Prevod

Once upon a time there were a king and queen who said every day, “Oh, if only we had a child!” But they never had one. Then one day, as the queen was bathing, a frog crawled out of the water onto the shore and said to her, “Your wish shall be granted. Before a year has passed, you will bring a daughter into the world.”

What the frog had said came true, and the queen gave birth to a girl so beautiful that the king was beside himself with joy and held a great feast. He invited not only his relatives, friends, and acquaintances, but also the wise women, so that they would look kindly upon the child and favor her. There were thirteen of them in his kingdom, but as he had only twelve golden plates for them to eat from, one of them had to stay at home.

The feast was celebrated with great splendor, and when it was over, the wise women bestowed their magical gifts upon the child: one gave her virtue, another beauty, a third riches, and so on, until she had everything anyone could wish for in the world. Just as eleven of them had pronounced their blessings, the thirteenth suddenly entered. She had come to avenge herself for not having been invited, and without greeting anyone or even looking at them, she cried in a loud voice, “In her fifteenth year, the princess shall prick herself with a spindle and fall down dead.” Then, without another word, she turned and left the hall. Everyone was horrified, but the twelfth wise woman, who still had her wish to bestow, stepped forward. Since she could not undo the evil spell, but only soften it, she said, “It shall not be death, but a deep sleep lasting a hundred years, into which the princess shall fall.”

The king, eager to protect his beloved child from misfortune, issued an order that every spindle in the whole kingdom should be burned. Meanwhile, all the gifts of the wise women came true in the girl, for she was so beautiful, modest, kind, and sensible that everyone who saw her could not help loving her. Now it happened that on the very day she turned fifteen, the king and queen were away from home, and the girl was left all alone in the castle. She wandered wherever she pleased, looking into rooms and chambers, until at last she came to an old tower. She climbed the narrow winding staircase and reached a little door. A rusty key stood in the lock, and when she turned it, the door sprang open. There in a little room sat an old woman with a spindle, busily spinning her flax.

“Good day, little old mother,” said the princess. “What are you doing there?” “I am spinning,” said the old woman, nodding her head. “What is that thing that dances about so merrily?” asked the girl, and she took the spindle, wanting to try spinning too. But scarcely had she touched it when the spell came true, and she pricked her finger. The instant she felt the prick, she fell onto the bed that stood nearby and lay in a deep sleep.

And this sleep spread through the whole castle. The king and queen, who had just returned home and entered the hall, began to fall asleep, and the entire court with them. The horses in the stable slept too, the dogs in the courtyard, the pigeons on the roof, and the flies on the wall. Even the fire flickering on the hearth grew still and fell asleep, and the roast stopped sizzling. The cook, who was about to pull the kitchen boy’s hair because he had done something wrong, let him go and fell asleep. The wind died down, and not a leaf stirred on the trees outside the castle. All around the castle, a hedge of thorns began to grow. It grew higher every year, until at last it surrounded the whole castle and rose above it, so that nothing could be seen, not even the flag on the roof.

Throughout the land, however, the tale spread of the beautiful sleeping Briar Rose, for that was what the princess was called. From time to time, princes came and tried to force their way through the hedge into the castle. But it was impossible, for the thorns clung tightly together as though they had hands, and the young men were caught among them, unable to free themselves, and died a miserable death.

After many years, another prince came to the land and heard an old man telling of the thorn hedge. Behind it, he said, there stood a castle where a wondrously beautiful princess called Briar Rose had been asleep for a hundred years, and with her the king and queen and the entire court. He also knew from his grandfather that many princes had already come and tried to make their way through the thorn hedge, but had become caught in it and died a sorrowful death. Then the young prince said, “I am not afraid. I will go and see the beautiful Briar Rose.” The kindly old man tried his best to dissuade him, but he would not listen. Now the hundred years had just come to an end, and the day had arrived when Briar Rose was to awaken. As the prince approached the thorn hedge, he found nothing but great, beautiful flowers, which parted of their own accord and let him pass through unharmed, then closed behind him to form a hedge once more. In the castle courtyard, he saw the horses and the spotted hunting dogs lying asleep. On the roof sat the pigeons, their heads tucked beneath their wings. When he entered the castle, the flies were asleep on the wall, the cook in the kitchen still held out his hand as though about to seize the boy, and the maid sat before the black hen she was to pluck.

He went farther and saw the entire court lying asleep in the hall, and up beside the throne lay the king and queen. Still he went on, and everything was so quiet that he could hear his own breathing. At last he came to the tower and opened the door to the little room where Briar Rose slept. There she lay, so beautiful that he could not take his eyes off her, and he bent down and kissed her.

The moment his kiss touched her, Briar Rose opened her eyes, awoke, and looked at him kindly. Then they went downstairs together, and the king awoke, and the queen, and the entire court, and they gazed at one another in wide-eyed wonder. The horses in the courtyard stood up and shook themselves; the hunting dogs leaped up and wagged their tails; the pigeons on the roof drew their heads out from beneath their wings, looked about, and flew into the fields; the flies on the walls went on crawling; the fire in the kitchen leaped up, flickered, and cooked the food; the roast began to sizzle again; the cook gave the boy such a box on the ears that he cried out; and the maid finished plucking the hen.

Then the wedding of the prince and Briar Rose was celebrated with great splendor, and they lived happily to the end of their days.