Once upon a time, there was a king and a queen who said every day, "Oh, if only we had a child," but they never did. Then it happened, as the queen once sat in the bath, that a frog crawled out of the water onto the land and said to her: "Your wish will be granted. Before a year passes, you will give birth to a daughter." What the frog had said happened, and the queen gave birth to a girl, who was so beautiful that the king was overjoyed and had a great feast prepared. He invited not only his relatives, friends, and acquaintances, but also the wise women, so that they would be kind to the child. There were thirteen of them in his kingdom. But because he had only twelve golden plates from which they were to eat, one of them had to stay at home. The feast was celebrated with all splendor and when it was over, the wise women presented the child with their miraculous gifts. One with virtue, the other with beauty, the third with wealth, and so with everything that is to be desired in the world. When eleven had just said their sayings, suddenly the thirteenth entered.

She wanted to take revenge for not being invited. And without greeting anyone, or even looking at anyone, she cried out in a loud voice: "the king's daughter shall prick herself on a spindle in her fifteenth year and fall down dead." And without speaking a word further, she turned and left the hall. All were frightened, then the twelfth came forth, who still had her wish left, and because she could not annul the evil spell, but only soften it, she said, "but it shall not be death, but a hundred years' deep sleep, into which the king's daughter shall fall." The king, who wanted to protect his dear child from this misfortune, gave orders that all the spindles in the whole kingdom should be burned. However, the gifts of the wise women were all fulfilled in the case of the girl, for she was so beautiful, demure, friendly and intelligent that everyone who looked at her had to love her. It happened that on the day she turned fifteen, the king and queen were not at home, and the girl was left all alone in the castle. She went around the whole castle, looked at the rooms and chambers as she pleased, and finally came to an old tower. She climbed the narrow spiral staircase and came to a small door. There was a rusty key in the lock, and when it turned it, the door burst open. And there, in a little parlor, sat an old woman with a spindle, busily spinning her flax. "Good day, you old mother," said the king's daughter, "what are you doing?" "I am spinning," said the old woman, nodding her head. "What is that thing that jumps around so merrily?" said the girl, taking the spindle and wanting to spin too. But no sooner had she touched the spindle than the spell came true and she pricked her finger with it.

But at the moment she felt the sting, she fell down on the bed that was there and lay in a deep sleep. And this sleep spread all over the castle. The king and queen, who had just come home and entered the hall, began to fall asleep, and all the court with them. Then the horses in the stable, the dogs in the courtyard, the pigeons on the roof, the flies on the wall, and even the fire flickering on the hearth fell asleep. And the roast stopped sizzling. The cook, who wanted to pull the kitchen boy's hair because he had done something wrong, let him go and slept. And the wind died down, and not a leaf was stirring on the trees in front of the castle.

Around the castle, however, a hedge of thorns began to grow, which grew taller every year and finally covered the entire castle, growing beyond it so that nothing could be seen of it. Not even the flag on the roof. But there was a legend in the country about the beautiful sleeping Sleeping Beauty, because that was the name of the king's daughter. Therefore, from time to time, the king's sons came and wanted to penetrate through the hedge into the castle. But they could not, because the thorns, as if they had hands, held tightly together and the young men got caught in them, could not get loose again and died a miserable death. After long years a king's son came once again into the country and heard how an old man told about the thorn hedge. There was supposed to be a castle behind it, in which a beautiful king's daughter, called Sleeping Beauty, had been sleeping for a hundred years. And with her slept the king and the queen and the whole court. He also knew from his grandfather that many of the king's sons had come and tried to get through the thorny hedge. But they would have got stuck in it and died a sad death. Then the young man said, "I am not afraid, I want to go out and see the beautiful Sleeping Beauty." The good old man wanted to advise him against it, but whatever he said, he did not listen to his words.

But now the hundred years had just passed and the day had come when Sleeping Beauty was to awaken again. When the king's son approached the thorny hedge, it was full of large beautiful flowers, which parted by themselves and let him pass through unharmed. And behind him they joined together again as a hedge. In the courtyard of the castle he saw the horses and the pied hounds lying and sleeping. On the roof the pigeons were sitting with their heads tucked under their wings. And when he came into the house, the flies were sleeping on the wall, the cook in the kitchen was still holding his hand as if he wanted to grab the boy, and the maid was sitting in front of the black chicken that was to be plucked. Then he went on and saw in the hall the whole court lying and sleeping. And up by the throne lay the king and queen. Then he went on still further. Everything was so quiet that one could hear his breath. Finally he came to the tower and opened the door to the little room in which Sleeping Beauty was sleeping. There it lay and was so beautiful that he could not take his eyes off it, and he bent down and gave it a kiss. As he had touched it with the kiss, Sleeping Beauty opened her eyes, awoke and looked at him quite kindly. Then they went down together and the king woke up and the queen too. And all the court, and looked at each other with wide eyes. And the horses in the court got up and shook themselves. The hounds leaped and wagged. The pigeons on the roof pulled their heads out from under their wings, looked around and flew into the field. The flies on the walls kept crawling. The fire in the kitchen rose, flickered and cooked the food. The roast began to sizzle again, and the cook slapped the boy's face so hard that he screamed. And the maid finished plucking the chicken. And then the wedding of the king's son and Sleeping Beauty was celebrated in all splendor, and they lived happily ever after.