At the end of that time a king’s son will come and awaken her.”

The king, to avoid the misfortune foretold by the old fairy, immediately had proclamations made around the kingdom, forbidding everybody, on pain of death, to use a spinning wheel, or to have so much as a spindle in their homes.

About 15 or 16 years later, when the king and queen were away, the young princess was amusing herself one day by running up and down the palace. Going from one room to another, she eventually came to a little room at the top of a tower, where an old woman was spinning. This good woman had never heard of the king’s proclamation.

“What are you doing there, my good woman?” asked the princess.

“I am spinning, my pretty child,” said the old woman, who did not know who the princess was.

“Well,” said the princess, “this is very nice. How do you do it? Let me try it, to see if I can do it.”

She had no sooner put her hand on the spindle than, whether because she was too hasty, or too clumsy, or because the old fairy’s decree had ordained it, it cut her hand, and she immediately fell down in a faint.

The old woman, not knowing what else to do, called out for help. People came from everywhere in great numbers – they threw water upon the princess’s face, loosened her corset, struck her on the palms of her hands and rubbed her temples with eau de Cologne, but nothing revived her.

Then the king, who had just returned to the palace, heard all the commotion and came to see what was going on. He remembered the prediction of the fairies and, realising that it would have to have happened since the fairies had decreed it, had the princess carried into the finest apartment in the palace and laid on a bed embroidered with gold and silver. She was so beautiful that she looked like an angel, for her collapse had not affected her lovely complexion. Her cheeks were still as rosy as carnations, and her lips were as pink as coral. Although her eyes were shut she was heard breathing softly, so everyone knew that she wasn’t dead. The king commanded that she should not be disturbed, but should be allowed to sleep quietly until the hour of her awakening had come.

The good fairy, who had saved the princess’s life by condemning her to sleep for 100 years, was a thousand leagues away in the kingdom of Matakin when this accident happened. She was very soon informed of it by a little dwarf with seven-league boots (that is, boots with which he could travel over seven leagues with a single stride). The fairy left immediately and arrived at the palace about an hour later, in a fiery chariot that was drawn by flame-breathing dragons. The king helped her out of the chariot and she approved everything he had done. However, she had the foresight to realise that when the princess woke up, she might not know what to do with herself, being all alone in this old palace. So this is what she did: She touched everything and everyone in the palace (except the king and queen) with her wand – governesses, ladies-in-waiting, ladies of the bedchamber, gentlemen, officers, stewards, cooks, assistant cooks, scullery maids, guards, pages and footmen. She also touched all the horses in the stables, as well as their grooms, the large courtyard dogs and pretty little Mopsy, the princess’s spaniel, which lay beside her on the bed.

As soon as she touched them they all fell asleep. They would not wake before the princess and would be ready to serve her when she needed them. The very spits on the fire, full to capacity with partridges and pheasants, fell asleep, as did the fire itself. All this was done in a moment – fairies do not take long to go about their business.

Then the king and queen, having kissed their beloved child without waking her, left the palace and issued a proclamation that nobody should dare to come near it. This, however, was unnecessary, for, in a quarter of an hour’s time, there grew up, all around the palace park, a vast number of trees, large and small, bushes and brambles, intertwining with each other, so that no person or animal could pass through them. Nothing could be seen but the very tops of the palace towers, and that was only from a long way off. Everyone believed that the fairy had done this, so that the princess, while she continued to sleep, would have nothing to fear from curious people.

When 100 years had passed, the son of the king then reigning (who was of a different family from that of the sleeping princess) went hunting in that part of the country. What, he asked, were those towers that he saw in the middle of a great thick wood? Everyone answered based on what they had heard. Some said it was an old, ruined castle, haunted by spirits; others said that all the sorcerers and witches of the country had their night meetings there. The common opinion was that an ogre (an ogre is a giant, with long teeth and claws, who runs away with naughty little boys and girls and eats them up) lived there, and that he brought there all the little children that he could catch, so that he could eat them at his leisure, without anybody being able to follow him, because only he had the power to pass through the wood.

The prince, perplexed, didn’t know what to believe, but then a very old man spoke to him.

“May it please Your Royal Highness, it is now more than 50 years since I heard my father, who had it from my grandfather, say that in this castle there was the most beautiful princess ever seen; that she must sleep there for 100 years, and be awakened by a king’s son, for whom she was reserved.”

The young prince was set alight with these words, believing, without a moment’s doubt, that he could put an end to the princess’s adventure. Urged on by love and honour, he immediately resolved to look into the matter.

The prince had hardly gone any distance towards the wood when all the huge trees and the bushes and brambles gave way and let him pass through. He walked up to the castle at the end of a large avenue and went in. He was a little surprised when he saw that none of his men could follow him because the trees had closed again as soon as he had passed through them. However, he continued on his way – a young and amorous prince is always brave. He came to a spacious outer courtyard, where everything he saw could have filled the bravest person with horror.