Miya Pearson
The fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty has been adapted countless times throughout history and retold by modern storytellers across various media. The original tale, titled The Sun, Moon, and Talia, features a princess who falls into a coma after touching enchanted flax. The story has since been adapted by storytellers such as the Brothers Grimm, who replaced the flax with a spindle, and Walt Disney, who transformed it into an animated feature film in 1959. The Aarne-Thompson classification system for fairy tales lists Sleeping Beauty as a Type 410, characterised by a princess who is magically forced into sleep and later awakened, reversing the magic.
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What You'll Learn
The original tale
The original version of the Sleeping Beauty tale is called "The Sun, Moon, and Talia" and was published in the 17th century. In this version, the princess's name is Talia, and she falls asleep by touching flax that has been enchanted by a wicked fairy, Maleficent, in disguise. While she is asleep, a king discovers her and rapes her. Unbeknownst to Talia, she gives birth to twins, whom she names the Sun and the Moon. When she eventually wakes up, she instantly begins breastfeeding them, as if she knows they are hers, but is too weak to respond otherwise. The king, who has fallen in love with Talia, takes her and the children to his castle, where she becomes his mistress. The king is already married, and his wife, upon discovering the existence of Talia and her children, orders the cook to kill them and serve them to the king as meat.
In other early versions of the tale, such as the medieval courtly romance "Perceforest" (c. 1337-1344), the princess's name is Zellandine, and she falls in love with a man named Troylus. Her father sends him on tasks to prove himself worthy of her, and while he is away, Zellandine falls into an enchanted sleep. Troylus finds her and rapes her in her sleep, and she conceives. When their child is born, the child draws the flax that caused Zellandine's sleep from her finger. She realizes that Troylus is the father and, when he returns, they get married.
The tale was later published by Italian poet Giambattista Basile (1575-1632), who titled it "The Sleeping Beauty." In Basile's version, the princess pricks her finger on a piece of flax, fulfilling the prophecy of a wicked fairy. The Brothers Grimm and Perrault, in their versions, changed the item to a spindle. Despite the king and queen's efforts to protect their daughter by ridding the kingdom of these items, the prophecy comes true, and the princess falls into a deep sleep.
In the Brothers Grimm's version, the fairies are wise women, and the prince arrives to wake the princess, named Rosamund, with a kiss. In contrast, in Perrault's original French tale, the prince does not kiss the princess to wake her up; instead, he falls on his knees before her, struck by her radiant beauty. They converse for a long time, and the spell is broken. The prince and princess are later married in secret, and she bears him two children.
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The Brothers Grimm version
The linguistic analysis of the fairy tale involves an exploration of its language, structure, and stylistic features. The language used is archaic and formal, with words like "thou," "thy," and "shalt," lending an old-world charm and authenticity to the narrative. The use of direct speech adds to the formal tone and captures the conversational exchanges typical of fairy tales. The story is also rich in descriptive language, with vivid imagery that creates an immersive experience for the reader.
The Brothers Grimm included a variant of Sleeping Beauty in the first volume of Children's and Household Tales, published in 1812. Their version is the only known German variant of the tale, and its influence can be seen in later adaptations, such as Walt Disney's animated classic Sleeping Beauty (1959), which is based on both the Brothers Grimm and Charles Perrault's versions. The ballet Sleeping Beauty (1890) by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky is also based on the Brothers Grimm version, as well as the East German film Dornröschen (1971).
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The Perrault version
Charles Perrault's version of Sleeping Beauty differs from the one that is popular today. The tale begins with the christening of a king and queen's long-awaited child. Seven good fairies are invited to be godmothers to the infant princess, and they attend a banquet at the palace. However, an old fairy, who had been forgotten, enters the palace and is seated with a plate of fine china and a crystal drinking glass. Six of the other seven fairies then offer their gifts of beauty, wit, grace, dance, song, and goodness to the infant princess. The evil fairy is very angry about having been forgotten, and as her gift, she enchants the infant princess so that she will one day prick her finger on a spindle of a spinning wheel and die.
In Perrault's version, the princess does not die but falls into a deep sleep for 100 years. A good fairy, knowing the princess would be frightened if alone when she wakes, uses her wand to put every living person and animal in the palace and forest asleep, to awaken when the princess does. The king commands that she should be left to sleep in peace until the hour of her awakening. The good fairy who had saved her life by condemning her to sleep was in the kingdom of Mataquin, twelve thousand leagues away, but she was instantly warned by a little dwarf who had a pair of seven-league boots. The fairy set off at once, and within an hour her chariot of fire, drawn by dragons, was seen approaching.
A hundred years later, a prince makes his way to the castle, falls in love with the princess after hearing her story, and enters her bedroom just as she awakens. The two marry and have two children, Aurora and Apollo, but the prince does not tell his mother of his new family until two years later when the King dies. The second part of the tale includes the prince's mother, who is an ogress. The Ogress Queen wishes to eat Beauty and her children while her son is away at war, but her plan is foiled by a kind cook who saves the family. At the end of the tale, the Queen commits suicide by diving into a vat of poisonous snakes.
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The Basile version
The tale of Sleeping Beauty, also known as Sun, Moon, and Talia, was first published by Italian poet Giambattista Basile, who lived from 1575 to 1632. In this version, the princess is named Talia.
Talia's father, a great lord, consults wise men and astrologers to predict her future after her birth. They foretell that Talia will be in danger from a splinter of flax. To protect his daughter, Talia's father decrees that no flax or hemp be brought into the house. Despite his efforts, Talia, now grown, sees an old woman spinning outside her window and is intrigued by the sight of the twirling spindle. She invites the woman inside and takes the distaff from her, embedding a splinter of flax under her nail, which puts her into a deep sleep. Believing his daughter to be dead, Talia's father seals the house and abandons it forever.
One day, a king comes across the sleeping Talia in her castle. Overcome with lust, he makes love to her and then leaves. Talia eventually gives birth to twins, a boy and a girl, whom she names Sun and Moon. The king returns and, upon finding Talia awake with two children, falls in love with her. He makes her his mistress, despite already being married. When the king's wife discovers Talia and her children, she plots to kill them and serve them to her husband as food. She calls for the cook to slaughter the children, but he hides them and serves the king another meal instead. The king, believing his children to be dead, is furious and orders the cook to be burned. The cook reveals that he saved the children, and Talia and the king live happily ever after with their children.
Basile's version of the tale differs significantly from later adaptations, such as those by the Brothers Grimm and Perrault, in its dark and mature themes, including non-consensual sex and attempted cannibalism. It reflects the societal norms and morals of the time, when kings were considered to have divine right and absolute authority.
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The Disney adaptation
Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty, released in 1959, is an adaptation of the 1697 fairy tale by Charles Perrault. The film follows Princess Aurora, who is cursed by the evil fairy Maleficent to die from pricking her finger on a spinning wheel on her 16th birthday. Three good fairies alter the curse so that Aurora falls into a deep sleep and can only be awakened by true love's kiss.
The music in the Disney adaptation is based on Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty ballet, bringing a timeless, otherworldly fairy tale feeling to the film. Composer George Bruns adapted the ballet's score for the film, a challenging task that he admitted would have been easier if he had written an original score. The Berlin Symphony Orchestra recorded the enchanting music in Germany, using state-of-the-art six-channel stereo equipment.
Sleeping Beauty was a significant production for Disney, taking nearly a decade to make and costing $6 million (equivalent to $64,719,178 in 2024). It was the last animated feature produced by Walt Disney based on a fairy tale and the last to be inked by hand before switching to the xerography process. The film premiered in January 1959 to positive reviews and has since become a beloved classic, with many considering it one of the best fairy tale adaptations.
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Frequently asked questions
The original tale of Sleeping Beauty is called "The Sun, Moon and Talia" (17th century). In this version, the princess Talia falls asleep after touching flax that has been cursed by Maleficent in disguise.
In most versions of the tale, Sleeping Beauty falls asleep after pricking her finger on a spindle or a piece of flax. In the Disney version, she is poisoned by the spindle, which causes a brain infection and leads to a coma.
In the original Brothers Grimm version, the prince wakes up Sleeping Beauty with a kiss. However, in Perrault's original French tale, the prince does not kiss the princess, but she awakens and converses with him for a long time. Some theories suggest that Sleeping Beauty may have been awakened by her children's cries or the wailing of the fairies.
