and hid, so that not even the roof or the chimneys could be seen. But
there went a report through all the land of the beautiful sleeping
Rose-Bud (for so was the king's daughter called); so that from time to
time several kings' sons came and tried to break through the thicket
into the palace. This they could never do, for the thorns and bushes
laid hold of them as it were with hands, and there they stuck fast and
died miserably.

After many many years there came a king's son into that land, and an old
man told him the story of the thicket of thorns, and how a beautiful
palace stood behind it, in which was a wondrous princess, called
Rose-Bud, asleep with all her court. He told, too, how he had heard from
his grandfather that many many princes had come, and had tried to break
through the thicket, but had stuck fast and died. Then the young prince
said, "All this shall not frighten me. I will go and see Rose-Bud." The
old man tried to dissuade him, but he persisted in going.

Now that very day were the hundred years completed; and as the prince
came to the thicket, he saw nothing but beautiful flowering shrubs,
through which he passed with ease, and they closed after him as firm as
ever. Then he came at last to the palace, and there in the court lay the
dogs asleep, and the horses in the stables, and on the roof sat the
pigeons fast asleep with their heads under their wings; and when he came
into the palace, the flies slept on the walls, and the cook in the
kitchen was still holding up her hand as if she would beat the boy, and
the maid sat with a black fowl in her hand ready to be plucked.

Then he went on still further, and all was so still that he could hear
every breath he drew; till at last he came to the old tower and opened
the door of the little room in which Rose-Bud was, and there she lay
fast asleep, and looked so beautiful that he could not take his eyes
off, and he stooped down and gave her a kiss. But the moment he kissed
her she opened her eyes and awoke and smiled upon him. Then they went
out together, and presently the king and queen also awoke, and all the
court, and they gazed on one another with great wonder. And the horses
got up and shook themselves, and the dogs jumped about and barked; the
pigeons took their heads from under their wings and looked about and
flew into the fields; the flies on the walls buzzed away; the fire in
the kitchen blazed up and cooked the dinner, and the roast meat turned