Craft adapts the story in this version and his wife, Kinuko Y. The story has been adapted many times, most notably as Tchaikovsky’s famous ballet and Disney’s 1959 animated version, which inspired a successful live action film in 2014, focusing on the backstory of Maleficent, the sorceress who curses Aurora at the beginning. The Italian version gets really dark, with the prince raping the sleeping princess and her newborn baby actually saving her from the curse by sucking the splinter from her finger. So it’s been around a while, with lots of changes in all those versions, including the princess’ name, which has been Briar Rose, Aurora, Talia, Rosamond and Rosebud. The Brothers Grimm published it in their first collection of fairy tales after hearing a version of it written by Charles Perrault, who based his version on an Italian poem from the 17 th century that had its roots in poetry composed in the 14 th century.

One hundred years later, a prince kisses her and when she wakes, they are married. The fairy puts the whole kingdom to sleep so that the princess will not be alone when she wakes. The king and queen try to destroy all of the spinning wheels so the curse will never come to pass, but of course, it happens anyway. One of the fairies is able to change the curse so that the princess will only sleep and wake to the kiss of a prince. Basic Plot Summary: Seven fairies are invited to the christening of a princess and a fairy who was not invited shows up and curses the princess to someday prick her finger on a spindle and die.

Sleeping Beauty by Mahlon F. Craft