Sleeping Beauty

Author: Charles Perrault
Genre: Fairy Tale

Summary
There once was a king who had a daughter, and when she was born, fairies bestowed gifts upon her. One gave her the gift to be the most beautiful girl in the world, another that she would have the temper of an angel, another that she would be graceful in all that she did, another that she could dance to perfection, another that she could sing beautifully, and finally that she could skillfully play any kind of music. The oldest fairy wished that the princess would prick her finger on a spindle and die from it. Luckily, there was a fairy who hid behind the curtains--she made it so that instead of dying, the princess would fall asleep for 100 years. At the end of those 100 years, a prince would come to awaken her. One day, when the princess was about 16 years old, her parents were away from the castle and she was wandering about exploring. She found a room and there was an old woman, spinning. The princess asked if she could try, and she pricked her finger and fell fast asleep. The king placed her in the nicest room to wait, since he knew this sleep was inevitable.

She slept those 100 years, and when they were up there was already a knew family living in the castle. The prince of the new royal family was wandering the castle, he ran into an old peasant who told him the story of the princess who was asleep in the castle. He got excited and set out to find the princess. On his way he encountered many obstacles, yet he finally found her--the most beautiful sight he had ever seen. They were not married, yet they had two children.

His mom wanted him to marry, and when his dad died and he took the throne, he married the princess and she and her two kids came to the castle. His mom was also an ogre. One day, the prince--now king--had to leave the castle to go to war. His mom wanted to eat their two young children, but the steward tricked her and fed her something else. She eventually wanted to eat the princess--now queen--so the steward went to her quarters but couldn't kill her because of her desire to see her children. He took her to the hiding place where her son and daughter were kept hidden. The ogress heard them while walking through the castle and was so angry that she made a huge vat with snakes and other gross creatures to throw the queen, her children, the steward with his wife and servant girl. Luckily, the king showed up just in time so the ogress threw herself into the vat instead. And they all lived happily ever after.

Reaction
I thought it was a good story--very similar to Disney's 'Sleeping Beauty'--until the king left for the war and his mother, the ogress, started acting crazily.

Recommendations
It's a good story, especially if you're wanting to know more about traditional fairy tales, however I would definitely recommend the Disney version of Sleeping Beauty over this one.

Problems/Conflicts
Clearly, it's a big problem that the ogress wanted to eat the children and the queen, and eventually wanted to throw them and the steward with his wife and servant girl into a vat full of snakes and other scary things. Also that at the beginning, the old fairy put a curse on the princess that she would prick her finger and die.

Of Perrault's fairy tales, I also read Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella or the Little Glass Slipper, and the Fairies.