Sleeping Beauty
In a previous post, I wrote about the recent upswing in fairy tales in the media what with the movies and the books and such. Not too long ago a movie came out called Sleeping Beauty which, from my knowledge of the film, had very little to do with the actual fairytale. This post is not about that movie even though I'm sure it is as good as it can be. I haven't seen that movie yet. This post is about the actual fairytale of Sleeping Beauty.
Now, most people don't know this, but they only know half of the story.
I'll give you a moment to let that sink in.
Now, first I want to go into the story behind the story of Sleeping Beauty. The fairy tale itself has changed a lot over the centuries since the basic premise was written and played with. See, the story of Sleeping Beauty, in the form it is now known, was written by a man named Charles Perrault in 1697 and published in a book called Histoires ou contes du temps passe (Stories or Tales from Past Times with Morals) or Les Contes de ma Mere l'Oye (Mother Goose Tales). He adapted the story from an Italian fairy tale written by Giambattista Basile and published in his book Pentamerone called Sol, Luna e Talia (Sun, Moon and Talia). This original tale contained such wondrous things as rape, cannibalism, and a woman giving birth to children while in a coma and unattended. Men really didn't know a whole lot about childbirth back then, apparently. Perrault, obviously, edited this original story a lot, but not enough for those of us with the ability to read to notice.
The Perrault story is pretty similar to what we're all used to, with a lot of differences from the Disney version. Let's see if you spot the changes. They are hard to miss... especially the ending.
The story begins, as usual, with a celebration. After years of wanting a child, the queen has finally given birth to a daughter. The seven fairies of the kingdom are invited to be the princess's godmothers and seven golden caskets are made containing gold-jeweled utensils to eat with. Unfortunately, there was an eighth fairy who wasn't invited because everyone thought she was dead as she'd been trapped in a tower for many years. As there were only seven caskets made, this fairy is offered a seating, but not a casket, and thus the king and queen insult a fairy (not a good thing in any story). Six of the seven fairies give their goddaughter gifts of beauty, wit, grace, dance, song, and skill with musical instruments. Basically they make her the world's best trophy wife.
Then, the fairy who was overlooked steps up and places the princess under an enchantment: someday the princess with prick her hand on a spindle and die.
First lesson of the tale: don't piss off a fairy. Oh, and you don't hear from that fairy again after this. She got her revenge for being snubbed; she's great now.
The seventh fairy, having not given her gift yet (she was probably going to give the child the gift of being a great ruler or something stupid like being good with needlework) changes the enchantment declaring that the princess with instead fall under a deep sleep for 100 years and then be awoken by a king's son. So, your daughter is going to enter something like death, but you won't have to bury her. Then in 100 years she's going to wake up disoriented as hell, but she'll still make a great trophy wife with a husband right there, ready to take her away on a white horse. Yeay?
You know what happens next, the king bans spindles throughout the kingdom has them burned yadda, yadda, yadda and it doesn't work. When the princess is fifteen or sixteen and her parents are off having a good time elsewhere, the princess is wandering around the castle and finds a woman who by some miracle hasn't heard the decree and is still living in the castle who is spinning with her distaff in the garret of a tower. You know what happens here. The princess asks to give it a try, she pricks her finger, the curse is fulfilled, and she falls asleep.
Everyone tries to revive the princess to no avail, the good fairy who fixed the curse is brought to the castle with a chariot of fire drawn by dragons (AWESOME) after being summoned by a dwarf with seven-league boots. Not being stupid, the fairy puts everyone in the castle into a sleep so that when the princess wakes up, she won't be as disoriented. She then surrounds the castle by a forest of trees and brambles and thorns to keep everyone within safe from thieves, bandits, ogres, and the usual terrible lot that tends to take advantage of abandoned castles.
One day, one hundred years later, a prince is out hunting and spots the castle. Someone tells him about the beautiful princess hidden within. So the prince braves the forest, brambles, and thorns because he's really hot for women in a coma, and finds the princess. Because women who have been in a coma for a hundred years are really hot, and he kisses her breaking the spell. The prince and princess spend a lot of time talking in the princess's chambers (maybe it's more like "talking") while the rest of the castle wakes up and returns to business as usual and some woodcutters are probably located to do something about that forest of brambles and thorns. They're married in the castle and, according to most people, that's the end of the story. The end.
NOT!!!
The prince continues to visit his secret bride for years, having two children L'Aurore (Dawn) and Le Jour (Day). He keeps his bride secret because he has a step-mother of ogre lineage and he doesn't want mommy dearest to hurt his bride or children before he reaches majority. The minute he's crowned king, the prince brings his wife and children to the castle and everything seems like it's going to be okay.
Then mommy dearest kidnaps the prince's wife and children while he's away... presumably on business and takes them to a secluded house in the woods where she commands a cook to prepare the son for her to eat with sauce Robert (a brown mustard sauce). Of course, the cook hides the son and gives the queen lamb instead. Not satisfied, the queen wants the little girl. The cook prepares a goat and hides the girl. Finally, the Queen demands to eat the prince's wife who wants her throat slit due to the loss of her children. The cook gives the queen a hind prepared with sauce Robert and the young queen is reunited with her children in secret.
The Queen figures out the trick, after all, deer tastes nothing like human. So, she prepares a pit of vipers in the courtyard and makes plans to throw her daughter-in-law and grandchildren into the pit, killing them. Just when that's about to happen, the prince comes home. The Queen throws herself into the pit where she's eaten and everyone else lives happily ever after.
THE END!!! (For real this time.)
Disney, obviously, changed a lot when they made the movie. Considering the movie was more about the fairies than the princess (and they still didn't include the flaming chariot drawn by dragons), the changes are largely understandable. In fact, I think the Disney movie is a bit better than the epic Perrault wrote... besides leaving out the flaming chariot drawn by fracking dragons!!! Seriously, how cool would that would have been? I mean, yeah, the Disney movie turned a one-bit character into the MISTRESS OF ALL EVIL, but that was one dragon, this was a chariot drawn by multiple dragons. The Mistress of All Evil could've had the chariot, I don't care. I want to see that chariot!
Want to know the differences between this story and Sun, Moon, and Talia? It wasn't pricking her finger on a spindle; she got flax stuck in her finger. It wasn't fairies; it was a prophecy. The ogre wasn't the king's (not prince's) step-mother; she was his wife...and she wasn't an ogre. Oh, and the king didn't wake the princess up with a kiss; he raped her and then when she gave birth to her twin children, one of them sucked the flax out of her finger, which woke her up. Yeah, Italians are racy.
So, what have we learned today? Well, besides the fact that the Disney movie had something left to be desired (a flaming chariot pulled by effing dragons!!!)... First, all mother-in-laws are ogres or part-ogre. Well, that's probably not true, but it does seem like it, doesn't it? Second, if you have a favorite fairy tale, the version you are reading is probably the "safe" version and there's probably a pretty twisted version written long before the one you like was written that is far more interesting even if it squicks you out. So, don't take anything at face value. Third, ASSUME NOTHING. The whole story, according to Perrault, was started when the family assumed a fairy was dead. Then things got worse when they assumed they could circumvent the problem by getting rid of the object that would kill the princess. Everyone assumes Sleeping Beauty is a good story for kids because it doesn't have any bad adult implications. Finally, just have fun. Fairy tales were mostly originally campfire stories. The point was to be racy to get a reaction from the audience. Don't get your knickers in a twist because of the racy bits, enjoy them for what they are: shock value.
Sweet dreams!
Now, most people don't know this, but they only know half of the story.
I'll give you a moment to let that sink in.
Now, first I want to go into the story behind the story of Sleeping Beauty. The fairy tale itself has changed a lot over the centuries since the basic premise was written and played with. See, the story of Sleeping Beauty, in the form it is now known, was written by a man named Charles Perrault in 1697 and published in a book called Histoires ou contes du temps passe (Stories or Tales from Past Times with Morals) or Les Contes de ma Mere l'Oye (Mother Goose Tales). He adapted the story from an Italian fairy tale written by Giambattista Basile and published in his book Pentamerone called Sol, Luna e Talia (Sun, Moon and Talia). This original tale contained such wondrous things as rape, cannibalism, and a woman giving birth to children while in a coma and unattended. Men really didn't know a whole lot about childbirth back then, apparently. Perrault, obviously, edited this original story a lot, but not enough for those of us with the ability to read to notice.
The Perrault story is pretty similar to what we're all used to, with a lot of differences from the Disney version. Let's see if you spot the changes. They are hard to miss... especially the ending.
The story begins, as usual, with a celebration. After years of wanting a child, the queen has finally given birth to a daughter. The seven fairies of the kingdom are invited to be the princess's godmothers and seven golden caskets are made containing gold-jeweled utensils to eat with. Unfortunately, there was an eighth fairy who wasn't invited because everyone thought she was dead as she'd been trapped in a tower for many years. As there were only seven caskets made, this fairy is offered a seating, but not a casket, and thus the king and queen insult a fairy (not a good thing in any story). Six of the seven fairies give their goddaughter gifts of beauty, wit, grace, dance, song, and skill with musical instruments. Basically they make her the world's best trophy wife.
Then, the fairy who was overlooked steps up and places the princess under an enchantment: someday the princess with prick her hand on a spindle and die.
First lesson of the tale: don't piss off a fairy. Oh, and you don't hear from that fairy again after this. She got her revenge for being snubbed; she's great now.
The seventh fairy, having not given her gift yet (she was probably going to give the child the gift of being a great ruler or something stupid like being good with needlework) changes the enchantment declaring that the princess with instead fall under a deep sleep for 100 years and then be awoken by a king's son. So, your daughter is going to enter something like death, but you won't have to bury her. Then in 100 years she's going to wake up disoriented as hell, but she'll still make a great trophy wife with a husband right there, ready to take her away on a white horse. Yeay?
You know what happens next, the king bans spindles throughout the kingdom has them burned yadda, yadda, yadda and it doesn't work. When the princess is fifteen or sixteen and her parents are off having a good time elsewhere, the princess is wandering around the castle and finds a woman who by some miracle hasn't heard the decree and is still living in the castle who is spinning with her distaff in the garret of a tower. You know what happens here. The princess asks to give it a try, she pricks her finger, the curse is fulfilled, and she falls asleep.
Everyone tries to revive the princess to no avail, the good fairy who fixed the curse is brought to the castle with a chariot of fire drawn by dragons (AWESOME) after being summoned by a dwarf with seven-league boots. Not being stupid, the fairy puts everyone in the castle into a sleep so that when the princess wakes up, she won't be as disoriented. She then surrounds the castle by a forest of trees and brambles and thorns to keep everyone within safe from thieves, bandits, ogres, and the usual terrible lot that tends to take advantage of abandoned castles.
One day, one hundred years later, a prince is out hunting and spots the castle. Someone tells him about the beautiful princess hidden within. So the prince braves the forest, brambles, and thorns because he's really hot for women in a coma, and finds the princess. Because women who have been in a coma for a hundred years are really hot, and he kisses her breaking the spell. The prince and princess spend a lot of time talking in the princess's chambers (maybe it's more like "talking") while the rest of the castle wakes up and returns to business as usual and some woodcutters are probably located to do something about that forest of brambles and thorns. They're married in the castle and, according to most people, that's the end of the story. The end.
NOT!!!
The prince continues to visit his secret bride for years, having two children L'Aurore (Dawn) and Le Jour (Day). He keeps his bride secret because he has a step-mother of ogre lineage and he doesn't want mommy dearest to hurt his bride or children before he reaches majority. The minute he's crowned king, the prince brings his wife and children to the castle and everything seems like it's going to be okay.
Then mommy dearest kidnaps the prince's wife and children while he's away... presumably on business and takes them to a secluded house in the woods where she commands a cook to prepare the son for her to eat with sauce Robert (a brown mustard sauce). Of course, the cook hides the son and gives the queen lamb instead. Not satisfied, the queen wants the little girl. The cook prepares a goat and hides the girl. Finally, the Queen demands to eat the prince's wife who wants her throat slit due to the loss of her children. The cook gives the queen a hind prepared with sauce Robert and the young queen is reunited with her children in secret.
The Queen figures out the trick, after all, deer tastes nothing like human. So, she prepares a pit of vipers in the courtyard and makes plans to throw her daughter-in-law and grandchildren into the pit, killing them. Just when that's about to happen, the prince comes home. The Queen throws herself into the pit where she's eaten and everyone else lives happily ever after.
THE END!!! (For real this time.)
Disney, obviously, changed a lot when they made the movie. Considering the movie was more about the fairies than the princess (and they still didn't include the flaming chariot drawn by dragons), the changes are largely understandable. In fact, I think the Disney movie is a bit better than the epic Perrault wrote... besides leaving out the flaming chariot drawn by fracking dragons!!! Seriously, how cool would that would have been? I mean, yeah, the Disney movie turned a one-bit character into the MISTRESS OF ALL EVIL, but that was one dragon, this was a chariot drawn by multiple dragons. The Mistress of All Evil could've had the chariot, I don't care. I want to see that chariot!
Want to know the differences between this story and Sun, Moon, and Talia? It wasn't pricking her finger on a spindle; she got flax stuck in her finger. It wasn't fairies; it was a prophecy. The ogre wasn't the king's (not prince's) step-mother; she was his wife...and she wasn't an ogre. Oh, and the king didn't wake the princess up with a kiss; he raped her and then when she gave birth to her twin children, one of them sucked the flax out of her finger, which woke her up. Yeah, Italians are racy.
So, what have we learned today? Well, besides the fact that the Disney movie had something left to be desired (a flaming chariot pulled by effing dragons!!!)... First, all mother-in-laws are ogres or part-ogre. Well, that's probably not true, but it does seem like it, doesn't it? Second, if you have a favorite fairy tale, the version you are reading is probably the "safe" version and there's probably a pretty twisted version written long before the one you like was written that is far more interesting even if it squicks you out. So, don't take anything at face value. Third, ASSUME NOTHING. The whole story, according to Perrault, was started when the family assumed a fairy was dead. Then things got worse when they assumed they could circumvent the problem by getting rid of the object that would kill the princess. Everyone assumes Sleeping Beauty is a good story for kids because it doesn't have any bad adult implications. Finally, just have fun. Fairy tales were mostly originally campfire stories. The point was to be racy to get a reaction from the audience. Don't get your knickers in a twist because of the racy bits, enjoy them for what they are: shock value.
Sweet dreams!
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