Worldwide: Sleeping Beauty Part Two

The Sleeping Beauty legend dates back even further than the Italian version. It was composed between 1330 and 1344. Perceforest was its name.

In this version, the princess Zelladine (cool name btw) falls in love with a man named Troylus. Her father sends Troylus to do various tasks for him in order for her hand. And for some reason, she falls into an enchanted sleep. Just like the Italian version. He finds her, impregnates, and leaves. What the h is wrong with these men assaulting a woman in her sleep? Geez.

When their child is born, the kid draws out the flax by sucking on her finger. The exact same way in Sun, Moon, and Talia. She wakes up finds a ring on her finger as Troylus comes back telling her that he's the father.

Awkward.

Charles Perrault published the story in 1697. The Brothers Grimm version was an orally told adaptation of Perrault's published work.

In Perrault's version, Sleeping Beauty didn't have a name. Her daughter was named Aurora.

At the christening of a king and queen's long-wished-for child, seven good fairies are invited to be godmothers to the infant princess. The fairies attend the banquet at the palace. Then an old fairy enters. The one we call Maleficent. She is overlooked because she's been in a tower for years and people thought she was dead.

Six of the other seven fairies then offer their gifts of beauty, wit, grace, dance, song, and goodness to the infant princess. The evil fairy is very angry about having been forgotten, and as her gift, enchants the infant princess so that she will one day prick her finger on a spindle of a spinning wheel and die. Goll, talk about revenge.

The seventh fairy, who hasn't yet given her gift, attempts to reverse the evil fairy's curse. However, she can only do so partially. Instead of dying, the Princess will fall into a deep sleep for 100 years and be awakened by a kiss from a king's son.

The King orders that every spindle and spinning wheel in the kingdom to be destroyed just like in the Disney movie. Fifteen or sixteen years pass and one day when the king and queen are away, the Princess wanders through the palace rooms and comes upon an old woman, spinning with her spindle. The princess, who has never seen anyone spin before, asks the old woman if she can try the spinning wheel. The curse is fulfilled as the princess pricks her finger on the spindle and falls into a deep sleep.

The king thinks it's fate and has the Princess carried to the finest room in the palace and placed upon a bed of gold and silver embroidered fabric. The king and queen kiss their daughter goodbye and depart, proclaiming the entrance to be forbidden. The good fairy who altered the evil prophecy is summoned.

Having great powers of foresight, the fairy sees that the Princess will awaken to distress when she finds herself alone, so the fairy puts everyone in the castle to sleep. The fairy also summons a forest of trees, brambles, and thorns that spring up around the castle, shielding it from the outside world and preventing anyone from disturbing the Princess. A hundred years pass and a prince from another family spies the hidden castle during a hunting expedition.

His attendants tell him differing stories about the castle until an old man recounts his father's words: "within the castle lies a beautiful princess who is doomed to sleep for a hundred years until a king's son comes and awakens her." The prince then braves the tall trees, brambles, and thorns which part at his approach, and enters the castle. He passes the sleeping castle folk and comes across the chamber where the Princess lies asleep on the bed.

Struck by the radiant beauty before him, he falls on his knees. The enchantment comes to an end by a kiss and the princess awakens and converses with the prince for a long time. Wow, no sex. I like this version a lot better.

Meanwhile, the rest of the castle awakens and goes about their business. Ah. The end of the movie.

Not this version.

They, of course, get married.

After wedding the Princess in secret, the Prince continues to visit her and she has two children, Aurore (Dawn) and Jour (Day), unbeknown to his mother, who is of an ogre lineage. When the time comes for the Prince to ascend the throne, he brings his wife and children. The Ogress Queen Mother sends the young Queen and the children to a house secluded in the woods and orders her cook to prepare the boy with Sauce Robert for dinner.

The kind-hearted cook substitutes a lamb for the boy, which satisfies the Queen Mother. She then demands the girl but the cook this time substitutes a young goat, which also satisfies the Queen Mother. When the Ogress demands that he serve up the young Queen, the latter offers to slit her throat so that she may join the children that she imagines are dead.

While the Queen Mother is satisfied with a hind prepared with Sauce Robert in place of the young Queen, there is a tearful secret reunion of the Queen and her children. However, the Queen Mother soon discovers the cook’s trick and she prepares a tub in the courtyard filled with vipers and other poisonous creatures. The King returns in the nick of time and the Ogress, her true nature having been exposed, throws herself into the tub and is fully consumed. Which I find completely weird. The King, young Queen, and children then live happily ever after.

Plot: courtesy of Wikipedia.