Sleeping Beauty - Traditional Fantasy

In the story Sleeping Beauty, translated by David Walser, a King and Queen give birth to a beautiful daughter. In celebration, her father decided to have a banquet where he invited the Wise Women. There was a problem though, there were thirteen Wise Women but he only had twelve golden plates from which they must eat off of. Because of this he only invited twelve of the thirteen Wise Women. After the banquet the Wise Women presented the baby with their magical gifts. After the eleventh Wise Women gave her gift, the thirteenth Wise Women, who wasn't invited showed up. She was angry because she was left out and put a curse on the baby. The curse said that on the baby's fifteenth birthday she would prick her finger on a spindle and die. The twelfth Wise Women who had not yet given her gift decided to make that sentence less sever since she could not wipe out the evil gift completely. She decided to make the girl sleep for one hundred years after she pricked her finger instead of dying. On the girl's 15th birthday she climbed to the highest tower in the castle where she inevitability pricked her finger and fell into a deep sleep. Everything and everyone else in the castle also went into a deep sleep. Over the years many nobel men tried to rescue the girl, who was no known as the Sleeping Beauty but they all failed. Finally, a hundred years later a prince decided to try and wake the Sleeping Beauty and climb to the highest tower in the castle. He made it to the top and kissed Sleeping Beauty and she woke. Everything and everyone else in the castle who had been asleep woke up. Soon after the prince and Sleeping Beauty married and they lived happily ever after. 

The story of Sleeping Beauty if a great example of a Traditional Fantasy. In most Traditional Fantasy's there is a problem that happens to the character but in the end everything ends up okay and they live happily ever after. In many of the Traditional Fantasy stories there is a young girl, most likely a princess who is saved by a handsome prince. In the story, the character of Sleeping Beauty did not change throughout the course of the story. She was a single-faced character. In the beginning she was a sweet, beautiful girl and this is how she was when the story ended. This is a typical trait of Traditional Fantasy stories. Another aspect of Traditional Fantasies is that time passes quickly. In this story 100 years pass by in an instant, like no time had passed at all. 

I think one of the underlying meanings of this story is that revenge is evil. The Thirteenth Wise Woman was angry that she wasn't invited to the banquet and because of this she sought revenge on the King and his innocent daughter. Because of her anger and revenger on the girl, she wanted to ruin her life. She would have succeeded by killing the girl too if it hadn't been for the twelfth Wise Women who saved her. Overall I really enjoyed the story about Sleeping Beauty and it is another classic story that will be around for generations to come. 

Wasler, David (translator/text writer) Pienkowski, Jan (Illustrations) The Fairy Tales. New York, New York: Penguin Group, 1977, 2005. *Jan Pienkowski is an award winning illustrator. (Which exact awards he has won is not stated)