"The princess shall be the most beautiful woman in the world."

The second said,

"She shall have a temper as sweet as an angel."

The third said,

"She shall have a wonderful grace in all she does or says."

[Illustration: The old fairy looks at the princess in her cradle]

The fourth said,

"She shall sing like a nightingale."

The fifth said,

"She shall dance like a flower in the wind."

The sixth said,

"She shall play such music as was never heard on earth."

Then the old fairy's turn came. Shaking her head spitefully, she said,

"When the princess is seventeen years old, she shall prick her finger
with a spindle, and--she--shall--die!"

At this all the guests trembled, and many of them began to weep. The
king and queen wept loudest of all.

Just then the wise young fairy came from behind the curtain and said:
"Do not grieve, O King and Queen. Your daughter shall not die. I cannot
undo what my elder sister has done; the princess shall indeed prick her
finger with the spindle, but she shall not die. She shall fall into
sleep that will last a hundred years. At the end of that time, a king's
son will find her and awaken her."

Immediately all the fairies vanished.

II

The king, hoping to save his child even from this misfortune, commanded
that all spindles should be burned. This was done, but it was all in
vain.

One day when the princess was seventeen years of age, the king and queen
left her alone in the castle. She wandered about the palace and at last
came to a little room in the top of a tower. There an old woman--so old
and deaf that she had never heard of the king's command--sat spinning.

"What are you doing, good old woman?" asked the princess.

"I am spinning, my pretty child."

"Ah," said the princess. "How do you do it? Let me see if I can spin
also."

She had just taken the spindle in her hand when, in some way, it pricked
her finger. The princess dropped down on the floor. The old woman called
for help, and people came from all sides, but nothing could be done.

When the good young fairy heard the news, she came quickly to the
castle. She knew that the princess must sleep a hundred years and would
be frightened if she found herself alone when she awoke. So the fairy
touched with her magic wand all in the palace except the king and the
queen. Ladies, gentlemen, pages, waiting maids, footmen, grooms in the
stable, and even the horses--she touched them all. They all we