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THE SLEEPING BEAUTY
_BOOKS ILLUSTRATED BY_
ARTHUR RACKHAM
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[Illustration]
[Illustration]
THE.SLEEPING
BEAUTY
TOLD.BY.C.S.EVANS
AND.ILLUSTRATED.BY
ARTHUR.RACKHAM
LONDON.WILLIAM.HEINEMANN
PHILADELPHIA.J.B.LIPPINCOTT.Co
LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN, 1920.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: BRIAR ROSE]
[Illustration: ONCE UPON A TIME]
THE SLEEPING BEAUTY
CHAPTER I
ONCE upon a time there were a King and a Queen who were very unhappy
because they had no children. Everything else that the heart could wish
for was theirs. They were rich; they lived in a wonderful palace full of
the costliest treasures; their kingdom was at peace, and their people
were prosperous. Yet none of these things contented them, because they
wanted a little child of their own to love and to care for, and though
they had been married several years, no child had come to them.
[Illustration]
Every day the King would look at the Queen and say: "Ah, if we only had
a little child," and the Queen would look at the King and sigh, and they
were both very miserable about it. Then they would put on their golden
crowns and sit side by side on their thrones, while lords and ladies
and ambassadors from other lands came to pay them homage, and they had
to smile with their lips for the sake of politeness, but there was no
joy in their hearts. And that is one of the greatest disadvantages of
being a King or a Queen, that one has always to hide one's feelings.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
Now it happened one day that the Queen went to her bath, and having
dismissed her ladies, she descended the marble steps into the water
and began idly to play with some wild rose-petals which had fallen into
the water. All of a sudden she heard a croaking voice that said: "O
Queen, be cheerful, for the dearest wish of your heart will be granted
you."
[Illustration]
"Who is that?" cried the Queen, a little frightened, for she could see
nobody.
"Look behind you," croaked the voice, "and do not be afraid, for I come
only to bear you good tidings."
So the Queen looked behind her, and there was a great frog who looked at
her with its big round eyes.
Now the Queen was afraid of frogs, because they are cold and clammy, but
she was very polite by nature as well as breeding, so she did not show
her dislike, though she could not help shrinking back a little.
"And do you tell me, Master Frog," said she, "that I shall have the wish
of my heart, and do you know what that wish may be?"
"It is to have a little small child of your own," said the Frog; and the
Queen nodded.
"Very well," the Frog went on, "do you see the green leaves of that
almond tree on the branch by the window?"
"I do," replied the Queen wonderingly.
"Those green leaves will fade," said the Frog, "and the winter winds
will blow them away. Then the branch will be bare, but in spring-time,
before the leaves come again, it will be covered with pink blossom, and
that blossom you shall show to a baby lying at your breast."
[Illustration]
The Queen gave a cry of joy. A ray of sunlight came through the trees,
dazzling her eyes so that she had to close them for a moment. When she
opened them again the frog had gone, and nothing was to be seen but the
dainty rose-petals floating on the surface of the water.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]