Section 1
In ancient times, there lived a king and queen who uttered the same words each day, "Oh, how we yearn for a child", but their wish never came true.
One day, while the queen was taking a bath, a frog emerged from the water and approached her, saying: "Your desire will be granted. Within a year, you will give birth to a daughter."
As prophesied by the frog, the queen gave birth to a beautiful baby girl within a year. The king was overjoyed and ordered a grand celebration to mark the occasion. The king didn't just invite his family, friends, and acquaintances to the feast, but also the wise women of the kingdom. He hoped that they would bless the child with their kindness and goodwill. Although there were thirteen wise women in his realm, the king only had twelve golden plates to serve them food. As a result, one of the wise women had to miss the invitation.
After the sumptuous feast ended, the wise women bestowed their magical gifts upon the baby girl-each of the wise women granted the baby girl a special gift, such as the gift of virtue, beauty, riches, and every other desirable thing one could imagine.
After eleven of the wise women had made their promises, the thirteenth wise woman arrived suddenly. The thirteenth wise woman harbored resentment for not receiving an invitation and decided to take revenge. Without any greetings or acknowledgement, she raised her voice and exclaimed: "The king's daughter shall prick herself with a spindle and die on her fifteenth birthday," she declared, and without saying anything else, she turned around and left the room.
Everyone was surprised, except for the twelfth person who hadn't yet made a good wish. This person stepped forward, knowing that they couldn't reverse the harmful sentence, the twelfth person spoke up and said that while they couldn't completely undo the curse, they could make it less severe. Instead of death, the princess would fall into a deep sleep that would last for one hundred years.
The king, who wanted to protect his beloved child from this misfortune, commanded that all the spindles in the entire kingdom be burned. As this was done, the blessings of the wise women were showered upon the young girl. She was incredibly beautiful, kind, gentle, and intelligent, and everyone who met her couldn't help but adore her.
On the precise day when she turned fifteen, the king and queen were absent from the palace, leaving the young woman completely alone. She took the opportunity to explore various areas of the palace, inspecting rooms and bedrooms as she pleased, until she eventually stumbled upon an ancient tower. Ascending the cramped and spiraling staircase, she eventually arrived at a small door. The lock was secured by a corroded key, but when she twisted it, the door abruptly opened. Inside the cramped room, an elderly woman sat spinning flax with her spindle.
"Hello there, old lady," greeted the daughter of the king. "What are you doing in here?"
"I am spinning," replied the old woman, giving a nod of her head.
"What is that object that's making such a joyful noise?" asked the girl, as she took hold of the spindle and attempted to spin it herself. But as soon as she touched the spindle, the enchanted prophecy came true, and she pricked her finger with it.
At the precise moment she felt the prick, she collapsed onto the nearby bed and fell into a profound slumber. Her sleep spread throughout the entire palace, causing the king and queen, who had just returned and were in the midst of entering the grand hall, to fall asleep as well. In fact, the entire court succumbed to the enchantment and dozed off. the spell caused the horses in the stable, the dogs in the yard, the pigeons on the roof, and even the flies on the wall to all fall asleep. The fire on the hearth also ceased to crackle and dozed off, causing the roast meat to stop sizzling, even the cook, who was about to scold the scullery boy for forgetting something, let him go and drifted off into slumber. The wind died down, and not a leaf stirred on the trees before the castle.
