Are you familiar with ‘The Sleeping Beauty’ story? You know, the story where a young princess is cursed to die on her 16th birthday? Well, there’s plenty of version of this story, but the one I’m familiar with is the Walt Disney’s version and this version of the story:

Once upon a time, in a magical Fairy Kingdom, a Princess named Aurora was born to a wonderful King and Queen. The Kingdom’s Fairy of Protection, Lilac Fairy, and all of her maidens were invited to celebrate Princess Aurora’s birth. In the midst of the excitement, the royal family forgot to invite the wicked fairy, Carabosse. Although Carabosse is distraught by their neglect, she and her crew come to party anyway, but with evil intentions. She disguises herself as a beautiful fairy and pretends to enjoy the festivities. However, her evil becomes her and she casts a spell over Princess Aurora saying that on her 16th birthday she will prick her finger and die. Quick to save the Princess, the Lilac Fairy casts another spell saying that she will only fall asleep after pricking her finger. Once Carabosse leaves, the party is restored and everyone continues to celebrate.

Sixteen years later, the royal family begins to celebrate Princess Aurora’s 16th birthday. Since the night of her birth, the King had ordered that all sharp objects be kept out of the kingdom so she could not hurt herself. His rules were broken, however, on the night of her party. During the celebration, Carabosse disguises herself again, this time as a beautiful seamstress, and presents Princess Aurora with a beautiful tapestry. Enchanted by its beauty, Princess Aurora grabs the tapestry and pricks her finger on a needle that Carabosse secretly embedded. Carabosse laughs in victory and runs out of the castle. Remembering the spell she had cast before, Lilac Fairy appears to make sure Princess Aurora fell asleep. Lilac Fairy casts a spell on the entire family and court to fall asleep ensuring them of their safety.

One hundred years later in a dark forest, a Prince by the name of Florimund is hunting with his friends. He leaves his friends and insists on being alone. Lilac Fairy hears the commotion and ventures out to Prince Florimund. He tells her that he is lonely and is in need of love. She has the perfect idea. She presents an image of Princess Aurora to him and he instantly falls in love.

She leads him to the castle to rescue the beautiful Princess and put an end to the evil fairy, Carabosse. Lilac Fairy reveals the hidden castle to Prince Florimund. Just when Prince Florimund steps into the castle doorway, Carabosse appears before him. She will not let him pass and a battle quickly follows. Prince Florimund finally overpowers her and he races into the castle. Knowing the only way to break the spell, he quickly finds Princess Aurora and kisses her. The spell is broken and Carabosse is finally defeated. Princess Aurora and her entire family wake up from their deep sleep. Princess Aurora accepts Prince Florimund’s proposal for marriage and her family approves.

The castle is filled with music and laughter as the family and maids clean the dusty old castle for the wedding. The wedding is attended by the Prince’s family as well as the fairies. And like every great fairytale, they seal their marriage with a kiss and live happily ever after.

Sleeping Beauty is really quite a wonderful yet boring story to tell children. I’ve always preferred those fairy tales where the heroines are not a damsel in distress awaiting for her prince to save her. I’ve always liked strong heroines… and so, I’ve always wondered what exactly the moral of this story is?

I never knew until one fine day, it occured to me that this story is telling us not to forget to invite some acquintance or important people in the society to our party or function. This is because some people are simply sourgrapes and they will attend your party uninvited and do nasty things to crash your party, or get back at you in a nasty way afterwards.

In Aurora’s parent’s case… the wicked Carabosse cursed her to die on her 16th birthday. Tsk tsk tsk…what a tragedy. Luckily she was just sent into a deep sleep! Poor princess…I can’t imagine how bad her breath was when she woke up!

Cleffairy: So…ladies and gentlemen, if you’re hosting a party, please double check your guest lists before finalizing your guest list. You’ll never know who you’ve missed out and who will appear and play Carabosse in your party!