|After a few years the king and the queen died. They had no other child,
and the kingdom passed into the hands of a distant family. A hundred
years went by. The son of the king who was then reigning was out hunting
one day, when he noticed the tower of a castle in the distance. He asked
what castle it was.
All manner of answers were given to him. One said It was a fairy castle;
another said that a great monster lived there. At last an old man
said:--
“Prince, more than fifty years ago I heard my father say that there was
in that castle the most beautiful princess ever seen. She was to sleep
for a hundred years, and was to be waked at last by the king’s son, who
was to marry her.”
The young prince at these words felt himself on fire. He had not a doubt
that he was the one to awaken the princess. He set out at once for the
wood, and when he drew near, the trees and thorns opened to offer him a
path.
He was on a long, straight road, and at the end was the castle in full
view. He turned to look for his comrades. Not one was to be seen. The
wood had closed again behind him. He was alone, and all was still
about him. Forward he went and came to the castle-gate. He entered the
court-yard, and stood still in amazement.
On every side were the bodies of men and animals. But the faces of the
men were rosy; it was plain that they were asleep. His steps sounded
on the marble floor. He entered the guard-room. There the guards stood
drawn up in line, with their spears in their hands, but they did not
move. They were fast asleep.
He passed through one room after another; people were asleep in chairs,
on benches, standing, sitting, lying down. He entered a beautiful room,
covered with gold, and saw the most wonderful sight of all.
There lay a maiden so fair that she seemed to belong to another world.
He drew near and knelt beside her. She did not stir. Her hand lay on her
breast, and he touched his lips to it.
As he did this, her eyes opened and looked at the young man. She smiled,
and said:--
“Have you come, my prince? I have waited long for you.”
The prince hardly knew how to answer. But he soon found his voice, and
they talked for hours, and then had not said half that was in their
heads to say.
[Illustration: 0111]
The moment that the princess waked, her little lapdog waked also. The
great mastiff in the court-yard awoke; the horses in the stable and the
grooms awoke; the footmen, the pages, the porters, the guards, the boys,
the cooks, the stewards, the officers, the gentlemen, and the maids of
honor, all awoke. The fire began to burn again, the spits turned round,
and the fowls began to roast.
So, while the prince and the princess forgot the hours in talk, these
people began to be hungry. The maids of honor went to the princess to
tell her that they all waited for her. Then the prince took the princess
by the hand and led her into the hall.
She was dressed in great splendor. But the prince did not hint that she
looked as the picture of his great-grandmother looked. He thought
her all the more charming for that, but he did not tell her so. The
musicians played excellent but old music at supper. After supper the
prince and princess were married in the chapel of the castle.
The next day they left the castle. All the people followed them down the
long path. The wood opened again to let them through. Outside they met
the prince’s men, and glad they were to see the prince once more. He
turned to show them the castle, but there was no castle to be seen, and
no wood.
The prince and princess rode gayly away, and when the old king and queen
died, they reigned in their stead.