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The Sleeping Princess
I
Once there was a King and a Queen. For many years they had wanted a child, and no child had come to them.
Then the Queen had a child. It was a girl. The King was very glad.
You know what a fairy is. Many fairies lived near the King's house. When the Queen's child came, the King went to all the fairies and said, "The Queen has a child. Do come to the house and see our new little girl." All the fairies said, "We are very glad: we will come today ."
One of the fairies had gone away on a journey: she had been very far away. She had not come back when the Queen's child came. When she came back, one of the fairies said to her, "The Queen has a child, and the King came to us and said, "Come and see our new little girl. ""
But this fairy was a bad fairy; the bad fairy said, "The King went to all of you: why did he not come to me? I shall go and see the King's child; but I shall give her some bad thing."
All the good fairies went to the King's house, and saw the little girl; and they all gave her some good thing. One said, "I give her this good thing: she shall have riches." One fairy said, "I give her this good thing; she shall become a brave woman." One said, "I give her this good thing: she shall become a good woman." All gave some good thing.
Then there came the bad fairy. She said, "The King went to all the fairies but he did not come to me, so I shall give the child some bad thing. She will have riches; she will become brave; she will become good. But, when she is a woman, she will prick her hand with a needle, and die."
The poor Queen did not know what to do. The King said to the good fairies, "The poor girl shall not die. Can you not help me? Say that she shall not die!" The good fairies said, " We cannot help you. What the bad fairy has said will come. Your child will prick her hand with a needle; but she shall not die. She shall sleep for many years. Then a king's son shall come and kiss her. And she will awake. He shall wake her with a kiss." Then the fairies went away.
The King sent for all his men and all the Queen's women, and said, "Go and bring me all the needles that are in the house."
They brought all the needles that they could find, and the King took them, and threw them into a river far away.
Then he said, "See that no needle comes into this house. See that no man and no woman brings a needle near my child. I shall kill them if they do."
Ⅱ
The little child grew up in the King's house. She became a Princess. The Princess wanted to see all that she could. She wanted to know what the men were doing in the garden. She wanted to know the names of all the flowers and of all the trees. She said to the men in the King's garden, "What is the name of this flower? What is the name of this tree?" In the house she wanted to see all that there was to see.
She wanted to know how many rooms there were in the King's house, and who lived in all the rooms. So she went into one room, and then into another room, and then into another. She went into big rooms and little rooms, and very little rooms. Then she said, "I have been to all the rooms in the house." But there was one room where she had not gone.
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