I often hear it said that "The original version is so different!" when it comes to fairy tales. Here's "Sleeping Beauty" as told by the Brothers Grimm. I took an 1884 translation and changed some of the language to make it slightly more modern. Disney's version didn't have a magic fish, did it?
Once upon a time, a king and queen reigned in a far-away country, where there were fairies. The king and queen had plenty of money, and plenty of fine clothes to wear, and plenty of good things to eat and drink, and a coach to ride every day. But though they had been married many years they had no children, and this grieved them very much indeed.
One day as the queen
was walking by the side of the river. At the border of the garden, she saw a
poor little fish that had thrown itself out of the water, and lay gasping and
nearly dead on the bank. The queen took pity on the little fish, and threw it
back again into the river. Before it swam away it lifted its head out of the
water and said, “I know what your wish is, and it shall be fulfilled, in return
for your kindness to me–you will soon have a daughter.”
What the little fish
had foretold soon came to pass, and the queen had a little girl who was so very
beautiful that the king could only gaze. He announced a great feast to
celebrate her birth, and to show the child to all the land.
So he invited his
kinsmen, and nobles, and friends, and neighbours. But the queen said, “I will
invite the fairies also, that they might be kind and good to our little
daughter.”
Now there were
thirteen fairies in the kingdom, but because the king and queen only had twelve
golden dishes for them to eat out of, one of the fairies was not invited. So
twelve fairies came, each with a high red cap on her head, and red shoes with
high heels on her feet, and a long white wand in her hand. After the feast was
over they gathered round in a ring and gave all their best gifts to the little
princess. One gave her goodness, another beauty, another riches, and so on till
she had all that was good in the world.
Just as eleven of
them had done blessing her, a great noise was heard in the courtyard, and word
was brought that the thirteenth fairy was come, with a black cap on her head,
and black shoes on her feet, and a broomstick in her hand. Presently she came
into the dining- hall. Because she had not been asked to the feast she was very
angry, and scolded the king and queen, then set to work to take her revenge.
She cried out, “The king’s daughter shall, in her fifteenth year, be wounded by
a spindle, and fall down dead.”
Then the twelfth of
the friendly fairies, who had not yet given her gift, came forward and said
that the evil wish must be fulfilled, but that she could soften its harm. Her
gift was that the king’s daughter, when the spindle wounded her, should not
really die, but should only fall asleep for a hundred years.
However, the king
hoped still to save his dear child altogether from the curse, and he ordered
that all the spindles in the kingdom should be bought up and burnt.
All the gifts of the
first eleven fairies were fulfilled. The princess was so beautiful, and well
behaved, and good, and wise, that everyone who knew her loved her.
It happened that, on
the very day she was fifteen years old, the king and queen were not at home,
and she was left alone in the palace. So she roved about by herself, and looked
at all the rooms and chambers, till at last she came to an old tower, in which
there was a narrow staircase ending at a little door.
In the door there was
a golden key, and when she turned it the door sprang open and there sat an old
lady spinning away very busily. “Why, my goodness, dear woman,” said the
princess, “what are you doing here?”
“Spinning,” said the
old lady, and she nodded her head, humming a tune, while the wheel buzzed.
“How prettily that
little thing turns round,” said the princess.
She took the spindle
and began to try and spin. But scarcely had she touched it before the fairy’s
prophecy was fulfilled. The spindle wounded her, and she fell down lifeless on
the ground.
She was not dead, but
had only fallen into a deep sleep. The king and the queen, who had just come
home, and all their court, fell asleep too, and the horses slept in the
stables, and the dogs in the court, the pigeons on the house-top, and the very
flies slept upon the walls. Even the fire on the hearth left off blazing, and
went to sleep. The jack stopped, and the spit that was turning about with a
goose upon it for the king’s dinner stood still. The cook, who was at that
moment pulling the kitchen-boy by the hair to give him a box on the ear for
something he had done wrong, let him go, and both fell asleep. The butler, who
was sneaking a drink of beer fell asleep with the jug at his lips. Everything
stood still, and slept soundly.
A large hedge of
thorns soon grew round the palace, and every year it became higher and thicker,
till at last the old palace was surrounded and hidden, so that not even the
roof or the chimneys could be seen.
But there went a
report through all the land of the beautiful sleeping Briar Rose (for so the
king’s daughter was called). From time to time, several kings’ sons came, and
tried to break through the thicket into the palace. None of them could ever do
it, for the thorns and bushes laid hold of them, as it were with hands. There
they stuck fast, and died wretchedly.
After many, many
years there came a king’s son into that land, and an old man told him the story
of the thicket of thorns, and how a beautiful palace stood behind it, and how a
wonderful princess, called Briar Rose, lay in it asleep, with all her court. He
told how he had heard from his grandfather that many, many princes had come, and
had tried to break through the thicket, but that they had all stuck fast in it,
and died.
“I am not afraid,”
said the prince. “I will go and see this Briar Rose.”
The old man tried to
hinder him, but he was bent upon going.
Now that very day the
hundred years ended, and as the prince came to the thicket he saw nothing but
beautiful flowering shrubs, through which he went with ease, and they shut in
after him as thick as ever.
He came at last to
the palace, and there in the court lay the dogs asleep, and the horses were
standing in the stables, and on the roof sat the pigeons fast asleep, with
their heads under their wings. And when he came into the palace, the flies were
sleeping on the walls, the spit was standing still, the butler had the jug of
ale at his lips, the maid sat with a fowl in her lap ready to be plucked, and
the cook in the kitchen was still holding up her hand as if she was going to
beat the boy.
Then he went on still
farther, and all was so still that he could hear every breath he drew. At last
he came to the old tower, and opened the door of the little room in which Briar
Rose was. There she lay, fast asleep on a couch by the window. She looked so
beautiful that he could not take his eyes off her, so he stooped down and gave
her a kiss.
The moment he kissed
her she awoke and smiled upon him. They went out together.
Soon the king and
queen also awoke, and all the court, and gazed on each other with great wonder.
And the horses shook themselves, and the dogs jumped up and barked. The pigeons
took their heads from under their wing and flew into the fields, the flies on
the walls buzzed again, the fire in the kitchen blazed up, round went the jack,
and round went the spit, with the goose for the king’s dinner upon it. The
butler finished his drink of beer, the maid went on plucking the fowl, and the
cook smacked the boy.
And then the prince
and Briar Rose were married, and the wedding feast was given. And they lived
happily together all their lives long.