Speaker 1: Briar Rose by Jacob Grimm and Willem Grimm. Once upon
Speaker 1: a time there lived a king and a queen who
Speaker 1: had no children, and this they lamented very much. But
Speaker 1: one day, as the queen was walking by the side
Speaker 1: of the river, a little fish lifted its head out
Speaker 1: of the water and said, your wish shall be fulfilled,
Speaker 1: and you shall soon have a daughter. When that little
Speaker 1: fish had foretold, soon came to pass, and the queen
Speaker 1: had a little girl, who was so very beautiful that
Speaker 1: the king could not cease looking on her for joy,
Speaker 1: and determined to hold a great feast. So he invited
Speaker 1: not only his relations, friends and neighbors, but all the
Speaker 1: fairies that they might be kind and good to his
Speaker 1: little daughter. Now there were thirteen fairies in his kingdom,
Speaker 1: and he had only twelve golden dishes for them to
Speaker 1: eat out of, so that he was obliged to leave
Speaker 1: one of the fairies without an invitation. The rest came,
Speaker 1: and after the feast was over, they gave all their
Speaker 1: best gifts to the little princess. One gave her virtue,
Speaker 1: another beauty, another riches, and so on till she had
Speaker 1: all that was excellent in the world. When eleven had
Speaker 1: done blessing her. The thirteenth, who had not been invited
Speaker 1: and was very angry on that account, came in and
Speaker 1: determined to take her revenge. So she cried out, the
Speaker 1: King's daughter shall in her fifteenth year be wounded by
Speaker 1: a spindle and fall down dead. Then the twelfth, who
Speaker 1: had not yet given her gift, came forward and said
Speaker 1: that the bad wish must be fulfilled, but that she
Speaker 1: could soften it, and that the king's daughter should not die,
Speaker 1: but fall asleep for a hundred years. But the king
Speaker 1: hoped to save his dear child from the threatened evil,
Speaker 1: and ordered that all the spindles in the kingdom should
Speaker 1: be bought up and destroyed. All the fairy's gifts were
Speaker 1: in the meantime fulfilled, for the princess was so beautiful
Speaker 1: and well behaved, and amiable and wise that everyone who
Speaker 1: knew her loved her. Now. It happened that on the
Speaker 1: very day she was fifteen years old, the King and
Speaker 1: Queen were not at home, and she was left alone
Speaker 1: in the palace. So she roamed about by herself and
Speaker 1: looked at all the rooms and chambers, till at last
Speaker 1: she came to an old tower, to which there was
Speaker 1: a narrow staircase ending with a little door. In the
Speaker 1: door there was a golden key, and when she turned it,
Speaker 1: the door sprang open, and there sat an old lady
Speaker 1: spinning away very busily. Why, how now, good mother, said
Speaker 1: the princess. What are you doing there spinning? Said the
Speaker 1: old lady, and nodded her head. How prettily that little
Speaker 1: thing turns round, said the princess, and took the spindle
Speaker 1: and began to spin. But scarcely had she touched it
Speaker 1: before the prophecy was fulfilled, and she fell down lifeless
Speaker 1: on the ground. However, she was not dead, but had
Speaker 1: only fallen into a deep sleep. And the King and
Speaker 1: the Queen, who just then came home, and all their
Speaker 1: court fell asleep too, And the horses slept in the stables,
Speaker 1: and the dogs in the yard, and the pigeons on
Speaker 1: the housetop, and the flies on the walls. Even the
Speaker 1: fire on the hearth left off blazing and went to sleep,
Speaker 1: and the meat that was roasting stood still. And the cook,
Speaker 1: who was at that moment pulling the kitchen boy by
Speaker 1: the hair to give him a box on the ear
Speaker 1: for something he had done amiss let him go, and
Speaker 1: both fell asleep, and so everything stood still and slept soundly.
Speaker 1: A high hedge of thorns soon grew round the palace,
Speaker 1: and never year it became higher and thicker, till at
Speaker 1: last the whole palace was surrounded and hidden, so that
Speaker 1: not even the roof or chimneys could be seen. But
Speaker 1: there went a report through all the land of the
Speaker 1: beautiful sleeping Briar Rose, for thus was the king's daughter called,
Speaker 1: so that from time to time several kings sons came
Speaker 1: and tried to break through the thicket into the palace.
Speaker 1: This they could never do, for the thorns and bushes
Speaker 1: laid hold of them, as it were, with hands, and
Speaker 1: there they stuck fast and died miserably. After many many years,
Speaker 1: there came another king's son into that land, and an
Speaker 1: old man told him the story of the thicket of thorns,
Speaker 1: and how a beautiful palace stood behind it, in which
Speaker 1: was a wondrous princess called Briar Rose, asleep with all
Speaker 1: her court. He told too, how he had heard from
Speaker 1: his grandfather the many many princes had come and had
Speaker 1: tried to break through the thicket, but had stuck fast
Speaker 1: and died. Then the young prince said, ah, this shall
Speaker 1: not frighten me. I will go and see Briar Rose.
Speaker 1: The old man tried to dissuade him, but he persisted
Speaker 1: in going. Now that very day the hundred years were completed,
Speaker 1: And as a prince came to the thicket, he saw
Speaker 1: nothing but beautiful flowering shrubs, through which he passed with ease,
Speaker 1: and they closed after him as firm as ever. Then
Speaker 1: he came at last to the palace, and there in
Speaker 1: the yard lay the dogs asleep, and the horses in
Speaker 1: the stables, and on the roof sat the pigeons fast asleep,
Speaker 1: with their heads under their wings. And when he came
Speaker 1: into the palace, the flies slept on the walls, and
Speaker 1: the cook in the kitchen was still holding up her
Speaker 1: hand as if she would beat the boy, and the
Speaker 1: maid sat with a black fowl in her hand, ready
Speaker 1: to be plucked. Then he went on still further, and
Speaker 1: all was so still that he could hear every breath
Speaker 1: he drew, till at last he came to the old
Speaker 1: tower and opened the door of the little room in
Speaker 1: which Briar Rose was, And there she lay fast asleep,
Speaker 1: and looked so beautiful that he could not take his
Speaker 1: eyes off. And he stooped down and gave her a kiss.
Speaker 1: But the moment he kissed her, she opened her eyes
Speaker 1: and awoke and smiled upon him. Then they went out together,
Speaker 1: and presently the King and Queen also awoke, and all
Speaker 1: the court, and they gazed on each other with great wonder.
Speaker 1: And the horses got up and shook themselves, and the
Speaker 1: dogs jumped about and barked. The pigeons took their heads
Speaker 1: from under their wings and looked about and flew into
Speaker 1: the fields. The flies on the walls buzzed away. The
Speaker 1: fire in the kitchen blazed up and cooked the dinner,
Speaker 1: and the roast meat turned round again. The cook gave
Speaker 1: the boy the box on his ears, so that he
Speaker 1: cried out, and the maid went on plucking the fowl.
Speaker 1: And then was the wedding of the prince, and Briar
Speaker 1: Rose celebrated, and they lived happily together all their lives.
Speaker 1: End of Grim's Fairy Stories. Briar Rose