Sleeping Beauty (A twist on the traditional fairytale)

Once upon a time, a beautiful baby girl was born to the King and Queen of Malneigra. There had never been a more joyful time in the history of the kingdom. It was feared for several years, as the King and Queen grew closer to old age, that there would never be an heir to the throne. The Princess’s birth brought with it a wave of relief. At her christening, she was given the name Briar Rose, and three of the most powerful faeries in the land – Vyvi, Tania and Azura – were granted the honour of being her Godmothers. To give thanks, the faeries each bestowed a gift on the little Princess. Vyvi gave her the gift of Allure; all would be entranced by her radiant beauty. Tania blessed her with the gift of Charm, which would give Briar Rose charisma and grace to rival even the Queen’s. Finally, Azura infused the child’s soul with the gift of Determination. The Princess would grow to have great strength of spirit.

As the entire kingdom looked on in wonder, the dark faery Keiyu, the most powerful of all faeries, prepared to make her presence known. She was bitter and resentful, as she could not bear the thought of a woman more beautiful than her living in Malneigra. The fact that the girl was a mere mortal disgusted her even more. She spread her vast, black wings and levitated above the crowd, emanating hopelessness until the castle foyer was smothered by it. The women and children cried and screamed as the men leapt to shield them, their unease etched into their brows.

“I have my own gift for the wretched Princess,” Keiyu intoned. Along with each word came a reptilian hiss that shivered through the air. “Before the stroke of midnight on the sixteenth birthday of your precious Briar Rose, she will prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and suffer a slow, agonising death.” Her deep, dark laughter hovered long after she had dematerialised.

The King and Queen were in despair. What could be done to save their little girl and only heir from such a cruel fate? But the three faery Godmothers knew that their magic combined could at least prevent the Princess’s death. They cast a protective charm over her, and explained that she would not die if she pricked her finger. Instead, she would fall into a peaceful sleep until one who truly loved her woke her with his kiss. The King and Queen were reassured, but decreed that all the spinning wheels in the kingdom must be burned, and that until the day after Briar Rose’s sixteenth birthday, no spindles were to be brought into Malneigra.

As the Princess grew, she became more and more beauteous. She also became more and more tired of being overprotected by her mother and father. Well, they themselves were too busy ruling the kingdom to care for their daughter, but she had been placed in the charge of Vyvi, Tania and Azura. From the age of ten, she escaped the castle from her bedroom window every night with the help of her Godmothers, who were under oath to keep watch over her. However, according to faery law, any orders they were given were only valid within the boundaries of where they were agreed to. And they had never promised to keep her safe from anything other than spindles. Besides, they all believed she should learn to be independent in her choices, and face their consequences. After all, she was the future Queen.

Briar Rose matured unusually quickly. By the time she was thirteen, she was fully aware of the effect her beauty and charm had on the men of the kingdom. Soon, she began to insist that her Godmothers change her facial features before her nightly flits outside the castle. Not too much, for she enjoyed her beauty as much as the men. Just enough to conceal her identity. She would then dress in a ragged outfit, patched together by Vyvi from odds and ends of the castle dressmakers’ materials. Her Godmothers would float her down from her bedroom. Since their oath was only bound to the inside of the castle walls, they would then leave her to do as she pleased until dawn, when she would return and be brought back up to her bedroom window.

She would often take advantage of men’s attraction to her during the night. They would always give her somewhere to sleep until daybreak. Then, during the day, she would charm the servants into teaching her how to play the grand piano in the music room, cook for herself, and make her own dresses. All of these activities were highly improper for a Princess to practice, she knew this, but what her parents didn’t know wouldn’t harm them. It was rare that she’d even catch a glimpse of them around the castle. She and her Godmothers were free to cause as much playful havoc as they wished.

On her sixteenth birthday though, Briar Rose knew that something was troubling her parents more than usual. They asked to talk with her personally. They told her firmly that she was to remain in her bedroom for the entire day, and that she was forbidden to leave for any reason. Food and drink would be brought to her by armed guards. Her Godmothers were ordered to keep constant watch outside the door of the Princess's quarters. They were forbidden to even speak to each other. Fuming, she stormed past the guards lining every wall, her flowing dress billowing in her wake, and slammed her bedroom door in her Godmothers’ faces.

She refused to be imprisoned like this. It wasn’t the proper way for supposedly loving parents to treat their only child. She slumped on her luxurious bed and sighed at the leather bound books lining the walls, the easel, paints, pencils and reams of parchment, the mountain of stuffed animals and dolls. She had to get away from this hellhole somehow, and without the help of her Godmothers. But how? After a moment’s thought, she reflectively stroked the bed’s satin sheets and smiled slyly.

Working silently but swiftly, she knotted together her bedclothes and tied them to the bedpost closest to the window in a clove hitch knot. She remembered being taught that by one of the men she’d visited during her nocturnal escapades. She couldn’t recall for the life of her how they had got round to it. She changed into her rags, tossed her makeshift rope out of the window, and climbed down it carefully. She felt a rush of exhilaration. She was free.

Her stomach jerked as she reached the ground. She tensed, ready to run for the gate. Thankfully, all the guards were inside the castle. Of course, her mother and father wouldn’t have been expecting anyone to break out from inside. They most likely didn’t want to arouse the suspicion of their subjects either. Briar Rose liked to think she was fearless, but she knew that whatever had made her parents so worried was going to be a powerful force. Afraid, but able to keep it under control for the sake of freedom, she opened the gate, closed it as gently as possible behind her, and walked towards the thatch roofed cottages ahead.

A strange whirring made her stop outside one particular house and peer through the window. Inside was an old woman, sitting at a quickly spinning wheel of some sort. She had never seen anything like it. She found it fascinating. Forgetting her ruse to appear a mere peasant girl, she barged into the house and demanded to be shown how the wheel worked. The old woman smiled, and handed Briar Rose the spindle. She gasped as she pricked her finger on the tip of its needle. She swooned and fell to the floor. The old woman began to cackle as she resumed her true form; it was Keiyu, there to ensure that Briar Rose met her fate. She bent and reached down to the ruby tipped finger of the Princess. The dark faery smirked. “Sweet little thing...so true to your namesake.” Keiyu caught a drop of blood on her own fingertip and brought it to her lips, sighing before slipping away as ghostlike as she had arrived.

Soon after, but too late, the King and Queen reached the cottage. Their daughter had succumbed to the sleep, just as the faeries had foretold. Her chest rose and fell gently, the smallest trail of her blood snaking over her finger and onto the floor. Never in the past six years had she looked remotely like a child, until then. Their faces sullen, her parents left her wordlessly. They could no longer tolerate the girl’s persistent rebellion. Wordlessly, they left the kingdom when only the moonlight could guide them. All who resided beyond the castle walls soon knew of the Princess’s permanent sleep, and assumed the King and Queen had died of grief. They were mourned bitterly.

The faery Godmothers brought Briar Rose to her bed and bound her bloody finger, for they had grown fond of the Princess over her sixteen years in their care. So she wouldn’t wake up to strangers, they cast a spell over the castle which caused all of its occupants to fall asleep, only to be awoken when Briar Rose’s saviour woke her with true love’s kiss. They remained at her bedside until midnight. They wished her well and left Malneigra, never to return. The Princess was old enough to be without any guardians; it was the day after her sixteenth birthday. Their contract with the former King and Queen no longer bound them to the castle.

The kingdom fell apart without a monarch to rule it. In time it was deserted.

As years, centuries, decades passed, a dense forest grew around the castle. One day, a handsome vagabond Prince was wandering and came across the forest, thick with thorny brambles and coarse, tall grasses. He loved a challenge, so he decided to explore it. Bringing down his sword in long, sweeping motions before him, he cleared his path. After many hours, he began to see sunlight ahead. His face glazed with perspiration, he stumbled into the light. Before him was an iron gate, at least three times his height. Beyond it was a castle, overgrown with crawling vines. He put a hand on the gate, and seemingly at his touch it swung open with an almighty squeak of rusted hinges.

The castle grounds were empty. Unnerved but determined, the Prince decided to search inside. Again, he only needed to touch the door of the castle and it opened to him. A horrific sight awaited him. Dead people, courtiers, guards, servants, all throughout the corridors, on the stairs, in all the rooms! Eventually, he overcame his terror and examined the bodies further. He could feel breath on his face as he came close to them. They were not dead. They were sleeping. Every single one of them. And for how long? Every surface was coated in dust, and you couldn’t see the castle walls for the climbing weeds. Intrigued, the Prince continued to explore in silence.

After a while, he happened upon a spiral staircase, curling around the inside of a turret. A tower. He had heard tales on his travels, of the treasures brave men could find in the tallest towers of enchanted castles such as this. His eyes alight with the very thought of what could be waiting for him, he began the long climb up the cobweb-ridden staircase, gripping his sword in case of a trial of some kind. Gold, jewels, finery beyond his wildest dreams could be just metres above him. But nothing could have prepared him for what he actually found.

The Prince’s eyes immediately came to rest on a devastatingly beautiful girl, sleeping peacefully like the rest of the castle’s occupants. Frozen where he stood in wonder, he watched her chest rise and fall, his gaze drifting over her hair that cascaded across the pillow, as silken as the bedclothes, her hand drooping over the edge of the bed like a pale, wilting petal, with one delicate finger bandaged, then her parted lips. Full, cherubic, the shade of the most perfect briar rose. His heart ablaze with love, he stepped lightly towards the bed, gently sheathed his sword, and bent to kiss her.

The Prince heard her sigh as his lips touched hers. He watched as the girl opened her eyes drowsily. At the sight of him, she raised her hand to her mouth and smiled. She wasn’t at all surprised or afraid. “Lorien,” she breathed.

The Prince’s eyes widened at the sound of his name. The overpowering love within him stirred, making his breath stutter and catch in his throat.

“I’ve seen you in my dreams,” the girl explained. “I knew you would rescue me.” Her voice was melodic, and just as entrancing as her beauty. At the same time, the rest of the castle was awakening. Lorien nestled his face into the curve of Briar Rose’s neck and breathed in the fragrance of her hair, before lifting her from her bed. They descended the tower hand in hand.

There was a great celebration as the Princess greeted all the residents of the castle with her true love. They were soon married. Lorien grew ever more charmed by Briar Rose and her many domestic talents, which were extremely rare in women of royal blood. All as she had expected. The legend of the enchanted castle and the sleeping Princess now awoken drew hundreds of people from far and wide to the castle’s gates. The kingdom of Malneigra was rebuilt and repopulated, and Briar Rose and Lorien ruled as the new King and Queen.

The Queen never missed her mother and father, or her Godmothers. She had all the authority she wanted, and there was nobody left who could control her. Dear Lorien was completely under her spell, and would adhere to her every whim or request. During the night, when she was certain her husband was fast asleep, she would still dress in rags and moonlight as a peasant girl, taking endless pleasure from her power over the hearts and darkest desires of all the men in her kingdom. She would always be back in the castle by dawn. Her Lorien would always wake to see her face as peaceful in sleep as it had been the day he had lifted her curse.

The kingdom would come to lament the day Briar Rose became Queen.