When Sleeping Beauty pricked her finger on the spindle and fell asleep, everyone else in the castle fell asleep, too. A thorny bush grew high all around the castle so that no one could get in except one very daring prince, a hundred years later.
Now, the country could hardly run by itself while king and queen and government were all fast asleep in that unreachable castle, not for a hundred years. So when it became obvious that things in the royal castle were going to be pretty quiet for a while, the people consulted the sleeping king’s younger brother, and asked him to be the new king.
The new king had a wife and, soon after they had both been crowned, the new queen gave birth to a baby girl, who was christened Dimity. Dimity’s parents had learned a thing or two about what had gone on in the older king’s castle, so when the day came to christen the princess, they were very careful to invite EVRERY fairy in the kingdom to the party. And even at that, the king whispered to two of the fairies, Sainfoin and Chamomile, as they arrived, “Please don’t give the princess any gifts until the end of the evening. It may be that some angry fairy will arrive unexpectedly. We may need you to change whatever curse she puts on our daughter.”
Nothing of the kind happened. Everybody had a wonderful time. There was plenty to eat and drink, and lots of music for dancing. The party was so successful in fact that it might be going on tonight if the queen had not whispered to the king, “We should probably start letting the guests go home so Dimity can get to sleep.” Because the baby, as guest of honor, had been laughing and cooing throughout, to be admired by all the guests bringing gifts.
The king called for the waiters, and told them, “It is time to ask the guests to leave the party. Be polite, of course, and mention that I will shake their hand as they leave, and give out golden party favors as thanks for their attendance at this momentous evening.”
The waiters were skilled at this sort of thing, and most of the guests, though sorry such a lively party had to break up, decided it was, indeed, time to go home. The only guest who made a fuss, oddly enough, was the fairy Sainfoin.
“I’m having a good time,” she told the waiter. “So many kings and queens give stuffy old parties, but this is fun. Let’s dance!”
The waiter bowed. “But the King will shake your hand as you leave,” he said, “And I know he’s giving out golden rings as party favors.”
“When I want a gold ring,” said Sainfoin, “I can gather buttercups and make one. I’m going to dance for hours yet, and I’m going to have another piece of that red cake with the butter frosting, too.”
“Oh please, Ma’am” said the waiter. “The princess needs her sleep. And everyone else is going home.”
Looking around, the fairy saw that the waiter spoke the truth. Soon there would be no one left for her to dance with. And the royal chef was packing away the last of the cake, to put in the kitchen until the next day’s lunch.
“Well!” said Sainfoin, hands on hips. “And just when the party was getting good! Well, well!” She looked up to the throne where the queen sat holding the Princess Dimity, who was waving her hands, obviously willing for the party to go on herself.
“Aha!” said Sainfoin. “I remember I was asked not to give the princess a gift until later. Here’s my present for your precious princess who needs her sleep. When she is sixteen years old, she will stub her toe on an old wooden horse trough and from that day forth, she will never sleep again until one day she DIES from being so tired. So THERE!”
Sainfoin stamped a foot. A puff of smoke rose around her and she disappeared. She didn’t wait to get a gold ring or shake the king’s hand.
The royal couple were stunned by this gift to their new daughter, but fortunately Chamomile had not yet departed.
“I can’t remove my sister’s gift,” she told the queen. “That’s against the rules. But I can do this. The princess will have a year from the time she stubs her toe to find some prince who can put her to sleep, so that she does NOT die.”
The queen wrinkled her nose. “How will he do that?” But Chamomile also disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving the king with two extra gold rings.
The king and queen put Princess Dimity to bed. Then they stood at the window of the princess’s bedroom, looking uphill to that bigger castle surrounded by thorns, where hardly anyone ever went in, and no one ever came out.
The next day, they sent out an order that every single wooden horse trough in the country was to be burned. The people were upset about this, because they had already had to go sixteen years without spindles, by order of the previous king. But the current king sent a shiny new metal trough to everyone who burned their wooden one, so most all of the people were happy again, once the smoke had cleared. (A lot of those troughs were completely waterlogged, and burning them took weeks.)
One old lady who lived not far down the road from the castle was NOT happy. “My babies splashed and played in that dirty old trough,” she said, “And so did my grandbabies. And one day my grandbabies may have babies of their own.” So she took her horse trough and hid it in her attic.
Princess Dimity grew up to be as beautiful as her cousin who slept in the dark enchanted castle up the hill. No one ever told her about Sainfoin’s curse, because once everyone was convinced all the wooden horse troughs in the country had been burned, they felt there was no reason to worry about it.
Blogsy Babbles 