Perrault’s Stories
Cuentos de Perrault
(English & Spanish)
Original
Language: French.
English
partly translated anew from Spanish.
Copyright © 2013 Nik
Marcel
All rights reserved.
2Language
Books
(A
Bilingual Dual-Language Project)
The Tales of Mother Goose
The Sleeping
Beauty in the Woods
Once upon a time, there was a king and a queen,
whose sadness over having no children was so great, it cannot be measured.
They went and drank from all the waters of the
world, they made vows, and they undertook pilgrimages, but they failed to see
their wishes realised — until, that is, the queen finally became pregnant, and
gave birth to a daughter.
There is no way to describe the splendour of the
baptism, and all the fairies they could find in the whole kingdom — there were
seven of them — became godmothers; hence, each one granted her a gift, as was
the custom among fairies at that time; and by this means, the princess had all
the perfections imaginable.
After the christening ceremony, everyone returned
to the palace, where a great feast had been prepared for the fairies.
Before each one of them was a magnificent setting,
including a case of solid gold, in which was a spoon, a fork, and a knife, all
of fine gold set with diamonds and rubies.
Just as they were sitting at the table, they saw an
old fairy come in. She had not been invited, since, for more than fifty years,
she had not left a certain tower, and she was believed to be either dead or
enchanted.
The King ordered her a cover, but he could not give
her a solid gold case like the others had, because he had only ordered seven to
be made — for the seven fairies.
The old fairy believe she had been slighted, and
muttered some threats between her teeth.
One of the young fairies, who was by her side,
heard her; and, fearing that she might grant the little princess some harmful
gift, hid herself behind the curtains as soon as they rose from the table. She
hoped that she might speak last, and repair — as much as she could — the damage
that the old fairy might do.
The fairies began to bestow their gifts on the
newly born.
The youngest said that she should be the most
beautiful woman in the world; the next, that she would be as good as an angel;
with the gift of the third, the princess would show amazing grace in everything
she might do; she would dance well, according to the gift of the fourth; she
would sing like a nightingale, according to the fifth; and play all kinds of musical
instruments with extreme perfection, according to the sixth.
The old fairy’s turn came next, and with her head
shaking — more with spite than with age —, she said that the princess would
puncture her hand with a spindle, and would die from the wound.
This terrible gift made the entire gathering
shudder, and everybody began to weep.
The young fairy then came out from behind the
curtains, and uttered these words in a loud voice:
“You can be reassured, king and queen, that your
daughter will not die of the wound.
It is true that I do not have enough power to undo
entirely what my colleague has done.
The princess shall indeed pierce her hand with a
spindle; but, instead of dying, she shall only fall into a deep sleep, which
shall last a hundred years, at the end of which a king’s son shall come and
awaken her.”
The king, eager to avoid the misfortune foretold by
the old fairy, sent out an edict forbidding any one, under penalty of death, to
spin with a spindle, or even to keep a spindle in their house.
About fifteen or sixteen years afterwards, on one
particular day, the king and queen went to one of their country villas. It
happened that the princess, in running from room to room, went to the top of
the tower and found a small loft. In it was an old woman, who was busy on her
spinning wheel — for she had not heard of the king’s ban on spinning with a
spindle.
“What are you doing, my good woman?” said the
princess.
“I am spinning, my pretty child,” replied the old
woman — she did not know who was asking her.
“What you are doing is very interesting indeed!”
exclaimed the princess. “How do you do it? Give it to me. Let me see if I can
do what you are doing.”
As she was too quick, and somewhat bewildered — and
also because the fairy’s decree had predetermined it —, she was caught by the
spindle, injured her hand, and fell down in a faint.
The good old woman became frightened and cried out
for help. People came in from everywhere; they threw water upon the face of the
princess, unlaced her dress, struck her on the palms of her hands, and rubbed
her temples with ‘water from the queen of
Hungary’; but nothing was sufficient to bring her round.
Then the king, who, on hearing the noise, had gone
up to the attic, remembered what the fairies had foretold. Realising that what
was happening was inevitable — since it had been foretold —, he ordered the
princess be taken to the finest room in the palace, and laid on a bed
ornamented in gold and silver.
She was so beautiful that anyone could have thought
they were seeing an angel, for her faint had not lessened the vibrant colour of
her skin.
Her cheeks were rosy and her lips seemed an orange
pink colour. It is true that her eyes were shut, but she could be heard
breathing softly, which proved that she was not dead.
The king gave orders to let her sleep peacefully,
until the time came for her to awaken.
The good fairy, who had saved her life by
condemning her to sleep for a hundred years, was in the kingdom of Pamplinga —
which was about twelve thousand leagues away — when this accident befell the
princess. However, she was almost immediately informed of it by a little dwarf,
who wore boots with which one could cover seven leagues of ground in a single
step.
The fairy set off at once, and arrived an hour
later, in a chariot of fire, which was drawn by dragons.
The king offered her his hand to get out of the
chariot, and the fairy approved of everything he had done. Since she had great
foresight, she told him that when the princess awoke, she might find herself in
a stressed state, if she was all alone in the old castle.
This was what she did.
With the exception of the king and queen, she
touched everyone in the palace with her wand: governesses, maids of honour,
chambermaids, gentlemen, officers, stewards, cooks, kitchen boys, errand boys,
guards, pages, and footmen; she likewise touched all the horses that were in
the stables, the grooms, the huge mastiffs in the corral, and tiny Titi: the
princess’ little dog, who was beside her on the bed.
As soon as she had touched everyone, they all fell
asleep, not to awaken again until their mistress did; at which time they would
be available to serve her, just when their services were required.
The spits on the fire, which were full of
partridges and pheasants, fell asleep as well. The fire also fell asleep.
All this was done in a moment, for fairies need
little time to do things.
Then the king and queen, having kissed their
daughter (without waking her), left the palace; and ordered an edict be
published forbidding any person, regardless of their status, to approach the
building.
The exclusion was not necessary, for in just
fifteen minutes, a vast number of huge trees and wild, thorny rose bushes
sprouted and grew up. They intertwined in such a manner that neither man nor
beast could pass, and only the top of the castle towers could be seen — and
that only by looking from far away.
Nobody doubted that the fairy had used all her
powers to ensure the princess — while she slept — had nothing to fear from
curious folk.
After a hundred years had passed, the son of the
king then reigning — it must be added that the dynasty was not that of the
princess’ — was hunting on that side of the forest; and he asked everyone what
the towers were that he had seen in the middle of the thick branches.
Everyone answered according to what they had heard.
Some said that it was an old castle populated with lost souls; others said that
all the witches of the region met there every Saturday.
According to popular opinion, an ogre was dwelling
there. He would carry to the castle all the children he could catch, and then
eat them at his leisure. It was not possible to follow him, for he alone had
the power to create an opening through the brush.
The prince did not know what to believe, when an old
farmer spoke up, saying, “My prince, it was more than fifty years ago that I
heard my father recount that in this castle was the most beautiful princess in
the world. She was to sleep there for a hundred years. A king’s son had been
reserved to awaken her, and she would be his wife.”
On hearing these words, the young prince felt the
flame of love emerge in his heart, and without doubt instantly believed that he
could complete this adventure, which was so full of charms.
Driven by love and the desire for glory, he
resolved at once to know if it was exactly as the farmer had said. As soon as
he came to the dense growth, all the old trees, the wild rose bushes, and the
thorns separated to allow him to pass.
He walked up to the castle, which he saw at the far
end of the long pathway (in which he had entered). He was surprised to notice
that his delegation had been unable to follow him, for the trees returned to
their natural position, blocking the path as he passed.
This was not reason enough not to continue along
the path, for a young prince in love is always brave.
He entered the far end of the courtyard, and the
spectacle presented before his eyes was enough to freeze him with fear.
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