The Sleeping Beauty Part 3

"I've had my wheel for twenty years," said one woman, "and now I've none at all, and how on earth I can get along without it I don't know, with six growing lads to find breeches for!"

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"Five silver crowns my wheel cost my good man last Candlema.s.s," said another, "and there it goes up in flames and smoke."

"What is a wheel if the burning of it saves our little Princess?" quoth a third. "Come, cheer up, Mother, the King has reason for what he does and he will not see us want."

And this man was right. The King had no wish to oppress his subjects, for no sooner was the pile reduced to ashes than he caused another proclamation to be issued, saying that the owner of every spinning-wheel should be paid for its loss. And not only so, but the King told his merchants to buy spun yarn from neighbouring countries so that the people might be able to weave, even though they could not spin.

CHAPTER VII

THE little Princess Briar-Rose, of course, knew nothing of the strange events that had happened at the feast of her christening, and the King gave orders that n.o.body should even mention the subject to her. It is not a pleasant thing to know that the fairies have decreed that one shall fall asleep for a hundred years on one's fifteenth birthday, even though one is to be awakened by a handsome Prince at the end of that time. So all the lords-in-waiting and the ladies-in-waiting had to be very careful and discreet. If they told the Princess a story, they had to keep the word "spinning" out of it; and if they showed her a book they had to take pains to see it did not contain a picture of a spinning-wheel, or any reference to a distaff or spindle, lest she should ask what they were. The King's Customs officers, on the boundaries of the kingdom, had to examine every waggon-load of merchandise that came into the country for fear it should contain a spinning-wheel; and if anybody was found trying to smuggle one in he was brought before the judges and punished.

By these devices the King felt certain that he had averted the fate laid upon his daughter.

But the promises of the other wise women were fulfilled to the letter, for the young Princess grew up to be the most beautiful, gifted and gracious maiden in all the world. That, at any rate, was what everybody in the palace said, from the lords and ladies down to the scullions in the kitchen, and although people are inclined sometimes to flatter Royalty, in this case there was reason for their admiration.

To begin with, the Princess was as lovely as a spring morning, with eyes of the purest, softest blue, and hair in which the rays of the sun seemed to be entangled. When she came into a room people stopped whatever they were doing to look at her, and everyone felt happier because she was there.

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And her cleverness! She never had any trouble with her letters or her multiplication table. She could cipher as easily as she could spell; she knew the history of her own country and of every country round it; and n.o.body could puzzle her with the hardest question in geography. She could sew and embroider, and knit and paint and draw; she could repeat poetry in five different languages; she studied mathematics and botany and astronomy and even law. In short, there was no end to her knowledge, and all because she had those fairies for her G.o.dmothers.

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Besides this, there were all her other accomplishments; she could play on all sorts of musical instruments, as, for instance, fiddle and zither, large harp and jew's-harp, church organ and mouth organ, flute and penny-whistle, and even on the nursery comb; she could sing like a nightingale and dance like a fairy.

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And yet she was never conceited or puffed-up, as some good-looking and accomplished people are apt to be. On the contrary, she was always sweet-tempered and modest, and for this reason she was loved. People may admire good looks and a graceful deportment, and they may respect ability, but it is only sweetness of nature and goodness of heart that can win love. And these things were the gift of the third fairy.

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So the years pa.s.sed, and at last came the day when the Princess Briar-Rose was fifteen years of age.

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What a day that was! Everybody came to wish her many happy returns, and she had so many presents that at least a dozen servants were kept busy unwrapping the parcels. The King gave her a white pony with a saddle of red velvet, and bridle and stirrups of gold, while the Queen's present was a beautiful and costly necklace of pearls. Even the boy who turned the spit in the kitchen brought her something, and though it was only a little wooden shoe which he had carved with his own hands, the Princess prized it just as much as though it had been made of gold.

The only person who was not happy on the Princess's birthday was the Queen, and she went about with a pale face and a look of great anxiety.

"Come, come, my love," said the King, "what is the matter with you?

Surely you are not thinking of that foolish old prophecy!"

"How can I help thinking about it?" the Queen answered. "I have not been able to get it out of my mind for fifteen years, and now that the day has come I am afraid."

"Make your mind easy," said the King. "Nothing is going to happen. Why, there's not a spinning-wheel within a hundred miles. I have taken good care of that!" And he went away chuckling, to attend a meeting of his Cabinet. But the Queen shook her head.

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Now while the King and Queen were talking, the Princess Briar-Rose was wandering about in the castle, visiting room after room, as she had done many times before. The castle was so big that a stranger might easily have been lost in its maze of stairways and corridors, but Briar-Rose knew every part of it quite well, from the great kitchens below ground, where on feast days a score of cooks prepared the dinner for hundreds of guests, to the topmost turret above the battlements, where the sentries kept watch with their pikes on their shoulders. There was only one part of the castle which Briar-Rose had never explored, and that was an ancient tower which rose from the eastern end. The door of that tower was always locked, and although the Princess had often tried to find the key she had never succeeded. The servants told her that the tower had not been inhabited for nearly a hundred years, and it had never been entered within the memory of anybody in the castle.

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To-day Briar-Rose flitted restlessly from place to place. She peeped into the kitchen and saw the kitchen boys turning the spits on which whole oxen were being roasted. Then she went into the empty throne room and saw the golden thrones side by side upon the dais, and the rich tapestry, glowing with all the colours of the rainbow, on the walls.

After that she mounted to the battlements from which she could see over miles and miles of her father's kingdom, and not content with that, she ran up the staircases into the turrets and looked through their narrow slits of windows upon the courtyard below, so far down that the people walking therein seemed no bigger than mice. And then she came down again and continued her wanderings, searching in all sorts of out-of-the-way corners, until at last she found herself before the door of the ancient tower into which she had never been. And as she looked at the door, she gave a start of surprise and then a cry of joy.

There was a key in the lock.

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CHAPTER VIII

IT was a rusty key, and Briar-Rose was afraid that she might not be able to turn it, but to her surprise it turned quite easily. The heavy door swung inward on its ancient hinges with many a creak and groan, and she found herself in a little dark room thickly carpeted with the dust of years. From this room a winding staircase led upward, and Briar-Rose was just about to climb the stair when a sudden noise made her start back in alarm.

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_Whirr!_ There was a beating of wings, a flurry and a scuffle, and past her face flew a dark shape, with gleaming, yellow eyes. It was only an owl who was hiding in the tower out of the sunlight, but he gave poor Briar-Rose a great fright, and she was in two minds whether to turn back or not, but the winding staircase looked very inviting and she wanted to see whither it led, so gathering up her skirts to avoid any creepy things that might be crawling about, she ran up the stairway as fast as she could, round and round until she reached the top. There she came upon another door.

In this door also was a rusty key, and Briar-Rose turned it as easily as she had turned the first. Then she pushed open the door and entered.

She found herself in a small room lighted by narrow windows. Beneath one of these windows was a couch, and in front of it sat an old woman with a spinning-wheel.

"Good-morrow, Motherkin," said the Princess. "What are you doing?"

"I am spinning, my pretty child," answered the old woman without ceasing her work.

"Spinning?" asked the Princess. "Oh, do let me see! What is that thing which goes round so merrily?"