Charles Perrault

sleeping Beauty

Once upon a time there was a king and a queen, and they were childless. It upset them so much, so upset that it was impossible to tell. They fervently prayed that God would send them a child, they made vows, went on pilgrimage, and finally the queen had a daughter. Celebrated rich christening. All the sorceresses who lived in the kingdom were called to be godparents (there were seven of them), so that, according to the custom of the sorceresses of that time, each of them would make some kind of prediction to the little princess and so that the princess would be endowed with all sorts of good qualities. Having christened the princess, the whole company returned to the royal palace, where a luxurious treat was prepared for the sorceresses. At the table of each of them was placed a magnificent case of pure gold, in which were a golden spoon, fork and knife, studded with diamonds and rubies. They were already sitting at the table, when suddenly an old sorceress entered the hall, who was not invited, because she had not appeared from her tower for more than fifty years and everyone considered her dead or enchanted. The king ordered her to put the device; but there was nowhere to get for her, as for other sorceresses, a case of pure gold, because only seven such cases were ordered, according to the number of seven invited godparents. The old woman imagined that this was done to mock her, and began to grumble through her teeth. One of the young sorceresses, who was sitting near the old woman, heard her mumbling. Realizing that the sorceress could make some unkind prediction to the little princess, immediately after dinner she went and hid behind the curtains in order to speak after everyone and thus be able to correct the evil that the sorceress would do. Soon, the sorceresses began to tell the princess their promises. The first promised that the princess would be the most beautiful in the world; the second, that she would be kind, like an angel; third, that she would be a jack-of-all-trades; the fourth, that she would dance well; the fifth - that she will have a nightingale's voice, and the sixth - that she will play any musical instruments with great skill. When the turn came to the old sorceress, she shook her head (more from anger than from old age) and said that the princess would pierce her hand with a spindle and die from it. From such a terrible prediction, all the guests trembled, and no one could hold back their tears. But then a young sorceress came out from behind the curtains and said loudly: - Calm down, king and queen! Your daughter will not die! True, it is not in my power to completely cancel what the old sorceress threatened: the princess will still pierce her hand with a spindle. But she will not die from this, but will only fall into a deep sleep that will last for a hundred years. Then the young prince will come and wake her up. However, despite this promise, the king, for his part, tried to eliminate the misfortune prophesied by the sorceress. To this end, he immediately issued a decree by which, under pain of death for non-compliance, he forbade everyone and everyone in the kingdom to use the spindle, or even just keep the spindle in his house. About fifteen or sixteen years later, the king and queen went to their pleasure castle. There, one day, the princess, running through the rooms and rising from one floor to another, climbed under the very roof, where, she sees, an old woman is sitting in a closet and spinning yarn with a spindle. This kind old lady had never heard that the king had placed a strict prohibition on the spindle. What are you doing, grandma? asked the princess. “I am spinning, child,” answered the old woman, who did not know her. -- Oh, how nice! said the princess again. -- How do you do it? Let me see, my dear, and maybe I can too. She took the spindle and, as according to the prophecy of the sorceress, this should have happened, as soon as she touched it, she immediately pierced her hand with it and fell unconscious. The old woman was frightened and let's shout "guard". People came running from all sides: they splashed the princess in the face with water, unlaced her, clapped her hands, rubbed her temples with vinegar - no, she didn’t come to her senses. Then the king, who also came to the noise, remembered the prophecy of the sorceresses and, seeing that fate could not be avoided when her sorceresses predicted it, ordered the princess to be laid in the best chambers of the palace, on a bed of brocade, gold and silver. Like an angel lay the princess, she was so beautiful, for fainting did not spoil the color of her face: her cheeks were scarlet, her lips were like corals, only her eyes were closed ... Even breathing proved that she was alive. The king ordered not to disturb the dream of the princess until the hour comes for her to wake up. When this misfortune happened to the princess, the good sorceress - the one who saved her life, replacing death with a hundred years of sleep - was in a certain kingdom, in a distant state, forty thousand miles away. However, the news was immediately brought to her by a dwarf in seven-league boots (these were such boots that cut off seven miles with each step). The sorceress immediately set off on the road and an hour later arrived at the castle in a fiery chariot harnessed by dragons. The king hurried to help her get off the chariot. The sorceress approved all his orders, but since she saw far ahead, she reasoned that, waking up in a hundred years, the princess would be very upset if everyone died in the meantime and she found herself alone in the old castle. Therefore, the sorceress ordered this: she touched with her magic wand everyone who was in the castle (except the king and queen) - state ladies, maids of honor, maids, courtiers, officers; touched the butlers, cooks, cooks, guards, porters, pages, footmen; She also touched the horses in the stable with grooms, the big yard dogs, and Sharik, the little princess dog, who was lying on the bed beside her. As soon as she touched them, everyone immediately fell asleep, and everyone had to wake up with their mistress to serve her when she needed their services. Even the skewers in the oven, covered with partridges and pheasants, fell asleep, and so did the fire. All this was fulfilled in one minute: the sorceresses lively manage the case. Then the king and queen, having kissed their dear daughter, went out of the castle and ordered that no one should dare to approach him close. Yes, this did not need to be ordered, because in a quarter of an hour so many large and small trees grew around the castle, so many entangled wild roses and thorns that neither man nor beast could get through them. The castle was completely hidden behind this forest - only the tops of the towers were visible, and then from afar. It was clear to anyone that the same kind sorceress arranged this, so that the princess’s sleep would not be disturbed by idle onlookers. A hundred years later, the son of the king, who then ruled the kingdom and came from a different family than the sleeping princess, went hunting and, seeing the tops of the towers from behind the dense forest, asked what they were. Everyone responded differently. One said that this is an old castle, where evil spirits live; another claimed that the witches celebrated their sabbath here. Most said that there lived an ogre who seized small children and dragged them into his lair, where he ate them without fear, for no man could chase him; only he alone knows how to pass through the dense forest. The prince did not know what rumor to believe, when suddenly an old peasant came up to him and said: “Prince-king! About fifty years ago, I heard from my brother that in that castle lies a princess of indescribable beauty, that she will rest there for a hundred years, and in a hundred years her betrothed, young prince will wake her up. From such speeches the young prince caught fire. It occurred to him that he must decide the fate of the princess, and he wanted to try his luck at once. As soon as the king's son approached the forest, all the big trees, the wild roses and thorns parted of their own accord, giving him the way. He went to the castle, which was visible at the end of a large avenue, along which he went. It seemed surprising to the prince that none of the retinue could follow him, for as soon as he passed, the trees immediately moved as before. However, he continued to go forward: the young and in love prince is not afraid of anything. Soon he reached a large courtyard, where everything seemed to the eye in a terrible form: everywhere deathly silence, death everywhere, dead bodies of people and animals on all sides ... However, peering into the red noses and crimson faces of the porters, the prince recognized that they did not die, but only fell asleep. And not quite empty glasses of wine showed that they had fallen asleep over a glass. From there the prince went to the second courtyard, lined with marble; climbed the stairs; entered the guardroom, and there, in two rows, stood guards with rifles on their shoulders and snored in all Ivanovo. The prince passed through many rooms, in which, some lying, some standing, court gentlemen and ladies slept. At last he entered the gilded chamber, and on the bed with parted curtains he sees the most beautiful sight: a princess of fifteen or sixteen years of age, and a dazzling, heavenly beauty. The prince approached in embarrassment and, admiring, knelt beside her - at that very moment the vow came to an end: the princess woke up and, looking at him with such an affectionate look, which one could not have expected from a first meeting, said: , Prince-Queen? And I've been waiting for you! In admiration for these words, and even more so for the tone in which they were uttered, the prince did not know how to express his joy and gratitude. He explained that he loved the princess more than himself. His speeches were unsophisticated, which is why they came to the princess's heart: the fewer red words, the more love means. The prince was more embarrassed than the princess, and that was understandable. The princess had time to consider what she should say, for, although the story does not mention this, in all probability, the good sorceress, during her long sleep, prepared her for the rendezvous with pleasant dreams. One way or another, the lovers talked to each other for four hours, and did not express even half of what was in their hearts. Meanwhile, everyone in the palace woke up along with the princess. Everyone went about their business. And since there were few lovers here, everyone wanted to eat. The senior lady of state, also hungry like everyone else, eventually lost her patience and loudly announced to the princess that dinner was ready. The prince helped his beloved get out of bed, for she was completely dressed, and in a very luxurious dress. But the prince said nothing that she was dressed like his great-grandmother - old-fashioned. However, even in such a costume, the princess was a miracle how good. They went into the mirror room and had lunch. During dinner, the princess chamberlains served, violins and flutes played old, but excellent music, although it had not been heard for a hundred years. And in the afternoon, in order not to lose time, the senior chaplain married the newlyweds in the court church, and then the lady of state put them to rest... They slept little, because the princess did not really need sleep... her and returned home, knowing that the king must be in trouble. The king's son told his father that he had lost his way while hunting and spent the night in a coal-burner's hut, who fed him black bread and cheese. The king was kind and believed, but the queen was not too convinced. And seeing that the prince went hunting almost every day and always stayed two or three nights out of the house, she guessed that he must have taken a lover. Thus the prince lived with the princess for two whole years, and they had two children. The eldest child, the daughter, was named Yasnaya Dawn, the youngest, the son, Bright Day, for he was even more beautiful than his sister. In order to call the prince to frankness, the queen often told him that it was excusable for a young man to take advantage of life; however, the prince did not dare to confess his secret to her: he really loved her, but he was even more afraid, because she came from a breed of cannibals, and the king married her only because of her untold wealth. There was even a rumor at court that she still retained cannibalistic tastes and, when small children walked past her, she was forcibly restrained so as not to rush at them ... So, the prince did not dare to open himself. But when the king died, the prince ascended the throne, announced his marriage and, with great ceremony, went to the castle to fetch his wife. The young queen was received very solemnly in the capital. She came with her two children. Some time later, the young king went to war against his neighbor, King Cantaloupe. Going on a campaign, he entrusted the state to the old queen and begged her to look after his wife and children. The young king had to spend the whole summer on the campaign. As soon as he left, the old queen immediately sent her daughter-in-law and children to a country house in the middle of a dense forest, so that there she could more freely satiate her monstrous taste. A few days later, she herself appeared there and one evening gave the cook the following order: - Tomorrow, serve me Yasnaya Zorka at dinner. - Oh, mistress! cried the cook. “Yes, give me Yasnaya Zorka with sauce!” The poor cook, seeing that the cannibal could not be dealt with, took a large kitchen knife and went into Yasnaya Dawn's room. Yasnaya Zorka was then four years old. Recognizing the cook, she galloped towards him, threw herself on his neck with a laugh and asked for candy. The cook cried, dropped the knife from his hands, went to the barnyard, slaughtered the lamb and served it with such a wonderful sauce that, according to the old queen, she had never eaten anything tastier in her life. And the cook took away Yasnaya Dawn and gave it to his wife to hide her in their closet. A week later, the evil queen again says to the cook: - I want to eat Bright Day at dinner. The cook said nothing, but decided to deceive her, as he did the first time. He went for Bright Day and sees that he, with a small skewer in his hands, is attacking a huge monkey, and he was only three years old! The cook took him to his wife, hid him together with Yasnaya Dawn, and instead of a Bright Day, he gave the queen a small goat, whose meat the cannibal found surprisingly tasty. So far, everything has been going well, but one evening, the evil queen suddenly says to the cook: - Give me the young queen herself. Here the cook even threw up his hands, not knowing how else to deceive her. The young queen was about two years old, not counting the hundred that she had overslept. Her body was beautiful and white, but a little hard for the teeth; how to replace it with meat? There is nothing to do: in order to save his neck, the cook decided to slaughter the young queen and went to her room, intending to end her at once and deliberately letting himself get angry. Here he enters the room with a knife in his hand, however, not wanting to kill the young queen by surprise, he reports that so and so, he was given such an order. “Cut, cut,” the saddened queen tells him, exposing her neck, “do as you are told.” In the next world, I will see my children, whom I loved so much ... For the children were stolen from the queen and they did not say a word to her, so she thought that they were no longer alive. “No, no, madame! exclaimed the poor cook, touched by her words. - You will not give your soul to God yet, I will see the children in my closet - I hid them there, I will deceive the old queen again: instead of you I will give her a young doe. Then he took her by the hands, led her to his closet and left her there to have a good cry and kiss the children, I myself went to cook the fallow deer. The old queen ate it with such gusto as if it really were her daughter-in-law. She was very pleased with her trick, but she was going to tell the king when he returned that rabid wolves had killed his young wife and children. One evening, as usual, she wanders around the castle, sniffing for the smell of human flesh, when she suddenly hears Bright Day crying in the closet, because her mother is going to flog him for whims, and Bright Dawn stands up for her brother ... Recognizing the voices young queen and her children, the ogress was furious at being deceived. The next morning, with a cry that made everyone tremble, she ordered a large tub to be taken to the middle of the courtyard, filled with toads, lizards, snakes and vipers, and thrown into the queen with children, the cook with the cook and their maid, and also ordered to twist their hands back . They brought them to the tub, the executioners were about to grab them and throw them, when suddenly, unexpectedly, the king rides into the yard on horseback and asks with surprise what is happening here. No one dared to tell him the truth, but in annoyance at her failure, the cannibal herself threw herself head first into the tub. There, the bastards immediately ate her. The king was very upset, for after all she was his mother, but his beautiful wife and children quickly consoled him.

Sleeping beauty story

There lived a king and a queen. They did not have children, and this upset them so much that it is impossible to say. They didn’t give any vows, they went to the pilgrimage, and to the healing waters - it was all in vain.

And finally, when the king and queen lost all hope, they suddenly had a daughter.

Can you imagine what a holiday they arranged in honor of her birth! All the fairies that could be found in the country were invited to visit the little princess. The fact is that the fairies in those days had a wonderful custom: to endow their goddaughters with various wonderful gifts. And since there were seven fairies, the princess should have received at least seven virtues or virtues from them as a dowry.

The fairies and other guests gathered at the royal palace, where a festive table was laid for the guests of honor.

In front of the fairies, magnificent dining utensils and a box of solid gold were placed. In each drawer were a spoon, a fork and a knife - also made of pure gold of the finest workmanship, studded with diamonds and rubies. And so, when the guests sat down at the table, the door suddenly opened, and the old fairy entered - the eighth in a row - whom they forgot to call to the christening.

And they forgot to call her because for more than fifty years she did not leave her tower and everyone thought that she had died long ago.

The king ordered that the device be given to her too. The servants did it in an instant, but the golden box with the spoon, fork and knife was not enough for her share. Only seven of these boxes were prepared - one for each of the seven fairies.

The old fairy, of course, was very offended. She thought that the king and queen were impolite people and met her without proper respect. Pushing her plate and goblet away from her, she muttered some kind of threat through her teeth.

Fortunately, the young fairy, who was sitting next to her, heard her mumbling, and, fearing that the old woman would not take it into her head to give the little princess some very unpleasant gift, she, as soon as the guests got up from the table, crept into the nursery and hid behind the canopy of the bed. She knew that the one who has the last word usually wins in an argument, and she wanted her wish to be the last.

When dinner was over, the most solemn moment of the holiday came: the fairies went to the nursery and one after another began to present their gifts to the goddaughter.

The youngest of the fairies wished that the princess was the most beautiful in the world. Another fairy rewarded her with a gentle and kind heart. The third said that her every movement will cause delight. The fourth promised that the princess would dance excellently, the fifth that she would sing like a nightingale, and the sixth that she would play all musical instruments with the same skill.

Finally it was the turn of the old fairy. The old woman leaned over the bed and, shaking her head more from annoyance than from old age, said that the princess would prick her hand with a spindle and die from it.

Everyone shuddered when they learned what a terrible gift the evil sorceress had in store for the little princess. Nobody could keep from crying.

And just then the young fairy appeared from behind the canopy and said loudly:

Take comfort, king and queen! Your daughter will live. True, I am not so strong as to make what has been said unsaid. Sadly, the princess will have to prick her hand with a spindle, but she will not die from this, but will only fall into a deep sleep and will sleep for exactly a hundred years - until the handsome prince wakes her up.

This promise calmed the king and queen a little.

However, the king decided to still try to save the princess from the misfortune that the old evil fairy predicted for her. For this, by a special decree, he forbade all his subjects, under pain of death, to spin yarn and keep spindles and spinning wheels in his house.

Fifteen or sixteen years have passed. Once the king with the queen and daughter went to one of their country palaces.

The princess wanted to see the ancient castle, and, running from room to room, she finally reached the very top of the palace tower.

There, in a cramped closet under the roof, an old woman sat at a spinning wheel and calmly spun yarn. Oddly enough, she had not heard a word from anyone about the royal ban.

What are you doing, auntie? asked the princess, who had never seen a spinning wheel in her life.

I'm spinning yarn, my child, - the old woman answered, not at all guessing that she was talking to the princess.

Ah, this is very beautiful! - said the princess. Let me see if I can do as well as you.

The princess quickly grabbed the spindle and before she could touch it, the fairy's prediction came true: she pricked her finger and fell dead.

The frightened old woman began to call for help. People ran from all sides.

What they didn’t do: they splashed the princess in the face with water, clapped their hands on her palms, rubbed the whiskey with the fragrant vinegar of the Hungarian Queen, nothing helped.

Run after the king. He climbed into the tower, looked at the princess and immediately realized that the sad event that he and the queen had so feared had happened.

With sadness, he ordered the princess to be transferred to the most beautiful hall of the palace and laid there on a bed decorated with silver and gold embroidery.

It is difficult to describe in words how beautiful the sleeping princess was. She didn't fade at all. Her cheeks were rosy and her lips red like corals. Even though her eyes were tightly closed, you could hear her breathing softly.

So it really was a dream, not death.

The king ordered not to disturb the princess until the hour of her awakening comes.

And the good fairy, who saved her goddaughter from death by wishing her a hundred years of sleep, was at that time very far from the royal castle.

But she immediately learned about this misfortune from a little dwarf walker who had seven-league boots (these are such wonderful boots that you just need to put them on and you will walk seven miles in one step),

The fairy is on her way now. In less than an hour, her fiery chariot drawn by dragons had already appeared near the royal palace. The king gave her his hand and helped her to get off the chariot.

The fairy did her best to console the king and queen. And then, since she was a very prudent fairy, she immediately thought how sad the princess would be when, in a hundred years, the poor thing would wake up in this old castle and not see a single familiar face near her.

To prevent this from happening, the fairy did this.

With her magic wand, she touched everyone who was in the palace (except the king and queen). And there were courtiers, maids of honor, governesses, maids, butlers, cooks, cooks, runners, soldiers of the palace guards, gatekeepers, pages and lackeys.

She touched with her wand both the horses in the royal stable and the grooms who combed the horses' tails. She touched the big palace dogs and the little curly dog ​​called Puff, which lay at the feet of the sleeping princess.

And now, everyone who was touched by the fairy wand fell asleep. They fell asleep exactly for a hundred years to wake up with their mistress and serve her as they served before. Even partridges and pheasants fell asleep, which were roasted on the fire. The spit on which they spun fell asleep. The fire that burned them fell asleep.

And all this happened in one single moment. Fairies know their stuff: wave your wand and you're done!

After that, the king and queen kissed their sleeping daughter, said goodbye to her and quietly left the hall.

Returning to their capital, they issued a decree that no one dared to approach the enchanted castle.

But this could not have been done, because in just a quarter of an hour so many trees, large and small, grew around the castle, so many thorny bushes - thorns and wild roses - and all this was so closely intertwined with branches that neither man nor beast could not get through such a thicket.

And only from a distance, and even from the mountain, one could see the tops of the towers of the old castle.

The fairy did all this so that no one's curiosity would disturb the peace of the sweet princess.

A hundred years have passed. Many kings and queens have changed over the years.

And then one day the son of the king, who reigned at that time, went hunting.

In the distance, above a dense dense forest, he saw the towers of some castle.

Whose castle is this? - he asked. - Who lives there?

Everyone answered him what he heard from others. Some said that these were old ruins in which ghosts live, others assured that all the witches in the area were celebrating their Sabbath in an abandoned castle. But most agreed that the old castle belonged to the cannibal. This cannibal seems to catch lost children and take them to his tower to eat without interference, since no one can follow him into his lair - after all, he alone in the world knows the way through the enchanted forest.

The prince did not know who to believe, but then an old peasant approached him and said, bowing:

Good prince, half a century ago, when I was as young as you, I heard from my father that in this castle the most beautiful princess in the world sleeps soundly and that she will sleep for another half a century, until her betrothed , the son of some king, will not come and wake her up.

Can you imagine how the prince felt when he heard those words!

His heart was on fire in his chest. He immediately decided that it was his lot to be lucky - to awaken the beautiful princess from sleep!

Without thinking twice, the prince pulled the reins and galloped in the direction where the towers of the old castle could be seen, where his love and glory were attracted.

And in front of him is an enchanted forest. The prince jumped off his horse, and immediately tall, thick trees, thorny bushes, thickets of wild rose - everything parted to give him the way. As if along a long straight alley, he went to the castle, which was visible in the distance.

The prince walked alone. None of his retinue managed to follow him - the trees, having missed the prince, immediately closed behind him, and the bushes again intertwined branches.

Such a miracle could frighten anyone, but the prince was young and in love, and that was enough to be brave.

Another hundred steps - and he found himself in a spacious courtyard in front of the castle. The prince looked to the right, to the left, and his blood ran cold in his veins. Around him lay, sat, stood, leaning against the wall, some people in ancient clothes. They were all motionless, as if dead.

But, peering into the red, shiny faces of the gatekeepers, he realized that they were not dead at all, but simply sleeping. They had cups in their hands, and the wine was not yet dry in the cups, and this clearly showed that a sudden dream overtook them at the moment when they were about to drain the cups to the bottom.

The prince passed a large courtyard paved with marble slabs, climbed the stairs, entered the hall of the palace guards. The armored men slept standing up, lined up in a row, with carbines on their shoulders, and snored with might and main.

He passed through many chambers full of well-dressed court ladies and smart gentlemen. They were all fast asleep, some standing, some sitting.

And finally he entered a room with gilded walls and a gilded ceiling. Entered and stopped.

On the bed, the curtains of which were thrown back, lay a beautiful young princess of fifteen or sixteen years old (except for the century she had slept).

The prince involuntarily closed his eyes: her beauty shone so brightly that even the gold around her seemed dull and pale. Trembling with delight, he approached and knelt before her.

At that very moment, the hour appointed by the good fairy struck.

The princess woke up, opened her eyes and looked at her deliverer.

Oh, is that you, prince? she said. “At last!” How long have you kept yourself waiting!

Before she had time to finish these words, everything around her woke up.

Horses neighed in the stable, pigeons cooed under the roof. The fire in the oven roared with all its might, and the pheasants, which the cooks had not had time to roast a hundred years ago, turned red in one minute.

The servants, under the supervision of the butler, were already setting the table in the mirrored dining room. And the ladies of the court, while waiting for breakfast, straightened their locks, disheveled for a hundred years, and smiled at their sleepy cavaliers.

In the hall of the palace guards, the men at arms again went about their usual business - stomping their boots and rattling their weapons.

And the porters, who were sitting at the entrance to the palace, finally drained the goblets and filled them again with good wine, which, of course, became older and better in a hundred years.

The whole castle - from the flag on the tower to the wine cellar - came to life and rustled.

The prince and princess heard nothing. They looked at each other and couldn't get enough of each other. The princess forgot that she had not eaten anything for a century, and the prince did not remember that he had not had poppy dew in his mouth since morning. They talked for four whole hours and did not manage to say even half of what they wanted to say.

But everyone else was not in love and therefore starved to death.

Finally, the eldest lady-in-waiting, who was as hungry as everyone else, could not stand it and reported to the princess that breakfast was served.

The prince extended his hand to his bride and led her into the dining room.

The princess was magnificently dressed and looked with pleasure at herself in the mirrors, and the prince in love, of course, did not say a word to her that the style of her dress had gone out of fashion at least a hundred years ago and that such sleeves and collars were not worn. since his great-great-grandmother.

However, even in an old-fashioned dress, she was the best in the world.

The bride and groom sat down at the table. The most noble gentlemen served them various dishes of ancient cuisine. And violins and oboes played for them lovely, long-forgotten songs of the last century.

The court poet immediately composed a new, albeit a little old-fashioned song about a beautiful princess who slept for a hundred years in an enchanted forest. The song was very liked by those who heard it, and since then it has been sung by everyone from young to old, from cooks to kings.

And who did not know how to sing songs, he told a fairy tale. This tale passed from mouth to mouth and finally came to us.

There lived a king and a queen. They had no children, and this made them so sad, so sad, that it is impossible to say.
And finally, when they completely lost hope, the queen had a daughter.
You can imagine what a holiday was organized on the occasion of her birth, what a lot of guests were invited to the palace, what gifts they prepared! ..
But the most honorable places at the royal table were reserved for the fairies, who in those days still lived somewhere in the world. Everyone knew that these kind sorceresses, if they only wanted to, could bestow such precious treasures on a newborn that all the riches of the world could not buy. And since there were seven fairies, the little princess should have received at least seven wonderful gifts from them.
Splendid dining utensils were placed before the fairies: plates of the finest china, crystal goblets, and a chest each of solid gold. In each drawer were a spoon, a fork and a knife, also made of pure gold and, moreover, of the finest workmanship.
And suddenly, when the guests sat down at the table, the door opened, and the old fairy entered - the eighth in a row - whom they forgot to call to the holiday.
And they forgot to call her because for more than fifty years she had not left her tower, and everyone thought that she had died.
The king immediately ordered the instrument to be brought to her. In less than a minute, the servants placed plates of the finest painted porcelain and a crystal goblet in front of the old fairy.
But the golden box with a spoon, fork and knife was not enough for her share. Only seven of these boxes were prepared - one for each of the seven invited fairies. Instead of golden ones, the old woman was given an ordinary spoon, an ordinary fork and an ordinary knife.
The old fairy, of course, was very offended. She thought that the king and queen were impolite people and did not meet her as respectfully as they should. Pushing her plate and goblet away from her, she muttered some kind of threat through her teeth.
Luckily, the young fairy who was sitting next to her heard her mumbling just in time. Fearing that the old woman might think of endowing the little princess with something very unpleasant - for example, a long nose or a long tongue - she, as soon as the guests got up from the table, made her way into the nursery and hid there behind the canopy of the crib. The young fairy knew that the one who has the last word usually wins in a dispute, and she wanted her wish to be the last.
And now the most solemn moment of the holiday has come:
the fairies entered the nursery and one by one began to present the newborn with the gifts they had in store for her.
One of the fairies wished that the princess was the most beautiful in the world. The other rewarded her with a tender and kind heart. The third said that she would grow and bloom for everyone's joy. The fourth promised that the princess would learn to dance excellently, the fifth - that she would sing like a nightingale, and the sixth - that she would play equally skillfully on all musical instruments.
Finally, it was the turn of the old fairy. The old woman leaned over the bed and, shaking her head more from annoyance than from old age, said that the princess would prick her hand with a spindle and die from it.
Everyone shuddered when they learned what a terrible gift the evil sorceress had prepared for the little princess. Nobody could stop crying.
And just then a young fairy appeared from behind the canopy and said loudly:
- Don't cry, king and queen! Your daughter will live. True, I am not so strong as to make the spoken word unsaid. Sadly, the princess will have to prick her hand with a spindle, but she will not die from this, but will only fall into a deep sleep and will sleep for a whole hundred years, until the handsome prince wakes her up.
This promise calmed the king and queen a little.
Still, the king decided to try to save the princess from the misfortune that the old evil fairy had predicted for her. To do this, under pain of death, he forbade all his subjects to spin yarn and keep spindles and spinning wheels in his house.
Fifteen or sixteen years have passed. Once the king with the queen and daughter went to one of their country palaces.
The princess wanted to see the ancient castle. Running from room to room, she finally reached the very top of the palace tower.
There, in a cramped little closet under the roof, some old woman sat at a spinning wheel and calmly spun yarn. Oddly enough, she had not heard a word from anyone about the royal ban.
- What are you doing, auntie? asked the princess, who had never seen a spinning wheel in her life.
“I am spinning yarn, my child,” the old woman answered, not even realizing that she was talking to the princess.
- Oh, it's very beautiful! - said the princess. Let me see if I can do as well as you.
She quickly grabbed the spindle and barely had time to touch it, as the prediction of the evil fairy came true, the princess pricked her finger and fell dead.
The frightened old woman began to call for help. People ran from all sides.
Whatever they did: they splashed the princess in the face with water, clapped their hands on her palms, rubbed her whiskey with fragrant vinegar - it was all in vain. The princess didn't even move.
Run after the king. He climbed into the tower, looked at his daughter and immediately realized that the misfortune that he and the queen so feared had not passed them.
Wiping away his tears, he ordered the princess to be transferred to the most beautiful hall of the palace and laid there on a bed decorated with silver and gold embroidery.
It is difficult to describe in words how beautiful the sleeping princess was. She didn't fade at all. Her cheeks were rosy and her lips red like corals.
True, her eyes were tightly closed, but it was audible that she was breathing softly. So it really was a dream, not death.
The king ordered not to disturb the princess until the hour of her awakening comes.
And the good fairy who saved his daughter from death, wishing her a hundred years of sleep, was at that time very far away, twelve thousand miles from the castle. But she immediately learned about this misfortune from a little dwarf walker who had seven-league boots.
The fairy is on her way now. In less than an hour, her fiery chariot drawn by dragons had already appeared near the royal palace. The king gave her his hand and helped her to get off the chariot.
The fairy did her best to console the king and queen. But, while comforting them, she at the same time thought about how sad the princess would be when, in a hundred years, the poor thing would wake up in this old castle and not see a single familiar face near her.
To prevent this from happening, the fairy did this.
With her magic wand, she touched everyone in the palace except the king and queen. And there were court ladies and gentlemen, governesses, maids, butlers, cooks, cooks, runners, soldiers of the palace guards, gatekeepers, pages and lackeys.
She touched with her wand both the horses in the royal stable and the grooms who combed the horses' tails. She touched the big yard dogs and the little curly dog ​​called Puff, which lay at the feet of the sleeping princess.
And now, everyone who was touched by the fairy wand fell asleep. They fell asleep exactly for a hundred years to wake up with their mistress and serve her as they served before. Even partridges and pheasants fell asleep, which were roasted on the fire. tales .. The fire that roasted them fell asleep.
And all this happened in one single moment. Fairies know their stuff: wave your wand and you're done!
Only the king and queen did not fall asleep. The fairy didn't touch them with her wand on purpose, because they had things to do that couldn't be put off for a hundred years.
Wiping away tears, they kissed their sleeping daughter, said goodbye to her and quietly left the hall.
Returning to their capital, they issued a decree that no one dared to approach the enchanted castle.
However, even without that, it was impossible to approach the gates of the castle. In just a quarter of an hour, so many trees, large and small, grew around his fence, so many thorny bushes - thorns, wild roses, holly - and all this was so closely intertwined with branches that no one could get through such a thicket.
And only from a distance, and even from the mountain, one could see the tops of the old castle.
The fairy did all this so that neither man nor beast would disturb the rest of the sleeping princess.
A hundred years have passed. Many kings and queens have changed over the years.
And then one day the son of the king, who reigned at that time, went hunting.
In the distance, above a dense dense forest, he saw the towers of some castle.
- Whose castle is this? Who lives in it? - he asked all the passers-by who came across him on the way.
But no one could really answer. Each repeated only what he had heard from others. One said that these were old ruins in which wandering lights settled. Another claimed that there were dragons and poisonous snakes. But most agreed that the old castle belonged to a ferocious ogre.
The prince didn't know who to trust. But then an old peasant approached him and said, bowing:
“Good prince, half a century ago, when I was as young as you are now, I heard from my father that in this castle a beautiful princess sleeps deeply and that she will sleep for another half century until the noble and brave young man won't come and wake her up.
Can you imagine how the prince felt when he heard those words!
His heart was on fire in his chest. He immediately decided that it was he who had the good fortune to awaken the beautiful princess from her sleep.
Without thinking twice, the prince pulled the reins and galloped to where the towers of the old castle could be seen.
And in front of him is an enchanted forest. The prince jumped off his horse, and immediately tall thick trees, thickets of thorny bushes - everything parted to give him the way. As if along a long, straight alley, he went to the gates of the castle.
The prince walked alone. None of his retinue managed to catch up with him: the trees, having missed the prince, immediately closed behind him, and the bushes again intertwined their branches. It might have frightened anyone, but the prince was young and bold. In addition, he so wanted to wake the beautiful princess that he forgot to think about any danger.
Another hundred steps - and he found himself in a spacious courtyard in front of the castle. The prince looked to the right, to the left, and his blood ran cold in his veins. Around him lay, sat, stood, leaning against the wall, some people in ancient clothes. They were all motionless, as if dead.
But, peering into the red, shiny faces of the gatekeepers, the prince realized that they were not dead at all, but simply sleeping. They had goblets in their hands, and the wine had not yet dried in the goblets. Sleep must have overtaken them at the moment when they were about to drain the bowls to the bottom.
The prince passed a large courtyard paved with marble slabs, climbed the stairs and entered the first room. There, lined up in a row and leaning on their halberds, the soldiers of the palace guards were snoring with might and main.
He passed through a series of richly decorated chambers. In each of them, along the walls and around the tables, the prince saw a lot of dressed-up ladies and smart gentlemen. They were all fast asleep, some standing, some sitting.
And here in front of him, finally, is a room with gilded walls and a gilded ceiling. He entered and stopped.
On the bed, the curtains of which were thrown back, lay a beautiful young princess of fifteen or sixteen years old (except for the century she had slept).
The prince involuntarily closed his eyes: her beauty shone so much that even the gold around her seemed dull and pale. He quietly approached and knelt before her.
At this very moment, the hour appointed by the good fairy. struck.
The princess woke up, opened her eyes and looked at her deliverer.
- Oh, is that you, prince? - she said. - Finally! How long have you been waiting for...
Before she had time to finish these words, everything around her woke up.
The first to speak was a little dog called Puff, which was lying at the feet of the princess. She barked loudly when she saw a stranger, and from the courtyard she was answered with hoarse barks by watchdogs. Horses neighed in the stable, pigeons cooed under the roof.
The fire in the oven crackled with all its might, and the pheasants, which the cooks had not had time to roast a hundred years ago, turned red in one minute.
The servants, under the supervision of the butler, were already setting the table in the mirrored dining room. And the ladies of the court, while waiting for breakfast, straightened their locks, disheveled for a hundred years, and smiled at their sleepy cavaliers.
In the chamber of the palace guards, the warriors went back to their usual business - stamping their heels and rattling their weapons.
And the porters, who were sitting at the entrance to the palace, finally drained the goblets and filled them again with good wine, which, of course, became older and better in a hundred years.
The whole castle from the flag on the tower to the wine cellar came to life and rustled.
The prince and princess heard nothing. They looked at each other and couldn't get enough of each other. The princess forgot that she had not eaten anything for a century, and the prince did not remember that he had not had poppy dew in his mouth since morning. They talked for four whole hours and did not manage to say even half of what they wanted to say.
But everyone else was not in love and therefore starved to death.
Finally, the eldest lady-in-waiting, who was as hungry as everyone else, could not stand it and reported to the princess that breakfast was served.
The prince extended his hand to his bride and led her into the dining room. The princess was magnificently dressed and looked with pleasure at herself in the mirrors, and the prince in love, of course, did not say a word to her that the style of her dress had gone out of fashion at least a hundred years ago and that such sleeves and collars had not been worn since his great-great-grandmother.
However, even in an old-fashioned dress, she was the best in the world.
The bride and groom sat down at the table. The most noble gentlemen served them various dishes of ancient cuisine. And violins and oboes played for them lovely, long-forgotten songs of the last century.
The court poet immediately composed a new, albeit a little old-fashioned song about a beautiful princess who slept for a hundred years in an enchanted forest. Those who heard it liked the song very much, and since then everyone from young to old began to sing it - from cooks to kings.
And who did not know how to sing songs, he told a fairy tale. This tale passed from mouth to mouth and finally came to us.

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Once upon a time there was a brave king with his beautiful queen. They were childless, and this made them very sad. They fervently prayed that God would send them a baby, and, finally, the queen gave birth to a daughter.

The christening of the newborn was magnificently celebrated, inviting all the sorceresses of the kingdom (there were seven of them) to be godmothers to the celebration. The invited sorceresses, according to the then custom, made a gift and a wish to the little princess. Thus, the princess was endowed with all sorts of good qualities.

After the christening, all the sorceresses went to a gala dinner in honor of this significant event, where luxurious treats were prepared for them. In front of each of the seven sorceresses, they placed a golden dish studded with diamonds and rubies. Nearby lay magnificent golden spoons, forks and knives. When the sorceresses sat down at the table, an old, very old sorceress entered the hall, who was not invited, because she was considered long dead or enchanted. For more than fifty years, she did not appear from her tower, and, naturally, everyone forgot about her.

The king and queen seated the old woman at the table. But there were no more golden dishes and cutlery, since they were ordered and made strictly according to the number of invited sorceresses, so the old sorceress was given silver dishes.

The old grumbler was terribly offended by this and muttered through her teeth:

Well, they will see me...

The youngest sorceress, who was sitting next to the old woman, heard her muttering and realized that the sorceress could cause trouble for the little one, so she decided to reward the little princess last, in order to thus try to correct the evil that the sorceress would bring to the baby.

Finally, the sorceresses began to reward the little princess with various qualities. The youngest promised that she would be more beautiful than anyone in the world, the second - that it would be difficult to find a girl smarter than her, the third gave the princess mercy and a good heart, the fourth and fifth awarded her the art of dancing and nightingale singing, the sixth - the gift of playing all musical instruments without exception .

Then it was the old witch's turn. Smiling wickedly, she said:

The princess will pierce her finger with a spindle and die at the same hour.

At this terrible prophecy, everyone wept uncontrollably. But then the seventh sorceress said loudly:

Do not cry, dear guests and you, the king and queen. I can't undo what the old hag said, but it's in my power to change that prediction a little. When the princess pierces her finger with a spindle, she will not die. She will fall into a deep sleep exactly for a hundred years. And one day a young prince will come and wake her up.

Despite this promise, the king issued a decree forbidding anyone in the kingdom to use spindles on pain of death. It was not even allowed to keep them at home. But he did not know that an ordinary mortal could not defeat magic.

Fifteen years have passed. And then one day the young princess decided to explore all the rooms and nooks and crannies in her father's huge castle. Climbing to the very top, in one tiny, cobweb-covered room, she found a little old woman, who, smiling, was spinning yarn with a spindle.

Oh, what is that in your hands? the princess exclaimed. - Grandma, show me this little thing, please.

This is a spindle, my little one, - said the old woman, who had not left her closet for a long time and had never heard of the old witch, the ominous prediction and the royal decree. - Take a look if you're interested.

As soon as the princess took the spindle in her hands, she pricked her finger with it and fell dead on the stone floor of the room.

For help! - shouted the frightened old woman, and all the royal servants instantly ran to her. They tried their best to revive the princess, putting a cold linen towel on her head, smelling salt to her nose, splashing rose water in her face - all to no avail.

The king who ran after the servants realized that the prophecy of the old witch had come true. He ordered the princess to be carried to the best palace room, dressed in the most beautiful dress and laid on a bed of brocade, gold and silver. The magical dream did not disturb the beauty of the princess. Her cheeks were as red as roses, her teeth were as white as corals and fresh as lily petals, her calm, even breathing showed that she had not died, but simply fell asleep.

The sorceress who saved her life with her spell was far from the palace on that fateful day. But the dwarf in seven-league boots immediately brought her news of this misfortune, and in less than half an hour she appeared in the castle.

The king told the good sorceress everything in order and asked her if he had done everything right.

The princess will be very upset, waking up after so many years and not finding servants around her, and seeing only an empty castle, - said the good fairy. - I can't let that happen.

With her magic wand, she touched everyone who was in the castle: ladies-in-waiting, governesses, maids, butlers, cooks and cooks, guards and pages, grooms, horses in the stables, the coachman and even the princess’s little favorite, Poufletta’s dog, who was lying next to the mistress on beds.

The king and queen kissed their daughter and went to live in another castle. And the good fairy surrounded the castle with a dense forest and thickets of prickly thorns, so that neither man nor beast would dare to disturb the princess's hundred-year-old dream ahead of time.

A hundred years have passed. Once a young prince, the son of the king of a neighboring state, hunted in these places. Suddenly raising his head high, he saw in the center of the dense forest the tops of some ancient towers. The prince began to question the people living in these places and received fifty different answers to his question. One told him that this is a gathering place for witches, where they celebrate their Sabbath, another assured him that elves, little forest men, live there, the third that a huge hungry ogre lives there.

Only one very ancient elder said to him:

When I was a very small child, I heard from my father that a princess of extraordinary beauty was sleeping in that castle. The fairy put her to sleep for a hundred years, and only some brave prince can wake her up.

The young prince believed the old man.

What an exciting adventure awaits me! he exclaimed. - Forward, to happiness and good luck! - and, rushing to the castle, he spurred his horse. The thirst for love and glory gave him courage. Having approached very close to the wild forest, he was about to make his way through it, when suddenly the thorny thickets of thorns parted by themselves, giving him the way. The prince walked towards the castle, and the thickets closed behind him, preventing anyone from following him. Soon he entered the palace and was horrified. In complete silence, people were sleeping all around, whom the dream found in the most natural poses: someone was feasting, someone was climbing the palace stairs, someone was embroidering or reading. Passing on, the prince entered the golden room and stopped in amazement. A princess of fabulous beauty slept on a golden brocade bed woven with silver. Even the sun could not compare with her, the roses would wither in comparison with the blush on her cheeks, and the proud white lilies would shyly hide if they were asked to measure the whiteness of their skin with her.

Embarrassed and entranced by her beauty, the prince sat down beside her. And finally, the prediction of the good fairy came true, and the princess, exactly one hundred years later, woke up and opened her eyes:

How long have I been waiting for you, my dear prince, she whispered.

In admiration for these words, from her beauty and from the unusualness of everything that was happening, the prince realized that he loved the princess more than life itself.

Gradually, everything in the castle began to come to life, everyone set to work, and the maid of honor who entered the hall announced:

The dinner is served.

The prince helped the princess up. He did not say a word that her luxurious dress had long gone out of fashion and looked very ridiculous. But even in this old-fashioned outfit, she looked better than the most fashionable beauties in the world.

They had lunch in a beautiful palace room. The prince was fascinated by old dishes and music, the melody of which he remembered from childhood. After dinner, the priest married the young prince and princess in the palace church.

The next day, the prince went home to his parents. He decided to keep his adventure a secret from them, since his mother was an evil woman, and it was even said that she was from the breed of cannibals. In addition, she was quick-tempered and did not like it when her son did something without first asking her for advice. Therefore, the prince said that he got lost while hunting and spent the night in the forester's hut.

No one guessed anything, and so two years passed. The prince and princess had two children. They named their eldest daughter Morning Dawn, and the second child, their son, Clear Day.

Soon the old king died and the prince inherited his throne. He announced his marriage and with a magnificent ceremony moved his small family to the castle.

Some time later, the following summer, the young king went to war. Going on a campaign, he instructed his mother to manage the state in his absence.

As soon as he left, the old queen immediately sent the princess with her children to a ruined house in the middle of a dense forest and a few days later came to visit them.

She called the cook and told him:

Serve me Morning Dawn for dinner tomorrow.

Oh Your Majesty! cried the cook.

Do it! said the queen in a terrible, cannibalistic voice. "And don't forget to top it with a delicious sauce."

The poor cook, seeing that it was pointless and dangerous to argue with a cannibal, took a large kitchen knife and went into the room of the Morning Dawn. Seeing him, the little girl laughed, clapped her hands happily and asked him to tell her a story. She was so lovely and tender that the cook could not bring himself to do a dirty deed and kill her. He ran out of the room in tears.

In the barnyard, he found a young lamb, slaughtered it and cooked it for dinner for the old queen. Meanwhile, his wife hid Dawn in the hayloft. The cannibal ate the young lamb with great pleasure, saying: “I have never eaten such a yummy in my life!”

The next Sunday she called the cook again and said:

Tonight, prepare a Clear Day for me for dinner!

The cook did not argue with her, but took and hid the boy in the hayloft. Then he cooked a young goose with a wonderful white sauce and gave it to the queen. The ogress was delighted with the culinary skills of the cook and was satisfied. Some more time passed. Everything was calm. But one day the villain again said to the cook:

Now I want to eat the young queen. Serve it to me with the same delicious sauce!

It was a difficult task for the cook. The young queen was twenty years old, not counting the hundred years she had slept. And the animals on the farm were too young for the ogre to detect the deception.

Terribly afraid of angering the cannibal, the cook decided to kill the young queen. Resolutely determined, he burst into her room. But when he saw the beautiful queen, he decided to tell her everything.

Do as you are told! the queen said to him, proudly raising her head. - I will die with joy in order to finally meet my unfortunate eaten children in the next world.

She did not know that her children were alive and well. Her courage disarmed the cook.

Oh no, my lady! he exclaimed. - I can not do it. You don't have to die to see your children. I have hidden them well, and I will hide you too. And for the evil queen, instead of you, I will cook a wild deer for dinner.

He hid the queen in the hayloft, and prepared a young deer for the cannibal, which she ate with great pleasure. The old hag decided that when her son returned, she would say that rabid wolves had killed his entire family.

One day she was walking around the yard and passed by the hayloft. Suddenly she heard children's laughter coming from there and a familiar female voice calming the children. No doubt it was a young queen with her children. The ogre went berserk because she had been deceived.

Find the biggest and deepest barrel in the kingdom. Place it in your courtyard and by morning fill it with poisonous snakes, toads, lizards and vipers. Throw in a young queen with children and a cook. I want to see how they will die there in terrible agony.

The next day, cannibalistic servants prepared to throw the queen with the children and the cook into a barrel infested with writhing snakes and disgusting toads.

But suddenly the gates of the castle flew open and a young king, who had returned from the war, entered them.

What are you preparing here? he exclaimed in astonishment.

No one dared to tell him the truth, everyone stood in silence, their eyes downcast. The old cannibal realized that now all her tricks would become known, and out of anger that she had not achieved her goal, she jumped into a barrel, where she was immediately torn apart by disgusting creeping creatures.

The king was at first saddened, but then, having learned everything, he was consoled and began to live happily with his beautiful wife and two charming children.
Read...

» Sleeping Beauty. Fairy tale by Charles Perrault

or in the world a king and a queen. They had no children, and this made them so sad, so sad, that it is impossible to say.

And finally, when they completely lost hope, the queen had a daughter.

You can imagine what a holiday was organized on the occasion of her birth, what a lot of guests were invited to the palace, what gifts they prepared! ..

But the most honorable places at the royal table were reserved for the fairies, who in those days still lived somewhere in the world. Everyone knew that these kind sorceresses, if they only wanted to, could bestow such precious treasures on a newborn that all the riches of the world could not buy. And since there were seven fairies, the little princess should have received at least seven wonderful gifts from them.

Splendid dining utensils were placed before the fairies: plates of the finest china, crystal goblets, and a chest each of solid gold. In each drawer were a spoon, a fork and a knife, also made of pure gold and, moreover, of the finest workmanship.

And suddenly, when the guests sat down at the table, the door opened, and the old fairy entered - the eighth in a row - whom they forgot to invite to the holiday.

And they forgot to call her because for more than fifty years she had not left her tower, and everyone thought that she had died.

The king immediately ordered the instrument to be brought to her. In less than a minute, the servants placed plates of the finest painted porcelain and a crystal goblet in front of the old fairy.

But the golden box with a spoon, fork and knife was not enough for her share. These boxes were prepared in total seven - one for each of the seven invited fairies. Instead of golden ones, the old woman was given an ordinary spoon, an ordinary fork and an ordinary knife.

The old fairy, of course, was very offended. She thought that the king and queen were impolite people and did not greet her as respectfully as they should. Pushing her plate and goblet away from her, she muttered some kind of threat through her teeth.

Luckily, the young fairy who was sitting next to her heard her mumbling just in time. Fearing that the old woman would not think of endowing the little princess with something very unpleasant - for example, a long nose or a long tongue - she, as soon as the guests got up from the table, made her way into the nursery and hid there behind the canopy of the crib. The young fairy knew that the one who has the last word usually wins in a dispute, and she wanted her wish to be the last.

And then the most solemn moment of the holiday came: the fairies entered the nursery and one after another began to present the newborn gifts that they had in store for her.

One of the fairies wished that the princess was the most beautiful in the world. The other rewarded her with a tender and kind heart. The third said that she would grow and bloom for everyone's joy. The fourth promised that the princess would learn to dance excellently, the fifth that she would sing like a nightingale, and the sixth that she would play equally skillfully on all musical instruments.

Finally, it was the turn of the old fairy. The old woman leaned over the bed and, shaking her head more from annoyance than from old age, said that the princess would prick her hand with a spindle and die from it.

Everyone shuddered when they learned what a terrible gift the evil sorceress had prepared for the little princess. Nobody could stop crying.

And just then a young fairy appeared from behind the canopy and said loudly:

Don't cry, king and queen! Your daughter will live. True, I am not so strong as to make the spoken word unsaid. Sadly, the princess will have to prick her hand with a spindle, but she will not die from this, but will only fall into a deep sleep and will sleep for a whole hundred years, until the handsome prince wakes her up.

This promise calmed the king and queen a little.

Still, the king decided to try to save the princess from the misfortune that the old evil fairy had predicted for her. To do this, under pain of death, he forbade all his subjects to spin yarn and keep spindles and spinning wheels in his house.

Fifteen or sixteen years have passed. Once the king with the queen and daughter went to one of their country palaces.

The princess wanted to see the ancient castle. Running from room to room, she finally reached the very top of the palace tower.

There, in a cramped little closet under the roof, some old woman sat at a spinning wheel and calmly spun yarn.

Oddly enough, she had not heard a word from anyone about the royal ban.

What are you doing, auntie? asked the princess, who had never seen a spinning wheel in her life.

I’m spinning yarn, my child,” the old woman answered, not even realizing that she was talking to the princess.

Ah, this is very beautiful! said the princess. “Let me see if I can make it as good as you.”

She quickly grabbed the spindle and barely had time to touch it, as the prediction of the evil fairy came true, the princess pricked her finger and fell dead.

The frightened old woman began to call for help. People ran from all sides.

Whatever they did: they splashed the princess in the face with water, clapped their hands on her palms, rubbed her whiskey with fragrant vinegar - it was all in vain. The princess didn't even move.