Bonfire
And this man was right. The King had no wish to oppress his subjects, for no sooner was the pile reduced to ashes than he caused another proclamation to be issued, saying that the owner of every spinning-wheel should be paid for its loss. And not only so, but the King told his merchants to buy spun yarn from neighbouring countries so that the people might be able to weave, even though they could not spin.
THE little Princess Briar-Rose, of course, knew nothing of the strange events that had happened at the feast of her christening, and the King gave orders that nobody should even mention the subject to her. It is not a pleasant thing to know that the fairies have decreed that one shall fall asleep for a hundred years on one's fifteenth birthday, even though one is to be awakened by a handsome Prince at the end of that time. So all the lords-in-waiting and the ladies-in-waiting had to be very careful and discreet. If they told the Princess a story, they had to keep the word "spinning" out of it; and if they showed her a book they had to take pains to see it did not contain a picture of a spinning-wheel, or any reference to a distaff or spindle, lest she should ask what they were. The King's Customs officers, on the boundaries of the kingdom, had to examine every waggon-load of merchandise that came into the country for fear it should contain a spinning-wheel; and if anybody was found trying to smuggle one in he was brought before the judges and punished.
By these devices the King felt certain that he had averted the fate laid upon his daughter.
Princess playing a drum
But the promises of the other wise women were fulfilled to the letter, for the young Princess grew up to be the most beautiful, gifted and gracious maiden in all the world. That, at any rate, was what everybody in the palace said,from the lords and ladies down to the scullions in the kitchen, and although people are inclined sometimes to flatter Royalty, in this case there was reason for their admiration.
To begin with, the Princess was as lovely as a spring morning, with eyes of the purest, softest blue, and hair in which the rays of the sun seemed to be entangled. When she came into a room people stopped whatever they were doing to look at her, and everyone felt happier because she was there.
Drawing on a wall
And her cleverness! She never had any trouble with her letters or her multiplication table. She could cipher as easily as she could spell; she knew the history of her own country and of every country round it; and nobody could puzzle her with the hardest question in geography. She could sew and embroider, and knit and paint and draw;she could repeat poetry in five different languages;she studied mathematics and botany and astronomy and even law. In short, there was no end to her knowledge, and all because she had those fairies for her godmothers.
Princess everywhere
Besides this, there were all her other accomplishments; she could play on all sorts of musical instruments, as, for instance, fiddle and zither, large harp and jew's-harp, church organ and mouth organ, flute and penny-whistle, and even on the nursery comb; she could sing like a nightingale and dancelike a fairy.
Princess learning to dancePeople watching the princess
And yet she was never conceited or puffed-up, as some good-looking and accomplished people are apt to be. On the contrary, she was always sweet-tempered and modest, and for this reason she was loved. People may admiregood looks and a graceful deportment, and they may respect ability, but it is only sweetness of nature and goodness of heart that can win love. And these things were the gift of the third fairy.
A conceited manOnlookers
So the years passed, and at last came the day when the Princess Briar-Rose was fifteen years of age.
Princess playing music
What a day that was! Everybody came to wish her many happy returns, and she had so many presents that at least a dozen servants were kept busy unwrapping the parcels. The King gave her a white pony with a saddle of red velvet, and bridle and stirrups of gold, while the Queen's present was a beautiful and costly necklace of pearls. Even the boy who turned the spit in the kitchen brought her something, and though it was only a little wooden shoe which he had carved with his own hands, thePrincess prized it just as much as though it had been made of gold.
The only person who was not happy on the Princess's birthday was the Queen, and she went about with a pale face and a look of great anxiety.
"Come, come, my love," said the King, "what is the matter with you? Surely you are not thinking of that foolish old prophecy!"
"How can I help thinking about it?" the Queen answered. "I have not been able to get it out of my mind for fifteen years, and now that the day has come I am afraid."
Preparing for the feast 1Preparing for the feast 2
"Make your mind easy," said the King. "Nothing is going to happen. Why, there's not a spinning-wheel within a hundred miles. I have taken good care of that!" And he went away chuckling, to attend a meeting of his Cabinet. But the Queen shook her head.Now while the King and Queen were talking, the Princess Briar-Rose was wandering about in the castle, visiting room after room, as she had done many times before. The castle was so big that a stranger might easily have been lost in its maze of stairways and corridors, but Briar-Rose knew every part of it quite well, from the great kitchens below ground, where on feast days a score of cooks prepared the dinner for hundreds of guests, to the topmost turret above the battlements, where the sentries kept watch with their pikes on their shoulders. There was only one part of the castle which Briar-Rose had never explored, and that was an ancient tower which rose from the eastern end. The door of that tower was always locked, andalthough the Princess had often tried to find the key she had never succeeded. The servants told her that the tower had not been inhabited for nearly a hundred years, and it had never been entered within the memory of anybody in the castle.
"Make your mind easy," said the King. "Nothing is going to happen. Why, there's not a spinning-wheel within a hundred miles. I have taken good care of that!" And he went away chuckling, to attend a meeting of his Cabinet. But the Queen shook her head.Now while the King and Queen were talking, the Princess Briar-Rose was wandering about in the castle, visiting room after room, as she had done many times before. The castle was so big that a stranger might easily have been lost in its maze of stairways and corridors, but Briar-Rose knew every part of it quite well, from the great kitchens below ground, where on feast days a score of cooks prepared the dinner for hundreds of guests, to the topmost turret above the battlements, where the sentries kept watch with their pikes on their shoulders. There was only one part of the castle which Briar-Rose had never explored, and that was an ancient tower which rose from the eastern end. The door of that tower was always locked, andalthough the Princess had often tried to find the key she had never succeeded. The servants told her that the tower had not been inhabited for nearly a hundred years, and it had never been entered within the memory of anybody in the castle.
"Make your mind easy," said the King. "Nothing is going to happen. Why, there's not a spinning-wheel within a hundred miles. I have taken good care of that!" And he went away chuckling, to attend a meeting of his Cabinet. But the Queen shook her head.
Now while the King and Queen were talking, the Princess Briar-Rose was wandering about in the castle, visiting room after room, as she had done many times before. The castle was so big that a stranger might easily have been lost in its maze of stairways and corridors, but Briar-Rose knew every part of it quite well, from the great kitchens below ground, where on feast days a score of cooks prepared the dinner for hundreds of guests, to the topmost turret above the battlements, where the sentries kept watch with their pikes on their shoulders. There was only one part of the castle which Briar-Rose had never explored, and that was an ancient tower which rose from the eastern end. The door of that tower was always locked, andalthough the Princess had often tried to find the key she had never succeeded. The servants told her that the tower had not been inhabited for nearly a hundred years, and it had never been entered within the memory of anybody in the castle.
To-day Briar-Rose flitted restlessly from place to place. She peeped into the kitchen and saw the kitchen boys turning the spits on which whole oxen were being roasted. Then she went into the empty throne room and saw the golden thrones side by side upon the dais, and the rich tapestry, glowing with all the colours of the rainbow, on the walls. After that she mounted to the battlements from which she could see over miles and miles of her father's kingdom, and not content with that, she ran up thestaircases into the turrets and looked through their narrow slits of windows upon the courtyard below, so far down that the people walking therein seemed no bigger than mice. And then she came down again and continued her wanderings, searching in all sorts of out-of-the-way corners, until at last she found herself before the door of the ancient tower into which she had never been. And as she looked at the door, she gave a start of surprise and then a cry of joy.
There was a key in the lock.
Owls and Bats
IT was a rusty key, and Briar-Rose was afraid that she might not be able to turn it, but to her surprise it turned quite easily. The heavy door swung inward on its ancient hinges with many a creak and groan, and she found herself in a little dark room thickly carpeted with the dust of years. From this room a winding staircase led upward, and Briar-Rose was just about to climb the stair when a sudden noise made her start back in alarm.
Princess opening the door
Whirr!There was a beating of wings, a flurry and a scuffle, and past her face flew a dark shape, with gleaming, yellow eyes. It was only an owl who was hiding in thetower out of the sunlight, but he gave poor Briar-Rose a great fright, and she was in two minds whether to turn back or not, but the winding staircase looked very inviting and she wanted to see whither it led, so gathering up her skirts to avoid any creepy things that might be crawling about, she ran up the stairway as fast as she could, round and round until she reached the top. There she came upon another door.
In this door also was a rusty key, and Briar-Rose turned it as easily as she had turned the first. Then she pushed open the door and entered.
She found herself in a small room lighted by narrow windows. Beneath one of these windows was a couch, and in front of it sat an old woman with a spinning-wheel.
"Good-morrow, Motherkin," said the Princess. "What are you doing?"
"I am spinning, my pretty child," answered the old woman without ceasing her work.
"Spinning?" asked the Princess. "Oh, do let me see! What is that thing which goes round so merrily?"
"That is the spinning-wheel," said the old woman. "Why, child, you speak as though you had never seen such a thing before."
"Indeed, I have not," said the Princess. "How interesting it is! I wonder whether I could do it as well as you. Will you let me try?"
"Why, of course," said the old woman, "every young girl should know how to spin. Here you are, my dear," and she gave Briar-Rose the spindle.
Now whether the Princess in her eagerness to seize thespindle grasped it too roughly, or whether it was just because the fairy had ordained that it should be so, I do not know, but anyhow the sharp iron point pricked her hand, and immediately she fell backward on to the couch in a deep sleep.
And in that very moment sleep fell upon every man, woman and child in the castle, and upon every living thing within its gates. The King, who was sitting at the Council-board with his ministers, stopped speaking in the middle of a sentence, and remained with his mouth open, in the act of uttering a word, and nobody remarked the strangeness of his conduct, for all his ministers were asleep too, just as they sat. Outside the door the sentry leaned upon his pike. In the Queen's chamber the ladies-in-waiting fell into a profound slumber in the very midst of what they were doing—one as she was hemming a handkerchief, another over her embroidery, still another while she was talking to her parrot. The Queen slept in her chair, and a little page-boy who was singing fell asleep in the middle of a note.
All through the castle the charmed slumber spread. Courtiers, officers, stewards, cooks, errand-boys, soldiers, beadles,—nay the very horses in the stables and the dogs in their kennels were stricken motionless as though they were dead. The flies ceased to buzz at the windows and the pigeons to coo upon the roof. In the great kitchen the scullions fell asleep as they were washing up the dishes, and a cook in the very act of boxing the ears of a kitchen-knave.
Dog asleep
But not for a hundred years would he feel that blow, or be able to utter the cry that was on the tip of histongue. The dog fell asleep under the table as he was gnawing a bone; the cat in front of a mouse-hole, themouse itself on the other side of the skirting-board, with its little sharp nose outstretched to sniff the air suspiciously.Even the spits which were turning at the fire, laden with partridges and pheasants cooking for the Princess's birthday feast—even they ceased to turn, and the very fire stopped flickering and the flames sank down.
Cat sleeping with mouse
A deep silence fell over the castle. In the fields the lambs ceased to bleat, the horses to neigh and the cows to low. The birds in the trees were silent. One moment the air was full of the music of their twittering; the next, all was as still as in a desert. The very wind dropped to sleep in the woods; not a leaf stirred, and the white clouds were motionless in the sky.
So sleep fell upon the enchanted castle and upon all within it, because of the Princess Briar-Rose, who lay there on her couch in the ancient tower waiting till the hundred years should be past and the Prince should come to waken her.
And all round the castle there grew up a hedge of thorn, tangled with ivy, woodbine and creeping plants, so dense that from a distance it seemed like a little wood. Higher and higher it grew, closing round the castle like a wall until all that could be seen was the top of the highest tower, and the flagstaff from which the royal standard hung limp and motionless.
And the years went by, each with its changing seasons. Spring came and brought to the fields and woods outside the new life of leaf and flower. The trees awoke from their winter sleep and clothed themselves gloriously ingreen; the birds began to sing again and the swallows and martins built their nests under the eaves; children laughed and clapped their hands because they were happy in the bright sunshine, and old people felt their hearts filled with joy when they saw the mist of bluebells in the woods and the daffodils dancing in the breeze.But within the thorn hedge no life stirred, and neither flower nor tree answered the call of spring.
And the years went by, each with its changing seasons. Spring came and brought to the fields and woods outside the new life of leaf and flower. The trees awoke from their winter sleep and clothed themselves gloriously ingreen; the birds began to sing again and the swallows and martins built their nests under the eaves; children laughed and clapped their hands because they were happy in the bright sunshine, and old people felt their hearts filled with joy when they saw the mist of bluebells in the woods and the daffodils dancing in the breeze.But within the thorn hedge no life stirred, and neither flower nor tree answered the call of spring.
And the years went by, each with its changing seasons. Spring came and brought to the fields and woods outside the new life of leaf and flower. The trees awoke from their winter sleep and clothed themselves gloriously ingreen; the birds began to sing again and the swallows and martins built their nests under the eaves; children laughed and clapped their hands because they were happy in the bright sunshine, and old people felt their hearts filled with joy when they saw the mist of bluebells in the woods and the daffodils dancing in the breeze.
But within the thorn hedge no life stirred, and neither flower nor tree answered the call of spring.
Fighting the thorns
As time went on, the people who were young when the palace was enchanted grew old and died, but they never forgot the prophecy that one of these days the sleeping Princess should awaken; and they told the story to their children, who told it in their turn, changing it a little because it was only a tale to them. And so, after many years, the legend spread abroad to neighbouring countries, and many a young prince dreamed that it was he who was destined to break the spell and waken the sleeping Princess.
Now and again one would take the quest upon him and try to force his way through the thick hedge. But no one succeeded. The sharp thorns gripped the unhappy young men like clutching hands, and held them fast, so that they could neither go forward nor back, and they perished miserably. Their bones, whitened by the sun and wind, remained there as a warning for all to see, and the creeping plants grew over them.
A HUNDRED years passed away. At the end of that time it happened one day that a young Prince who was hunting in the neighbourhood caught sight of the towers of the enchanted castle rising above the dense forest. He had never been in that part of the country before, and had heard nothing of the story of the Sleeping Princess, so he asked the first people he met what those towers were, and to whom the castle belonged.
Everybody told him a different tale. One said that it was an old castle haunted by spirits; another, that it was a meeting-place for all the witches and sorcerers in the land, who gathered there to practise their secret rites.
"No, no," said a third. "That castle is the home of a giant, and all the people in these parts are very much afraid of him, so I have been told, because he steals their cattle and their crops, and even carries off their children to be his servants. And they cannot go to the rescue of those he has imprisoned in this way, because of the forest all round the castle, which is so dense that nobody can force his way through."
And so they went on, one saying one thing, and one another, for each repeated what he had heard. At last an old peasant stepped forward.
"Fifty years ago, my Prince," said he, "my father told me the story of that castle, and since he was born in these parts, I think it was the true story, and I will tell it you if you would like to hear it."
The Prince nodded eagerly, and the old man went on:
"My father said that years before he himself was born a King and Queen lived in the castle with their daughter, the most beautiful Princess that ever was seen. In some way or other they angered the fairies, who put a spell upon the place and upon every one within it, so that they fell into a deep sleep. My father said that this sleep would last a hundred years, but at the end of that time a King's son should come and waken the beautiful Princess and make her his bride."
When the young Prince heard these words he felt his heart beat quickly. Something seemed to tell him that he and no other was the King's son who was destined to remove the spell, and he cried: "Show me the way to the castle, for I will take this adventure upon me."
Asking the wayThe directions
But the old man shook his head. "I have not yet told you all, my Prince. Many are the young men who have tried to force their way through the thick wood that guards the enchanted castle. Each of them thought that he, and he alone, was destined to awaken the Sleeping Beauty, and each of them set out with high hopes; but none of them all came back, and their bones, whitened by the wind and rain, lie among the thorns of the thickhedge, a fearful warning to the venturesome. I pray you, therefore, my Prince, do nothing rash, but think well before you take upon yourself this perilous quest."
"What," cried the Prince with flashing eyes, "shall I hold back when others have dared? This very hour I will attempt to enter the castle, and if I do not return, carry home the news of how I have died."
Then without paying any heed to the words of those who would prevent him from rushing into such danger, the eager young man set out, his heart on fire with thoughts of love and glory. Nobody showed him the way, but he could see the towers of the castle rising above the distant wood, and when he entered the wood itself, and the towers were hidden, each path he took led him nearer to the place where he would be.
At last he came to an open glade, and there before him was a tangled hedge of thorn, stretching in either direction as far as the eye could see.
The Prince fighting throughFinally through
AND now, as the Prince drew nearer, he could see that the story he had heard about that terrible place was true, for held in the tangle of briar were the bones of many unhappy young men who had tried to force their way through to the castle. Rags and tatters of their finery hung upon the great thorns that pointed menacingly like sharp claws. Here and there upon the ground beneath lay pieces of rusty armour, a helmet surrounded by a coronet of gold that once had belonged to a King's son, a shield with a Prince's device, a sword with jewel-encrusted hilt worth a King's ransom. There they lay, all disregarded among the blanched bones upon the grass, and the ground-ivy spread out its leaves to cover them.
Not a sound broke the deep and awful silence. No bird sang, no insect droned; there was no scurry of woodland creatures among the leaves, no sigh of wind in the trees. In all that place only the thorn hedge seemed threateningly alive, waiting to destroy the intruder who should attempt to force the secret it guarded.
Who would blame the Prince if for a moment his heart had almost failed him? There was no gap in that hedge, and the great thorns were sharp as dagger blades to stab his flesh. But if the Prince hesitated it was not for long."Have I come so far to turn back now?" he thought. "These others who have died were brave men, and though they failed, with a courage as great as theirs I may succeed." And without wasting another moment the Prince began to force his way through the hedge.
And now he noticed with surprise that those thorns which looked so sharp and cruel became soft as thistledown as soon as he touched them, and the trailing bramble branches did not entangle him but bent aside at his touch as though they had been stems of grass. The hedge opened before him, and as he went through it pink blossoms of wild roses bloomed on the branches, until the tangled wall became a mass of flowers.
Everything just as it was
At last the Prince found himself on the other side of the hedge in the gardens of the castle. Before him he could see the high towers and turrets bathed in the fresh light of the morning sun, and as he hastened towards them he noticed that the gardens were as trim and tidy as though they had just been tended by the gardeners. There was no moss or weed upon the smooth paths, the turf on the lawns was as short and firm as though it had just been mown, and in the flower-beds everything was in the most careful order. Spring flowers were blooming there, but they bowed their heads upon their stalks, and even the trees seemed to hang their arms as though asleep.
Everywhere there was the same deep silence. The air, which should have been full of the twittering of birds, was heavy and languorous. There was no flutter of butterfly-wings or darting of flies; the fountains on the lawns were not playing, and as the Prince glanced over the edgeof the marble basin of one of them he could see the goldfish beneath the water-lily leaves lying still, with never a wave of the tail or flicker of fin.
So he went on over the lawns and terraces and never a waking thing did he see, but when he came to the courtyard he saw a soldier standing there, leaning on his pike with his head bent upon his chest. At first the Princethought that he was dead, but his cheek was fresh and ruddy and it was quite plain to see that he was merely asleep. In the courtyard itself were other human forms, all still and silent. A row of pikemen leaned against the wall and in front of them, stretched out upon the ground, snored the sergeant who had been drilling them when the spell came upon the castle. A young squire, with a sleepinghawk upon his wrist, slept leaning against a sleeping horse which he had been about to mount. Near by lay a page with a hound in leash, both sleeping as soundly as though they never would awake, and through a window in the stables the Prince saw a groom lying with a straw in his mouth.
One man asleepMany soldiers asleep
In the stables themselves a like condition of things prevailed. The horses slept at their stalls with their noses to the mangers, standing on their four legs just as they were when they were enchanted a hundred years before, and on the back of one of them sat the stable-cat. Here and there upon the ground lay grooms and ostlers, fast asleep among the straw.
From the stables the Prince made his way to the great kitchen where he saw equally strange sights, and he could not help smiling when he came upon the cook with her hand still outstretched to clout the head of the unhappy scullion whom she had by the ear. Before the fires hung the spitted partridges and fowls that were cooking for the Princess's birthday feast, and at the table a maid had fallen asleep with her hands in a large trough full of dough. She had been making the pastry for a pie when the sleep fell upon her, and by her side was another maid who had been plucking a black hen. At the sink a kitchen-knave was leaning over the pot he had been scouring.
Then the Prince went out into the great hall and saw the courtiers asleep in the window alcoves, or stretched out upon the polished floor. Everywhere was a silence so profound that the Prince was almost alarmed to hear his own breathing, and the beating of his heart sounded like amuffled drum. On and on he went, through rooms and corridors, up staircases and down staircases, into the Queen's chamber where he saw the Queen and her ladies as still and silent as the rest; one of those ladies had been reading to the Queen at the moment when the charmed sleep fell upon the castle, and the book, a History of Troy, still lay open on her lap. Then the Prince went into the King's room where his Majesty sat with his ministers of state round the Council board. He almost lingered there, for it was very curious to see those nobles as quiet and motionless as though they had been waxworks in a show. Some of them were frowning as though in deep thought, and some smiling as though they had suddenly remembered something clever to say. The King himself, at the head of the Council table, had evidently fallen asleep in the very midst of a speech, for his arm lay outstretched on the table with pointing finger, and, by his side, his secretary's fingers still held the pen with which he was inscribing on a roll of parchment the royal words.
So the Prince hurried through the castle from top to bottom until he had glanced into every room and opened every door. And still he knew that there was something more to see, for nowhere had he come across the sleeping Princess. Many maidens he had seen of surpassing beauty, but his heart told him that none of them all was the maiden whom he had come to awaken.
Down he went into the courtyard again and found another stairway which led to the battlements. There stood the watchmen whose duty it was to look out over the country and report the arrival of travellers, but they,too, were all asleep, though one of them had his horn in his hand as though he had been about to blow it when he was suddenly overcome by the charmed slumber.
From the battlements the Prince climbed, in turn, into each of the turrets, but there was nobody in them at all, and no living thing except the owls asleep in the crevices of the walls, and the bats that hung head downward from the rafters. Now only one small turret remained to be explored. It was the oldest of the turrets, almost a ruin, and plainly long unused, for the iron door was rusty and the ivy trailed about the walls.
Kissing the princess
The Prince approached it with a beating heart, for there he knew he should find what he sought. He threw open the creaking door; with impatient feet he mounted the crazy, winding stair, opened the door at the top and entered a little dark room.
And then—and then he started forward with a cry of joy and wonder, for lying on the couch below the narrow window he saw the Princess.
She was lying upon a couch with her lovely hair spread out like a stream of gold; and, oh! no words can tell how beautiful she was. Softly the Prince came near and bent over her. He touched her hand; it was warm as in life, but she did not stir. No sound of breathing came from her parted lips, fresh and sweet as the petals of a rose; her eyes were closed.
For a long time the Prince stood and gazed upon her, for never in all his life had he seen a maiden so lovely. Then suddenly he bent down and kissed her lips.
That was the end of the enchantment. The Princess'seyelids quivered; languidly she moved her head and stretched out her arms. Her eyes opened and she smiled.
"Is it you, my Prince?" she said. "How long you have kept me waiting!"
The Princess wakes
IN that very moment the charm was broken and the castle awoke.
Instead of the profound silence there came a hustle and confusion of noise. Clocks began to strike, doors began to slam, dogs began to bark, cocks began to crow and hens to cluck; a breeze sprang up outside and set the branches of the trees swaying and creaking; the doves began to coo upon the roofs, the swallows to twitter under the eaves, flies came out and buzzed about the window, mice squeaked in the wainscot and ran scampering along the rafters. The fountain in the garden leapt up sixty feet into the air, and the goldfish swam among the water-lily leaves; ants left their nests and foraged about the paths, the butterflies danced and fluttered over the flowers, which lifted their heads as though to drink in the rays of the sun. In every tree in the garden a thrush woke up and began to sing; sparrows chirped, jays screamed, blue-tits chattered, and the chiff-chaff uttered his strange note. In the woods a cuckoo called and blackbird fluted to blackbird in the hedge. In the stables the horses awoke and champed at their stalls; the cat jumped down and ran after a mouse which crept outfrom under the straw. The sentry at the courtyard gate woke up and rubbed his eyes and came smartly to attention, looking round uneasily, for he thought he had only been asleep for a few minutes and was afraid that somebodymight have seen him who would report him to the sergeant. The pikemen also woke with a start, and the sergeant woke too, and bellowed an order in a loud and angry voice, for he was ashamed of himself for sleeping in front of his men.The young squire who was going hawking fitted his falcon's hood and mounted his steed; the page-boy with the hound went off to his master. On the topmost tower of the castle the royal standard, which had been drooping against the flagstaff, filled out and waved freely in the breeze.
One man awakeSoldiers awake
The hedge which had grown up to surround the enchanted castle broke in and disappeared; peacocks squalled and strutted on the lawns, martins flitted to and from their nests under the eaves, pigs began to grunt, oxen to low, sheep to bleat, rooks to caw and children to laugh and sing. In short, all the sounds which we hear every day and all the time and never notice, began again and seemed so loud in contrast to the deadly silence that they almost cracked the ears.
And in every room in the castle the people who had been lying asleep for a hundred years woke up and went on with what they had been doing just as though nothing had happened. In the kitchen the flames of the fire leapt up with a hiss and a roar. The kettle began to boil, the stew-pot to bubble, and the meat before the fire to steam and hiss as the little boy turned the spit.
Castle awakens 1Castle awakens 2
"Take that," cried the cook, giving the scullion the clout she had promised a hundred years before. "Take that for a lazy knave."
"Goodness," yawned the maid who had been plucking the black hen; "I wonder what made me drop off to sleep like that? Well, well, it's to be hoped the cook didn't see me!" And my word, how she made the feathers fly!
Cat pounces
Miaou!cried the cat in disgust as he made a pounce at the mouse-hole he had been watching, for the little mousewho had poked his nose out a hundred years before drew it back like a flash and scampered away.
Flies above the milk pan
"Dear me!" said the servant who was washing the dishes; "I do believe I have been to sleep with this crock in my hand. It's a mercy I didn't let it fall!" And he went on with his scouring. It was the same thing in the dairy where the maids had fallen asleep while they were skimming the cream and churning the butter. And the cream was not sour for all that a hundred years had passed,nor was the butter rank. But a fly which had been sleeping on the edge of one of the milk-pans woke up and flew down to taste the milk, and fell in and was drowned, so he wasnone the better because the spell had been taken off the castle.
In the Queen's ante-chamber the maids-of-honour and the ladies-in-waiting sat up and yawned and stretched themselves. Each one of them thought that she was the only one who had fallen asleep, and they all began to explain at the same time that they had only closed their eyes for forty seconds. "It was the heat," they all said to each other. "The sun is very hot for this time of year."
In the King's council chamber the King and all his ministers woke up with a start. The ministers rubbed their eyes and looked very sheepish, for each of them thought that he was alone in being caught napping.
"Your Majesty was saying...?" said the Prime Minister respectfully, leaning forward.
"I was saying ..." said the King. "What was I saying?" And he stretched out his arms and yawned. "I crave your pardon, my lords. I do believe I've been asleep. Heigho! but my joints are stiff."
"It was but an after-dinner nap," said the Prime Minister. "Your Majesty is overspent with the hard hunting yesterday. Is it your Majesty's will that we should proceed with our business, or shall the Council rise until to-morrow?"
"Go on, my lords, go on," cried the King heartily. "My little nap has wonderfully refreshed me. What say you, shall we pass that bill we were discussing a few minutes ago?"
But at this moment a page came into the room with a message from the Queen, and as soon as he received it the King left his seat in the council chamber and went to her.
Alone, among all the people in the castle, the Queen hadrealised immediately she awoke from her charmed sleep, exactly what had happened. She remembered the words of the fairy godmother, and she knew that what she had foretold had come to pass, and that the sleep from which she and everybody else in the castle had just awakened had lasted a hundred years.
Her first thought was of her daughter, the Princess Briar-Rose. Where was she, and what had happened to her? If she, too, had merely fallen asleep, all was well, but suppose the doom first spoken by the thirteenth fairy had taken effect?
In a few words she told the King all that was in her mind, and without delay messengers were sent all over the castle to look for the Princess.
In the meantime Briar-Rose and the young Prince were talking together in the ruined tower. For the first time she heard the story of the enchantment, and her eyes grew round with wonder as she listened to her lover's account of the strange things that had happened in the castle. When he told of the great hedge and its cruel thorns, and of the many young men who died in trying to force their way through it, her eyes filled with tears.
"How great their courage was," she sighed. "Oh, if only I could bring them back to life."
But the Prince kissed her tears away, and hastened past that part of his tale, and presently she was smiling again and happy, because she understood that everything had happened as it was bound to happen.
Then the Prince took her hand and raised her from the couch on which she had slept so long, and they went downthe winding stair together and came to the battlements, where they found a score of breathless people who had been running up and down in search of her.
And how surprised these people were to find her in that place, accompanied by a young man they had never seen before! She seemed to have grown more beautiful than ever during her long sleep, and they were amazed by her loveliness.
Dancing
And how may we describe the joy of the King and Queen when they saw their daughter again and knew that the good fairy had kept her word? The King was so delighted that all he could say was "Bless my soul! bless my soul!" And the Queen could say nothing at all, for she was weeping for joy.
What a feast there was that night! In spite of the hundred years that had gone by it was still the Princess's birthday, and she was in reality no more than fifteen years old, for time had stood still for her. So she had her birthday feast just the same, and it was her betrothal feast too, for the King joined the hands of the young Prince and his daughter and gave them his blessing.