The Wicked Fairy’s Curse
Soon, the christening ceremony commenced and the fairies went to the little princess, one after the other to give their gifts.
While one gifted her exquisite beauty, the other one blessed that the princess would have the wit of an Angel.
One blessed her with lovely dancing skills that would enchant anyone who saw her dance and the other promised that she would be the most graceful maiden in the world. Likewise, all the six fairies gave their blessings to the baby.
Now, it was the turn of the seventh fairy who was none other than the old wicked witch. The old witch slowly went to the baby’s cradle, shook her staff over the baby’s head and said, “Dear Girl! Here is my gift for you. When you turn sixteen, you would injure yourself with a spindle of the spinning wheel and on that day, you shall die.”
Saying so, she quickly vanished from that place. The king and the queen, who heard the fairy’s words, were shocked. As soon as they realized that the words of the fairy would never go wrong, they started crying bitterly. The queen was so scared that she turned pale with fear and lost her consciousness.
The whole palace was filled with hues and cries. While the ladies who heard the curse of the wicked fairy broke into tears, the men let out angry shouts saying that the wicked fairy should be burnt to ashes.
Though so many things were going on in the palace, the king and the queen had no idea what was happening around them. They were in a deep state of shock. “How are we to live without our only daughter?” they thought helplessly.
Meanwhile, the good fairy that was be-hind the curtain, appeared before them and said, “Please do not worry. Your daughter will not die.
Though I cannot completely undo the curse of the elder fairy, I can certainly alter it. Instead of dying, your daughter would sleep for a hundred years.”
The fairy pacified the grieving parents and told them that there was nothing to worry about their daughter.
She told them, “Whenever this terrible thing happens to Princess Aurora, being her Godmother I would certainly come to the Palace to be at her side and I promise to render whatever help 1 can to her and to you.”
The king and the queen thanked the good fairy for her kind words and told her that her words have provided them with some comfort.
Though the king and the queen were happy that their daughter wouldn’t die, they did not want to take any chances. Immediately, the King passed orders in the entire kingdom, banning spinning wheels and spindles. Since that day, no one in the country was to use or possess the spinning wheel.
The messengers of the king went to every comer of the kingdom and informed the people of the king’s decision to ban the spindles. Though a few women were disappointed with the king’s orders, they had to shed off their spinning wheels and spindles.
But majority of the people followed the kind’s orders whole-heartedly and used it no more. Such was the affection they had for their king and the queen. For the next sixteen years, there was no sound of a spinning wheel that was heard in that kingdom. After a few years, everyone including the king and the queen forgot about the fairy’s curse. Soon, the princess grew up to be a beautiful girl.
Once, the king and the queen decided to be away from the kingdom for a while and went oil to their country house to spend some time alone.
They left Princess Aurora with her governess and asked her to take good care of the princess.
One day, the princess gave a slip to her governess, tricked her and quickly sped out of her room. She started exploring the palace excitedly.
With nothing to do in particular, she roamed around the palace, whiling away her time.
Roaming here and there, she finally reached a tower that was located on the top of the palace.
As soon as she looked into one of the rooms, she saw a very old woman spinning with the spindle in her hand. The princess had no clue what the instrument was.
She quickly went to the old woman and said, “Granny! What are you doing and what is there in your hands?”
The old woman smiled at her and replied, “Princess! I am spinning the yarn. This is called the spinning wheel and this is the spindle.”
Fascinated by the new tool, the princess requested the old woman to allow her to use the tool.
As soon as she took it into her hands, may be due to inexperience or due to the impact of the fairy’s curse, she pierced her finger with the spindle and fell down on the floor, turning pale. Now, is there a need to mention that the old woman was none other than the old witch who cursed the princess? .
Soon, the princess was found unconscious by the members of the palace. The maidservants, the guards and all the other people who came to know of the news ran upstairs to check the condition of the princess.
Someone quickly sent a message to the king and the queen who rushed back to the palace immediately. The palace physicians too were summoned and asked to attend to the princess.