The Sleeping Beauty Picture Book

By pricking of a spindle-pointÑah, woeful prophecy!

But now, a kind young Fairy, who had waited to the last,

Stepped forth, and said, ÒNo, she shall sleep till a hundred years are past;

And then she shall be wakened by a King's sonÑtruth I tellÑ

And he will take her for his wife, and all will yet be well.Ó

In vain in all her father's Court the spinning-wheel's forbid

In vain in all the country-side the spindles sharp are hid;

For in a lonely turret high, and up a winding stair,

There lives an ancient woman who still turns her wheel with care.

The Princess found her out one day, and tried to learn to spin;

Alas! the spindle pricked her handÑthe charm had entered in!

And down she falls in death-like sleep: they lay her on her bed,

And all around her sink to restÑa palace of the dead!

A hundred years passÑstill they sleep, and all around the place

A wood of thorns has risen upÑno path a man can trace.

At last, a King's son, in the hunt, asked how long it had stood,

And what old towers were those he saw above the ancient wood.