

They decided to have a grand celebration!

"We will invite everyone in the kingdom!" said the king.

"We will have a feast!"

"We should invite the fairies too!" said the queen.

There were thirteen fairies in the kingdom.

But they only had twelve golden plates.

"We can only invite twelve fairies," said the king sadly.

"We don't have enough golden plates."

So they invited only twelve fairies.

The thirteenth fairy was not invited.

This was a terrible mistake!

The celebration was magnificent!

Everyone came to see the princess!

The twelve fairies arrived in beautiful gowns!

Each fairy brought a magical gift!

They gave their gifts to the baby princess!

"I give you beauty!" said the first fairy.

"I give you kindness!" said the second.

"I give you grace!" said the third.

"I give you intelligence!" said the fourth.

One by one, they gave their gifts!

Eleven fairies had given their gifts.

One fairy was left.

Just as she stepped forward...

The doors burst open!

The thirteenth fairy entered!

She was furious!

Her face was red with anger!

"You didn't invite me!" she screamed.

"I will give the princess MY gift too!"

Everyone gasped in fear!

The angry fairy pointed at the baby!

"When the princess turns fifteen," she said,

"she will prick her finger on a spindle!

And she will fall down dead!"

Then she vanished in a cloud of smoke!

The queen screamed!

The king turned pale!

Everyone was horrified!

The baby started to cry!

What could they do?

But wait!

The twelfth fairy had not given her gift yet!

She stepped forward quickly!

"I cannot undo the curse," she said.

"But I can soften it!"

"The princess will not die!" said the fairy.

"Instead, she will fall into a deep sleep!

She will sleep for one hundred years!

Then a prince will awaken her!

True love's kiss will break the spell!"

The king tried to prevent the curse!

He ordered every spindle in the kingdom destroyed!

"Burn all spinning wheels!" he commanded.

"No one may own a spindle!

This will keep my daughter safe!"

Soldiers went from house to house!

They collected every spinning wheel!

They burned them all!

Soon there were no spindles left!

The king felt relieved!

The princess grew up beautifully!

She was kind and lovely!

She was smart and graceful!

All the fairies' gifts had come true!

Everyone loved her!

Years passed peacefully!

The princess's fifteenth birthday came closer!

No one talked about the curse anymore!

They thought they had prevented it!

They thought the princess was safe!

On the morning of her fifteenth birthday, the princess woke up happy!

"I'm fifteen today!" she said joyfully!

Her parents were celebrating with her!

But they were also worried!

They watched her carefully all day!

The princess wandered through the castle!

She wanted to explore!

She found a narrow staircase!

"I've never been up there!" she thought!

She climbed the winding stairs!

At the top was a small door!

She pushed it open!

Inside was a tiny room!

An old woman sat there!

She was spinning with a spindle!

"Hello, dear!" said the old woman.

"What are you doing?" asked the princess.

"I'm spinning!" said the woman.

"What is that thing?" asked the princess.

She had never seen a spindle before!

"Would you like to try?" asked the old woman!

"Oh, yes!" said the princess!

She reached for the spindle!

Her finger touched the sharp point!

PRICK!

She had pricked her finger!

The curse had come true!

The princess felt dizzy!

She fell onto a bed!

She was fast asleep!

The sleep spread through the entire castle!

The king and queen fell asleep on their thrones!

The guards fell asleep at their posts!

The dogs fell asleep in the yard!

Even the flies on the wall fell asleep!

The fire in the fireplace stopped moving!

The cook fell asleep while stirring soup!

The horses slept in the stable!

The birds slept on the roof!

Everything was still and silent!

Around the castle, something magical happened!

A hedge of thorns began to grow!

It grew higher and thicker!

Soon it surrounded the entire castle!

You couldn't see the castle at all!

The years passed slowly!

Ten years, twenty years, fifty years!

The thorns grew higher!

Many brave princes heard the story!

They tried to cut through the thorns!

But the thorns were magic!

They grabbed anyone who tried!

The thorns held them tight!

No one could get through!

The princes gave up!

One hundred years went by!

The story became a legend!

People told tales of Sleeping Beauty!

"A princess sleeps in a castle!" they said!

"Surrounded by thorns!"

One day, a young prince heard the story!

"I will rescue her!" he said bravely!

"Many have tried and failed!" warned the old man!

"The thorns will trap you!"

But the prince wanted to try!

The prince rode to the castle!

He saw the wall of thorns!

But something was different!

The hundred years had just ended!

The curse was weakening!

As the prince approached, magic happened!

The thorns turned into beautiful roses!

They opened a path for him!

He walked through easily!

The curse's time was over!

The prince entered the castle!

Everything was silent!

Guards slept at the gate!

Dogs slept in the yard!

It was like a frozen moment in time!

He walked through the halls!

He saw the king and queen asleep on their thrones!

He saw servants asleep where they stood!

Everything was covered in dust!

But nothing had changed!

He climbed the narrow staircase!

He found the small room!

There lay the princess!

She was as beautiful as the day she fell asleep!

Not a single day older!

The prince couldn't look away!

She was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen!

He walked closer!

He knelt beside her!

He gently kissed her!

At true love's kiss, the princess's eyes opened!

She looked up at the prince!

She smiled!

"Is it you?" she asked.

"You've waited so long!"

The spell was broken!

Throughout the castle, everyone woke up!

The king and queen opened their eyes!

The guards stood up at their posts!

The dogs began to bark!

The fire in the fireplace began to burn!

The cook continued stirring the soup!

The horses neighed in the stable!

The birds started singing!

Everything came back to life!

The king and queen rushed to their daughter!

"You're awake!" they cried joyfully!

They hugged her tight!

Then they saw the prince!

"Who is this?" asked the king!

"He's the one who saved me!" said the princess!

"I love him!"

The prince bowed!

"I love your daughter!" he said!

"May I marry her?"

The king and queen agreed happily!

They had a magnificent wedding!

Everyone in the kingdom came!

They celebrated for days!

It was the grandest party ever!

The princess and prince were married!

They lived happily in the castle!

The evil fairy was never seen again!

The good fairies blessed the couple!

Peace returned to the kingdom!

The princess and prince ruled wisely!

They were kind to everyone!

They made sure everyone was invited to celebrations!

They never wanted anyone to feel left out!

They remembered what happens when people are forgotten!

And they all lived happily ever after!

The end!