Step into a world of magic, curses, and true love with the timeless tale of Sleeping Beauty. This enchanting story follows a beautiful princess, a vengeful fairy, and a hundred-year spell that only true love can break. Join us as we relive this classic fairy tale, filled with wonder, adventure, and a happily ever after.
Sleeping Beauty
Once upon a time, in a faraway magical kingdom, there was a castle with golden turrets and lush green gardens. Inside lived a King and Queen who had everything they could ever possibly want. Everything, that is, except a child.
For years, they hoped, prayed, and crossed their fingers until one day, their wish finally came true. A baby girl was born, and she was perfect in every way.
The king and queen named her Aurora, which means “dawn,” because they thought she was as beautiful and full of hope as the sunrise. To celebrate her birth, they threw a huge party. Everyone was invited—well, almost everyone.
At the party, twelve good fairies arrived, each with a magical gift for the baby princess. One by one, they floated up to her cradle.
“She will be kind,” said one.
“She will be wise,” said another.
“She will have the voice of an angel,” said a third.
This went on until Aurora’s future was looking brighter than the palace chandeliers. But just before the twelfth fairy was about to give her gift, the doors burst open.
In crashed an uninvited guest: the thirteenth fairy. And she was not happy.
“Really? A party and no invitation for me?” she hissed, glaring at the king and queen.
The queen tried to stammer out an apology, but the fairy wasn’t having it. “Save it!” she snapped. “You want to disrespect me? Fine. But you’ll regret it.”
She marched up to Aurora’s cradle, raised her wand, and said in a voice that sent shivers down everyone’s spine:
“When this child turns sixteen, she will prick her finger on a spinning wheel and die!”
The room gasped. The queen burst into tears. The king shouted for the guards, but the thirteenth fairy disappeared in a puff of smoke.
The twelfth fairy, who hadn’t yet given her gift, stepped forward. “I can’t undo the curse,” she said sadly, “but I can soften it.”
She waved her wand over Aurora and said, “The princess will not die. Instead, she will fall into a deep sleep, one that will last one hundred years. And she will only be awoken by true love’s kiss.”
The king, determined to protect his daughter, ordered every spinning wheel in the kingdom to be smashed to bits and burned. He was so serious about it that even his own royal robes ended up a bit threadbare without new fabric being spun.
Aurora grew up happy and healthy, with all the gifts the fairies had given her: she was kind, wise, graceful, and, of course, so beautiful that flowers seemed to bloom brighter just because she walked by.
On Aurora’s sixteenth birthday, the castle was buzzing with excitement. There was going to be a feast, a ball, and a cake so big they had to bring it into the ballroom on a horse and cart.
“Just don’t go wandering,” the queen warned Aurora.
“Why not?” Aurora asked, curious.
“Uh, no reason. Just… stay in your room and relax,” the queen said with a nervous laugh.
Of course, telling someone not to wander is the surest way to make them want to wander. So as soon as the queen was distracted, Aurora slipped out of her room.
She wandered through the castle, climbing stairs and opening doors she’d never noticed before, until she found herself in an old tower.
At the top, she opened a creaky door and saw something strange: an old woman sitting at a spinning wheel.
“What are you doing?” Aurora asked.
“Spinning thread, my dear,” the old woman replied.
Aurora tilted her head. “What’s spinning?”
“Come closer, and I’ll show you,” the old woman said with a sly smile.
Aurora reached out to touch the spindle, and—prick!
The moment her finger touched the sharp point, she stumbled and fell to the ground, fast asleep. The old woman disappeared in a cloud of black smoke. It was the 13th fairy all along!
When the king and queen found Aurora, they were devastated. As they lay her in her bed, the 12th fairy appeared.
“The curse has taken hold,” she said gently. “She will not wake for one hundred years.”
With a wave of her wand, the fairy cast a new spell over the entire castle. Everyone inside—servants, cooks, knights, and even the royal pets—fell into a deep sleep.
Outside, a thick wall of thorny bushes sprang up, completely surrounding the castle. It was so dense and so sharp that no one dared to go near it. Over time, people almost forgot about the castle entirely. It became a legend, a story that mothers told their children before bed to prevent them from wandering alone.
A hundred years passed, and most people believed it was just a story. But one day, a young prince rode into the kingdom and overheard some villagers talking about the “Sleeping Beauty.”
“A beautiful princess, asleep for a hundred years?” the prince said, intrigued. “Where?”
The villagers pointed toward the forest but warned him: “The thorns are too thick. Many have tried to get through, and none have returned.”
The prince, being the adventurous type, decided to try anyway.
When the prince reached the wall of thorns, he drew his sword and began cutting his way through. But a strange thing happened: the thorns seemed to part for him, almost as if they knew he was supposed to be there.
Finally, he reached the castle gates and stepped inside. The place was eerily quiet. Cobwebs covered the chandeliers, and ivy crept up the walls. But as he explored, he found everyone just… sleeping.
The cooks slept with their heads rested on their rolling pins, the guards leaning on each other’s shoulders, and the court jester still cradling the three apples he had been juggling when the sleeping spell was cast.
At last, the prince climbed a winding staircase and found a room at the very top of the tower.
There, lying on a grand bed, was Aurora. Her hair shimmered like gold, and she looked so peaceful that the prince hesitated.
“Is this really what I’m supposed to do?” he wondered aloud.
We know that you’re only supposed to kiss people that definitely really want to be kissed, but this is a fairy tale so we’ll let it slide… He leaned down and gave her a very small, very gentle kiss on the cheek.
Aurora’s eyes fluttered open. She blinked up at the prince, confused. “Who… who are you?”
“I’m, uh, I just woke you up,” he said awkwardly, and he explained as much as he knew about the legend. “Apparently only true love’s kiss would break the curse,” he said shyly.
“Well,” Aurora said with a smile, “I suppose it’s lovely to finally meet you!”
As soon as Aurora had awoken, the entire castle sprang to life. The cooks continued with their rolling pins, the guards started yawning, and the jester began juggling again.
The king and queen were overjoyed to see their daughter awake, and the prince was invited to stay for the biggest party the castle had ever seen.
Aurora and the prince got to know each other a little better and realized that sure enough, it really was true love, and they were soon married.
And so, they all lived happily ever after.
Also read: The Frog Prince
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