Sleeping Beauty
Hello again! It's me, Carrie. Today I am going to be
telling you the true story of my dear friend Charlotte. She is a
completely hopeless romantic. When any one of us gets frustrated
with the lack of Prince Charmings out there, she convinces us to
believe in love and romance again. She is eternally hopeful that
every woman is a princess deep down, that each princess has a handsome
prince just waiting to find and rescue her and that everyone will live
happily ever after. Even when Charlotte's mother-in-law turned
out to actually be a monster, she still believed that somehow things
would end happily. But I'll bet you didn't know that about her,
did you? All you remember is the prince coming in and waking her
up after she slept for a hundred years and them living happily ever
after? That's what I thought. Well, it's a good thing I'm
here to set the record straight for all my friends!
The first part of her story is pretty much how you've always thought it was. She was born a princess and was given priceless gifts by some generous fairies. Her parents made one little slight on the guest list and poor little Charlotte was cursed by the slighted fairy to die by a prick from a spindle. Luckily, one fairy hadn't yet given a gift when Charlotte was cursed. I mean, really, you can't exactly give a gift of socks after others have given her beauty, grace, wit, dancing skills, a great singing voice and the ability to play any musical instrument. Instead, the last fairy lessened the curse so that Charlotte wouldn't die, but merely fall asleep when she pricked her hand on the spindle. Talk about beauty sleep! If we could all get sleep like Charlotte without aging, I'm sure we would be just as beautiful as she is. At the end of the hundred years only the right prince would be able to come in and wake her. This is why Charlotte has always believed in true love. She never had to look for love. It was just there. The day he arrived to awaken her, Charlotte and her prince got married. As perfect as her life had been up until that point, there is one thing about that day that vexes Charlotte to this day, though: her clothing. She was dressed in the epitome of fashionable attire when she fell asleep, but like her, the clothes she was wearing didn't age. The always perfect Charlotte met her future husband in clothes that reminded him of his grandmother! Are you starting to see why we are all so obsessed with fashion? Her outdated style didn't deter the prince a bit though. He loved her even before he got into the castle.
Now comes the interesting part! Because of Charlotte's mother-in-law she had to wait to get her happily-ever-after. You see, the prince lied to his parents about getting married. Every day for two years he claimed he was going hunting so that he could leave his home and be with Charlotte and their two kids. Don't think he's a jerk just yet, though. He had good reason. His mother came from a long line of Ogres and sometimes she had the desire to eat small children. And Charlotte's two perfect little children were not exempt from her Ogre cravings just because they were family. Eventually the prince's father died and the prince had to bring his mother to live with them. Since he was home all the time, this worked, for a while. But one day he had to go to war with a neighboring country, leaving his wife and children alone with the Ogress. It wasn't long after he left that the Ogress commanded that Charlotte be moved into a small cottage far away from the castle. From that moment on, Charlotte believed her children would die before she could see them again. And shortly after that the Ogress decided that she wanted to feast on the oldest child, a little girl of only four years old. The castle cook couldn't bring himself to kill the little girl for the Ogress, so he hid the child with his wife. Instead he served the Ogress a small animal owned by the prince. He was such a good cook that the Ogress never knew the difference. And so, when she requested to dine on the little boy, who was only three years old, the cook fooled her again.
Soon enough the Ogress got the urge to eat another human and determined that Charlotte would be the one she would like to eat next. But, like the children, the cook, couldn't bring himself to kill the innocent Charlotte. Still thinking her children were dead, Charlotte begged him to kill her so that she could see her children in heaven. At this point, the cook knew the only option would be to hide Charlotte along with her children at his cottage. Once again, he fooled the Ogress by cooking farm animals for her.
All was well until the Ogress heard Charlotte scolding one of her children and knew instantly that the cook had lied to her. She demanded that Charlotte and her children be thrown into a pot full of all kinds of deadly snakes so that they might die for tricking her. But of course, Charlotte and her children didn't die that way. Her perfect husband came home at just the right moment and his mother fell into the pot and died. With the mother-in-law gone and her husband back home, Charlotte finally had her happily-ever-after. Her children are in college now, and she is just as stunningly beautiful as she was the day she awoke from her hundred year nap. Like I said, if I didn't love her, I would hate her.
Story: Sleeping Beauty
Author: Andrew Lang
Book: The Blue Fairy Book
Date Published: 1889
Web Source: SurLaLune fairytales.com
Author's note:
I chose the Lang version of this story because it extends beyond the waking of the castle and the marriage of Sleeping Beauty and her prince, such as the Brothers Grimm version. I had to leave out a lot of the detail from the first part of the story to make room for the part about the Ogre. The first part of this story follows in a traditional fairy tale style, so I don't think leaving out these details will be too confusing for readers. I found this story really interesting because at first it does seem like it will be a typical happily-ever-after fairy tale, but then you get this great twist about the prince's family. You don't normally get very much information about the prince other than he is handsome and a skilled horseback rider with nothing better to do than save princesses.
I chose Charlotte for this story because in the Sex in the City series she is a the romantic one. She is the first to get married and the one who longs for the perfect family life the most. I thought she would be perfect because Sleeping Beauty never really had the hardships of the other princesses. As you will notice with the other stories, the other princesses each have to actively deal with the consequences of poverty or the loss of parents, or both. Sleeping Beauty believes her children are dead but they are restored to her. Also, her parents are never mentioned after the castle falls under the spell so it is unclear if they continued to live or if they too were put to sleep with the rest of the castle.
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Introduction
The first part of her story is pretty much how you've always thought it was. She was born a princess and was given priceless gifts by some generous fairies. Her parents made one little slight on the guest list and poor little Charlotte was cursed by the slighted fairy to die by a prick from a spindle. Luckily, one fairy hadn't yet given a gift when Charlotte was cursed. I mean, really, you can't exactly give a gift of socks after others have given her beauty, grace, wit, dancing skills, a great singing voice and the ability to play any musical instrument. Instead, the last fairy lessened the curse so that Charlotte wouldn't die, but merely fall asleep when she pricked her hand on the spindle. Talk about beauty sleep! If we could all get sleep like Charlotte without aging, I'm sure we would be just as beautiful as she is. At the end of the hundred years only the right prince would be able to come in and wake her. This is why Charlotte has always believed in true love. She never had to look for love. It was just there. The day he arrived to awaken her, Charlotte and her prince got married. As perfect as her life had been up until that point, there is one thing about that day that vexes Charlotte to this day, though: her clothing. She was dressed in the epitome of fashionable attire when she fell asleep, but like her, the clothes she was wearing didn't age. The always perfect Charlotte met her future husband in clothes that reminded him of his grandmother! Are you starting to see why we are all so obsessed with fashion? Her outdated style didn't deter the prince a bit though. He loved her even before he got into the castle.
Now comes the interesting part! Because of Charlotte's mother-in-law she had to wait to get her happily-ever-after. You see, the prince lied to his parents about getting married. Every day for two years he claimed he was going hunting so that he could leave his home and be with Charlotte and their two kids. Don't think he's a jerk just yet, though. He had good reason. His mother came from a long line of Ogres and sometimes she had the desire to eat small children. And Charlotte's two perfect little children were not exempt from her Ogre cravings just because they were family. Eventually the prince's father died and the prince had to bring his mother to live with them. Since he was home all the time, this worked, for a while. But one day he had to go to war with a neighboring country, leaving his wife and children alone with the Ogress. It wasn't long after he left that the Ogress commanded that Charlotte be moved into a small cottage far away from the castle. From that moment on, Charlotte believed her children would die before she could see them again. And shortly after that the Ogress decided that she wanted to feast on the oldest child, a little girl of only four years old. The castle cook couldn't bring himself to kill the little girl for the Ogress, so he hid the child with his wife. Instead he served the Ogress a small animal owned by the prince. He was such a good cook that the Ogress never knew the difference. And so, when she requested to dine on the little boy, who was only three years old, the cook fooled her again.
Soon enough the Ogress got the urge to eat another human and determined that Charlotte would be the one she would like to eat next. But, like the children, the cook, couldn't bring himself to kill the innocent Charlotte. Still thinking her children were dead, Charlotte begged him to kill her so that she could see her children in heaven. At this point, the cook knew the only option would be to hide Charlotte along with her children at his cottage. Once again, he fooled the Ogress by cooking farm animals for her.
All was well until the Ogress heard Charlotte scolding one of her children and knew instantly that the cook had lied to her. She demanded that Charlotte and her children be thrown into a pot full of all kinds of deadly snakes so that they might die for tricking her. But of course, Charlotte and her children didn't die that way. Her perfect husband came home at just the right moment and his mother fell into the pot and died. With the mother-in-law gone and her husband back home, Charlotte finally had her happily-ever-after. Her children are in college now, and she is just as stunningly beautiful as she was the day she awoke from her hundred year nap. Like I said, if I didn't love her, I would hate her.
Story: Sleeping Beauty
Author: Andrew Lang
Book: The Blue Fairy Book
Date Published: 1889
Web Source: SurLaLune fairytales.com
Author's note:
I chose the Lang version of this story because it extends beyond the waking of the castle and the marriage of Sleeping Beauty and her prince, such as the Brothers Grimm version. I had to leave out a lot of the detail from the first part of the story to make room for the part about the Ogre. The first part of this story follows in a traditional fairy tale style, so I don't think leaving out these details will be too confusing for readers. I found this story really interesting because at first it does seem like it will be a typical happily-ever-after fairy tale, but then you get this great twist about the prince's family. You don't normally get very much information about the prince other than he is handsome and a skilled horseback rider with nothing better to do than save princesses.
I chose Charlotte for this story because in the Sex in the City series she is a the romantic one. She is the first to get married and the one who longs for the perfect family life the most. I thought she would be perfect because Sleeping Beauty never really had the hardships of the other princesses. As you will notice with the other stories, the other princesses each have to actively deal with the consequences of poverty or the loss of parents, or both. Sleeping Beauty believes her children are dead but they are restored to her. Also, her parents are never mentioned after the castle falls under the spell so it is unclear if they continued to live or if they too were put to sleep with the rest of the castle.
Home
Coverpage
Introduction