Fairy tale · 声匠改编 · 3:43
Sleeping Beauty
A forgotten fairy's curse, a spindle in a tower, and a castle asleep for a hundred years. A gentle bedtime retelling where even the old fairy gets cake.
Narrator
The King
The Queen
The Youngest Fairy
The Old Fairy
Princess Rose
The PrinceOther languages · 2 languages
About this story
Sleeping Beauty was first published by Charles Perrault in 1697 as The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood, and the Brothers Grimm told it as Little Briar Rose in 1812. This bedtime version tells the famous first half, with the forgotten fairy, the spindle and the hundred-year sleep, and leaves out Perrault's second half about an ogress queen. As in Perrault, the princess wakes because the hundred years are up, not with a kiss, and in a new ending the old fairy is invited to the wedding and given her own golden plate.
What it teaches
Leaving someone out can hurt more than we think, and kindness can soften even a curse. It is also a gentle story about patience: some good things take a long time to arrive.
Suits
Ages 3–8
Tips for telling it
- Freeze like the castle when the spell falls, and wake up together when Rose does.
- Let your child invent a gift of their own for baby Rose.
- Slow your voice right down as the castle falls asleep; it makes a lovely wind-down.
Questions people ask
- Who wrote Sleeping Beauty?
- Charles Perrault published the best-known early version in France in 1697, and the Brothers Grimm published theirs, Little Briar Rose, in 1812. An older Italian version, Giambattista Basile's Sun, Moon, and Talia, appeared in 1634.
- How long did Sleeping Beauty sleep?
- One hundred years. The forgotten fairy's curse was meant to end the princess's life, but a younger fairy softened it into a hundred-year sleep.
- Why was the fairy angry in Sleeping Beauty?
- She felt left out. In Perrault's version she wasn't invited because everyone thought she was dead or enchanted, and the king had only seven golden place settings, so she got an ordinary one; in the Grimms' version he owned only twelve golden plates, so the thirteenth wise woman stayed off the guest list.
Theater
Reborn at My Engagement Party
声匠原创
Pushed down the stairs by her fiancé and her sister, Shen Qingci wakes up at her own engagement party. She exposes them both, then he whispers in her ear: did you come back too?
Borrowing Arrows with Straw Boats
Romance of the Three Kingdoms · Luo Guanzhong (original) · VoiceSmiths adaptation · 1522
Zhou Yu sets a trap: 100,000 arrows in ten days. Kongming asks for three, waits for fog, and lets Cao Cao pay. Same cast as the Chinese episode.
The North Wind and the Sun
声匠改编
The boastful North Wind and the gentle Sun bet on who can make a traveler take off his cloak. Aesop's fable of why warmth wins where force fails, retold.
