童話故事：睡美人（2）

　　In the hearths the fires died down and the meat stopped cooking. The kitchen maid stopped plucking the chicken.

　　The entire palace fell asleep, along with the Princess.

　　A hedge of briar roses sprang up around the palace, protecting it from the outside world.

　　Years passed, and from time to time a King's son would come to the famous briar hedge to try and find the mysterious sleeping Princess that the legend spoke of. But none got through. The hedge was too strong and the Princes were cut to bits.

　　A hundred years passed and the tale of the Sleeping Beauty, as the Princess was known, become a great legend. Very few people believed she existed.

　　One day a King's son came to the nearby village.

　　"Legend says," an old man was speaking in the village square. "Legend says that the Princess lies asleep behind that great briar hedge just outside the village In my grandfather's day, you could see the topmost turret of her tower, so they say."

　　The Prince stopped to listen. "Where can I find this hedge ?"he asked.

　　"Just beyond the village, young sir, "said the old man. "If you're going to try, you'll need more luck than the other young men who have had a go."

　　"I shall try," said the Prince. "We have heard of Sleeping Beauty in my kingdom."

　　The Prince went to the hedge and held up his sword. He went to strike at the hedge, but where his sword met the thorns, great roses bloomed instead. A path opened for him, for the one hundred years were up. The curse was lifting.

　　The hedge seemed to disappear before him.

　　He went through into the palace grounds, walking past the sleeping rabbits, birds and butterflies, and the gardeners at their work. The kitchens were full of cooks and maids who hadn't moved for a hundred years -- They were all fast asleep. Even the King and Queen who were seated at the table in the Great Hall were sleeping soundly!

　　The Prince walked on through the palace, making his way to the tallest tower where he climbed the stairs and entered the tower room.

　　There on the bed he saw Briar Rose fast asleep.

　　"She is so lovely," he said, He had fallen completely in love with her. "How can I wake her?"

　　He leant over and gently kissed her.

　　Briar Rose's eyelids flickered and she woke up. The first person she saw was the Prince and she fell in love with him.

　　Together they walked down to the Great Hall. The King and Queen were just waking up, when the Prince and Briar Rose entered.

　　The cooks in the kitchen woke up to carry on preparing the food and the chambermaids carried on with their work.

　　The party was still to be held, but it was an engagement party instead of a birthday party. The Prince and Briar Rose were to be married.

　　The hedge disappeared and the village saw the palace again and realised the legend had been true.

　　The bad fairy was never heard of again.

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　　以前，有個(gè)國(guó)王和王后一直沒(méi)有孩子，他們?yōu)榇朔浅�傷心苦惱。有一天，王后正在河邊散步，一條小魚(yú)把頭浮出水面對(duì)她說(shuō)：“你的愿望就會(huì)實(shí)現(xiàn)了，不久你就會(huì)生下一個(gè)女兒的。”過(guò)了一段時(shí)間，那條小魚(yú)所預(yù)言的情況真的實(shí)現(xiàn)了，王后真的生下了一個(gè)非常漂亮的女兒。國(guó)王高興得時(shí)時(shí)刻刻愛(ài)不釋手，決定舉行一個(gè)大型宴會(huì)。他不僅邀請(qǐng)了他的親戚、朋友和外賓，而且邀來(lái)了幾乎所有的女巫師，讓她們?yōu)樗�的女兒送�?lái)善良美好的祝愿。他的王國(guó)里一共有十三個(gè)女巫師，而他只有十二個(gè)金盤子來(lái)招待她們進(jìn)餐，所以他只邀請(qǐng)了十二個(gè)女巫師，留下一個(gè)沒(méi)有邀請(qǐng)。

　　盛大的宴會(huì)結(jié)束后，各位來(lái)賓都給這個(gè)小公主送上了最好的禮物。女巫師們一個(gè)送給她美德，另一個(gè)送給她美貌，還有一個(gè)送給她富有，她們把世人所希望的，世上所有的優(yōu)點(diǎn)和期盼都送給了她。當(dāng)?shù)谑�一個(gè)女巫師剛剛為她祝福之后，第十三個(gè)女巫師，也就是那個(gè)沒(méi)有被邀請(qǐng)的女巫師走了進(jìn)來(lái)，她對(duì)沒(méi)有被邀請(qǐng)感到非常憤怒，她要對(duì)此進(jìn)行報(bào)復(fù)，要獻(xiàn)上她惡毒的咒語(yǔ)。所以她進(jìn)來(lái)后就大聲叫道：“國(guó)王的女兒在十五歲時(shí)會(huì)被一個(gè)紡錘弄傷，最后死去。”所有在場(chǎng)的人都大驚失色�？墒堑谑�二個(gè)女巫師還沒(méi)有獻(xiàn)上她的禮物，便走上前來(lái)說(shuō)：“這個(gè)兇險(xiǎn)的咒語(yǔ)的確會(huì)應(yīng)驗(yàn)，但公主能夠化險(xiǎn)為夷。她不會(huì)死去，而只是昏睡過(guò)去，而且一睡就是一百年。”

　　國(guó)王為了不使他的女兒遭到那種不幸，命令將王國(guó)里的所有紡錘都收上來(lái)，又把它們?nèi)�部銷毀。隨著時(shí)間的流逝，女巫師們的所有祝福都在公主身上應(yīng)驗(yàn)了：她聰明美麗，性格溫柔，舉止優(yōu)雅，真是人見(jiàn)人愛(ài)。但恰恰在她十五歲的那一天，國(guó)王和王后都不在家，公主單獨(dú)一個(gè)人被留在王宮里。她在宮里到處穿來(lái)穿去，大小房間都看完了，最后，她來(lái)到了一個(gè)古老的宮樓。宮樓里面有一座很狹窄的樓梯，樓梯盡頭有一扇門，門上插著一把金鑰匙。當(dāng)她轉(zhuǎn)動(dòng)金鑰匙時(shí)，門一下子就彈開(kāi)了，一個(gè)老太婆坐在里面在忙著紡紗。公主見(jiàn)了說(shuō)道：“喂！老媽媽，您好！您這是在干什么呀？”“紡紗。”老太婆回答說(shuō)，接著又點(diǎn)了點(diǎn)頭。

　　“這小東西轉(zhuǎn)起來(lái)真有意思！”說(shuō)著，公主上前也想拿起紡錘紡紗，但她剛一碰到它，立即就倒在地上失去了知覺(jué)，以前的咒語(yǔ)真的應(yīng)驗(yàn)了。

　　然而，她并沒(méi)有死，只是倒在那里沉沉地睡去了。國(guó)王和王后正在這時(shí)回來(lái)了，他們剛走進(jìn)大廳也跟著睡著了；馬廄里的馬，院子里的狗，屋頂上的鴿子，墻上的蒼蠅，也都跟著睡著了；甚至連火爐里的火也停止燃燒入睡了；燒烤的肉不炸響了；廚師此刻正抓住一個(gè)做錯(cuò)了事的童工的頭發(fā)，要給他一耳光，讓他滾出去，他們兩個(gè)也定在那兒睡過(guò)去了。所有的一切都不動(dòng)了，全都沉沉地睡去。

　　不久，王宮的四周長(zhǎng)出了一道蒺藜組成的大籬笆，年復(fù)一年，它們?cè)介L(zhǎng)越高，越長(zhǎng)越茂密，最后竟將整座宮殿遮得嚴(yán)嚴(yán)實(shí)實(shí)，甚至連屋頂和煙囪也看不見(jiàn)了。

　　于是，關(guān)于這個(gè)王國(guó)流傳開(kāi)了這樣一個(gè)傳說(shuō)，一個(gè)漂亮的正在睡覺(jué)的公主的傳說(shuō)，人們所說(shuō)的公主其實(shí)就是國(guó)王的女兒。從那以后，有不少王子來(lái)探險(xiǎn)，他們披荊斬棘想穿過(guò)樹(shù)籬到王宮里去，但都沒(méi)有成功，不是被蒺藜纏住就是被樹(shù)叢跘倒在里面，就像是有無(wú)數(shù)只手牢牢地抓住他們難以脫身一樣，他們最終都痛苦地死去。

　　許多許多年過(guò)去了，一天，又有一位王子踏上了這塊土地。一位老大爺向他講起了蒺藜樹(shù)叢的故事，說(shuō)樹(shù)籬之內(nèi)有一座漂亮的王宮，王宮里有一位仙女般的公主，她的名字叫玫瑰公主，她和整座王宮及里面的人都在沉睡。他還說(shuō)，他曾聽(tīng)他的爺爺談起有許許多多的王子來(lái)過(guò)這兒，他們都想穿過(guò)樹(shù)籬，但都被纏在里面死去了。聽(tīng)了這些，這位王子說(shuō)：“所有這些都嚇不倒我，我要看玫瑰公主去！”老人勸他不要去試，可他卻堅(jiān)持要去。

　　這天，時(shí)間正好過(guò)去了一百年，所以當(dāng)王子來(lái)到樹(shù)籬叢時(shí)，他看到的全是盛開(kāi)著美麗花朵的灌木，他很輕松地就穿過(guò)了樹(shù)籬。隨著他在前面走，身后樹(shù)籬又密密地合攏了。最后，他到達(dá)了王宮，看見(jiàn)大院內(nèi)狗躺在那兒沉睡，馬廄里的馬在沉睡，屋頂上的鴿子將頭埋在翅膀下沉睡。他走進(jìn)王宮內(nèi)，看見(jiàn)墻上的蒼蠅在沉睡，廚房里的廚師向上舉著手，似乎是要打那童工一耳光，一個(gè)女仆手里抓著一只黑母雞準(zhǔn)備拔毛。

　　他繼續(xù)向里尋去，一切都靜得出奇，連自己的呼吸都清晰可聞。終于，他來(lái)到古老的宮樓，推開(kāi)了玫瑰公主在的那個(gè)小房間的門。玫瑰公主睡得正香，她是那么美麗動(dòng)人，他瞪大眼睛，連眨也舍不得眨一下，看著看著，禁不住俯下身去吻了她一下。就這一吻，玫瑰公主一下子蘇醒過(guò)來(lái)，她張開(kāi)雙眼，微笑著充滿深情地注視著他，王子抱著她一起走出了宮樓。

　　此刻，國(guó)王和王后也醒過(guò)來(lái)了，王宮里所有的人都醒過(guò)來(lái)了。他們懷著極大的好奇心互相凝視著，似乎還不明白到底發(fā)生了什么事情。馬站了起來(lái)，搖擺著身體；狗兒歡跳不止，汪汪吠叫；鴿子由翅膀下抬起了頭，昂首四顧，振翅飛向田野；墻上的蒼蠅嗡嗡地飛了開(kāi)去；廚房里的火又竄起了火苗開(kāi)始燒飯，燒烤的肉又吱吱作響；廚師怒吼著扇了童工一個(gè)耳光；女仆繼續(xù)給雞拔毛，一切都恢復(fù)了往日的模樣。不久，王子和玫瑰公主舉行了盛大的結(jié)婚典禮，他們幸福歡樂(lè)地生活在一起，一直白頭到老。