Once there were a king and a queen, who said every day:

“Oh, if only we had a child!” and still had none.

Then it came to pass as the queen once sat in the bath that a frog crawled onto land from the water and said to her:

“Your wish will be fulfilled, before the year passes, you will bring a daughter into the world.”

What the frog had said came true, the queen bore a girl who was so lovely that the king was overcome by joy and held a great feast. He didn’t just invite his friends, relatives and acquaintances, but also the wise women so that they would be kind and favour the child. There were thirteen of them in his kingdom, but because he only had twelve golden plates for them to eat from, one of them would have to stay home.

The feast was celebrated with all splendour and when it came to an end, the wise women gifted the child with their miraculous gifts: one with virtue, the other with beauty, the third with wealth, and so on with everything that there is to wish for in the world. When eleven of them had made their pronouncements, suddenly the thirteenth entered. She wanted revenge for not having been invited; without greeting anyone or even looking at them, she called with a loud voice: “The princess shall prick herself on a spindle in her fifteenth year and fall dead.” And without another word she turned around and left the hall. Everyone was shocked, then the twelfth who still had her wish left stepped forward and because she couldn’t lift the evil curse, but could only soften it, so she said: “It will be not death but rather a deep sleep for a hundred years that the princess shall fall into.”

The king, who wanted to protect his child from harm, let the order go out that all spindles in the entire kingdom should be burned. The pronouncements of the wise women were completely fulfilled, because the girl was so lovely, demure, friendly and wise, that everyone who saw her held her dear. It happened that on the day she turned fifteen, the king and the queen were not at home, and the girl stayed alone in the castle. There she wandered around everywhere, took a look at the parlours and chambers, as she wanted to, and finally came to an old tower. She climbed the spiral staircase and arrived at a small door. In the lock there was a rusty key and as she turned it, the door sprang open and there sat in a small parlour a woman with a spindle and she was assiduously spinning flax.

“Good day, old mother,” said the princess. “What are you doing there?” “I’m spinning,” said the old woman and nodded her head. “What kind of thing is that that jumps around so merrily?” said the girl, taking the spindle and also wanting to spin. She had hardly touched the spindle when the spell was fulfilled and she pricked her finger. The moment she felt the prick, she fell onto a bed that was there and lay in a deep sleep.

And this sleep spread across the entire castle: the king and the queen, who had just arrived home and gone into the hall, began to fall asleep and all of the royal household with them. Then also the horses fell asleep in the stable, the dogs in the courtyard, the doves on the roof, the flies on the wall, yes, the fire that flickered on the stove grew still and fell asleep, and the roast stopped sizzling and the cook, who wanted to pull the hair of the kitchen boy because he had done something wrong, let him go and fell asleep. And the wind died away, and no leaves blew on the trees in front of the castle anymore. However, around the castle a thorn hedge began to grow that became higher every year, and finally surrounded the whole castle and grew over it, so that nothing of it could be seen, not even the banner on the roof.

The legend travelled through the land of the beautiful Sleeping Beauty, for that is what the princess was called, so from time to time princes came and tried to get through the hedge to the castle. However it wasn’t possible because the thorns, as though they had hands, held together fast, and the youths stayed hanging on them, unable to get themselves free and died miserable deaths.

After long years a prince came again into the land and heard, as an old man explained about the thorn hedge, that there was supposed to be a castle behind it, in which a beautiful princess named Sleeping Beauty had been sleeping for a hundred years, and with her the king and the queen and the whole royal household. He also knew from his grandfather that already many princes had come and tried to get through the thorn hedge, but that they were stuck hanging there and had died tragic deaths. Thus the youth said: “I am not afraid, I want to get beyond it and see the lovely Sleeping Beauty.” The old man tried to dissuade him from what he wanted to do, but he wouldn’t listen to the words. But now the hundred years had elapsed, and the day had come for Sleeping Beauty to wake. As the prince neared the thorn hedge, it was all big lovely flowers, that moved apart from each other and let him pass unharmed, and behind him they came back together as a hedge. In the castle courtyard he saw the horses and motley hunting dogs lying and sleeping, on the roof sat the doves and they had hidden their little heads under their wings. And as he came into the house, the flies slept upon the walls, the cook in the kitchen still held up his hand to grab the boy, and the maid sat in front of the black chicken that was to be plucked.

He went further and saw in the great hall the whole royal household lying down and sleeping, and above by the throne lay the king and the queen. He went further yet and everything was so silent that he could hear his breath, and finally he came to the tower and opened the door to the small parlour in which Sleeping Beauty was sleeping. There she lay and was so beautiful that he couldn’t take his eyes off her and he bent and kissed her.

As his kiss touched her, Sleeping Beauty’s eyes shot open, she awoke and looked at him pleasantly. They went down together and the king awoke and the queen and the whole royal household, and looked at each other with wide eyes. And the horses in the courtyard stood up and shook themselves; the hunting dogs jumped up and wagged their tails; the doves on the roof took their little heads out from under their wings, looked around and flew into the fields; the flies on the wall went on crawling, the fire in the kitchen flared up, flickered and cooked the food; the roast began sizzling again; and the cook gave the boy a box on the ear and he cried out; and the maid finished plucking the chicken.

And so the wedding of the prince and Sleeping Beauty was celebrated in all splendour, and they lived happily ever after.