The Sleeping Princess 睡美人

I

Once there was a King and a Queen. For many years they had wanted a child, and no child had come to them.

Then the Queen had a child. It was a girl. The King was very glad.

You know what a fairy is. Many fairies lived near the King’s house. When the Queen’s child came, the King went to all the fairies and said, "The Queen has a child. Do come to the house and see our new little girl." All the fairies said, "We are very glad: we will come today."

One of the fairies had gone away on a journey: she had been very far away. She had not come back when the Queen’s child came. When she came back, one of the fairies said to her,” The Queen has a child, and the King came to us and said, "Come and see our new little girl. ""

But this fairy was a bad fairy; the bad fairy said, "The King went to all of you: why did he not come to me? I shall go and see the King’s child; but I shall give her some bad thing."

All the good fairies went to the King’s house, and saw the little girl; and they all gave her some good thing. One said, "I give her this good thing: she shall have riches." One fairy said, "I give her this good thing; she shall become a brave woman." One said, "I give her this good thing: she shall become a good woman." All gave some good thing.

Then there came the bad fairy. She said, "The King went to all the fairies but he did not come to me, so I shall give the child some bad thing. She will have riches; she will become brave; she will become good. But, when she is a woman, she will prick her hand with a needle, and die."

The poor Queen did not know what to do. The King said to the good fairies, "The poor girl shall not die. Can you not help me? Say that she shall not die!" The good fairies said, “We cannot help you. What the bad fairy has said will come. Your child will prick her hand with a needle; but she shall not die. She shall sleep for many years. Then a king’s son shall come and kiss her. And she will awake. He shall wake her with a kiss." Then the fairies went away.

The King sent for all his men and all the Queen’s women, and said, "Go and bring me all the needles that are in the house."

They brought all the needles that they could find, and the King took them, and threw them into a river far away.

Then he said,” See that no needle comes into this house. See that no man and no woman bring a needle near my child. I shall kill them if they do."

II

The little child grew up in the King’s house. She became a Princess. The Princess wanted to see all that she could. She wanted to know what the men were doing in the garden. She wanted to know the names of all the flowers and of all the trees. She said to the men in the King’s garden, "What is the name of this flower? What is the name of this tree?" In the house she wanted to see all that there was to see.

She wanted to know how many rooms there were in the King’s house, and who lived in all the rooms. So she went into one room, and then into another room, and then into another. She went into big rooms and little rooms, and very little rooms. Then she said,” I have been to all the rooms in the house." But there was one room where she had not gone.

As she went on, she came to a new room. It was a little room very far away from all the other rooms. The door of the room was shut. The Princess wanted to go in and see what was in this room. She called, "Open the door!" But no one came. She called once. She called twice; then the door was opened. The Princess went into the room: and there she saw a very old woman.

The old woman was sitting near a table. On the table there was some cloth. The old woman had some cloth in one hand, and in the other hand she had a needle.

The Princess said,” What are you doing?"

"I am making something," said the old woman.

"What are you making?" said the Princess.

"I am making some clothes," said the old woman.

“What is that in your hand?”said the Princess.

"That is the cloth," said the old woman.

"No!" said the Princess. "What is that in your other hand?"

"That?" said the old woman. "That is a needle."

The Princess said,” Give me the ’needle’; I want to see it. I have not seen a needle. I donot know what a needle is."

The old woman said,” Have you not seen a needle? How can that be? You have seen many needles! Needles are seen in all houses."

The old woman gave the needle to the Princess.

"Give me the cloth," said the Princess: ’I want to make clothes." Then the old woman gave the Princess the cloth.

The Princess pricked the cloth with the needle --but she pricked her hand. And she fell asleep!

Then all the men and the women in the house fell asleep. The King fell asleep at his table, and the Queen sitting near him fell asleep.

The man in the garden fell asleep with his axe in his hand. The man standing at the door of the house fell asleep where he stood. All were asleep.

A fairy came to the Princess. She took her and put her on a bed. Then the fairy said to the trees and to the flowers in the garden, “Grow!" The flowers grew up, and the trees grew big. There was a wall of trees and flowers. So no one could go into the house.

In the house the Princess slept; and the King slept, and all his men; and the Queen, and her women, slept.

III

Many wanted to go into the house of the Sleeping Princess; but they could not go through the trees. So no one came.

Years went by, and the Princess slept. Many years went by, and men did not know what the house was and who was in it. The trees grew up; you could not see the house through the trees. Men went by the trees and did not know that there was a house there.

One day a King rode into the forest. His son was with him. The King and his men went far in front, and the King’s son could not find them. He rode on, and he came to a wall of trees and flowers. He said, "My father has gone through those trees: I will go through them and find him."

As he came to the wall of trees, it opened, and he went through. Then he saw a garden; but all the flowers had grown here and there as they wanted.

He came to a house. The door was open; a man was standing by the door asleep. The King’s son said, what a lazy man, he sleeps standing! He went into the house. Men sat at the table, with food in their hands, asleep.

A little boy had been reading a story: he had fallen asleep with his head on his arms. A woman had been putting on her shoes; she was asleep with one shoe on and one shoe in her hand. An old man sat with pen and paper, asleep; and the dust of years was on his paper. Near him a woman was asleep with her little child asleep in her arms.

The King’s son went from one room to another. He saw the old King asleep at his table and near him the Queen asleep with her head in her hands. Then he came to a room where there was sunlight and flowers. The window was open and roses had grown in through the window into the room. Golden light came through the window and fell upon a bed. The Princess was on the bed. Her eyes were shut. She was asleep.

The King’s son kissed her. She awoke. Then the entire house awoke. The man awoke at the door. The men awoke and ate the food in their hands. The woman awoke and put on her shoe. The boy awoke and read his story. The King awoke at his table. The Queen rubbed her eyes, and said, "What were you saying, my King. I fell asleep."

The Princess was married by the King’s son, and they became King and Queen.

(一)

從前，有一位國王和一位王后，多年來他們一直希望有個小孩，但他們還是沒有孩子。

后來，王后有了一個孩子，是女孩，國王十分高興。

你知道仙女是什么。很多仙女住在王宮附近。當王后的小孩出世后，國王去告訴所有的仙女說：“王后生了一個孩子，你們一定到王宮來，看看我們剛出世的小女孩?！毕膳畟冋f：“我們很高興，今天我們一定去看看。”

她們當中有一位仙女已經出門旅行去了，她已經到了很遠的地方。王后的小孩出世時她還沒有回來。當她回來后，一位仙女對她說：“王后生了一個女孩，國王來告訴過我們說，‘來看看我們剛出世的小女孩’?！?/p>

可是，這位仙女是一個壞仙女。壞仙女說：“國王來告訴你們大家，但為什么就不來告訴我呢?我一定要去看看國王的孩子，我要給她咒一些壞事?！?/p>

好的仙女們來到了王宮，見到了小女孩，她們大家都給她說了些吉利的話。一位說：“我給她這樣吉利的話：她一定會發財。”一位說：“我給她這樣吉利的話：她一定會成為一位勇敢的女性?！币晃徽f：“我給她這樣吉利的話：她一定會成為一名好女人。”大家都說了些吉利的話。

然后，壞仙女來到這里，她說：“國王去告訴了所有的仙女，他就是不來告訴我。所以，我要給小孩咒一些壞事。她會發財，會成為一名勇敢的女性，也會成為一名好女人。但是，當她成年后，她將用針刺破手而死去。”

可憐的王后不知道如何是好。國王對那些好仙女說：“這可憐的女孩子不能死，你們不能幫助我嗎?求你們說一聲她不會死去!”

好的仙女們說：“我們不能幫助您，壞仙女所預言的必將應驗，你的孩子將會用針刺破手，但是，她不一定死，她要沉睡很多年。然后，有一位王子會來吻她，她將會醒來。他的吻會把她喚醒?！比缓?，仙女們走了。

國王叫來他的所有男仆和王后的所有女仆，說：“去把房間里所有的針都給我搜羅來。”他們去把所有能夠找到的針都拿來了，然后，國王拿著這些針，把它們扔到很遠的一條河里去了。

接著他說：“千萬注意，別讓一枚針進到這所房子里來。還要注意，誰也不準帶著針靠近我的孩子。如果他們敢這樣做，我就殺了他們?！?/p>

(二)

小女孩在王宮里長大了，她成為一名公主。凡是能看到的東西，公主都想看看。她想知道在花園里的人正在干什么;她要知道所有的樹木和花的名字。在花園里她問花匠：“這是朵什么花?這是棵什么樹?”凡是房子里能夠見到的她都要看看。

她要知道王宮里有多少間房間，所有的房間都有誰住著，她一間接一間的進去看看，她進了大房間、小房間和很小的房間。然后，她說：“我已經走遍了這所房子里的所有房間。”但是，有一間屋子她沒有去過。

她繼續走，來到一間陌生的屋子，這間小屋子離其它房間很遠。這間屋的門關著，公主要進去看看這間屋子里有什么。她就喊：“開門!”但沒人出來，她喊了一遍后，又喊了一遍，這時門打開了，公主走進屋里，在這里她發現一位很老的老太太。

老太太正坐在桌子旁，桌子上有一些布，老太太一手拿著一些布，另一只手拿著一枚針。

公主問：“你在做什么?”

“我正在做活兒，”老太太說。

“你在做什么活兒?”公主問。

“我正在做衣服，”老太太說。

“你手里拿著什么?”公主問。

“那是布，”老太太說。

“不是!”公主說，“另一只手里是什么?”

“這?”老太太說，“這是一枚針?！?/p>

公主說：“把‘針’給我，我要看看它，我沒有見過針，不知道針是什么?！?/p>

老太太說：“你從沒有見過針?那怎么可能呢?你見過的針多著哩!家家戶戶都可以見到針?！?/p>

老太太把針給了公主。

“把布給我，”公主說，“我要做衣服?！边@時，老太太把布給了公主。

公主用針扎布——然而，她刺了自己的手，接著她睡過去了。

然后，房子里的男男女女都睡著了。國王趴在桌上睡著了，王后坐在他身旁睡著了。

在花園里的花匠拿著斧頭睡著了，大門旁的門房站著睡著了，所有的人都睡著了。

一位仙女來到公主面前，她抱起公主，把她放在床上。然后，仙女對花園里的樹和花說：“快長!”花兒長起來了，樹兒長大了，于是出現了一堵由樹和花組成的墻。這樣，沒有人能走進這所房子了。

在這所房子里，公主睡著，國王王后睡著，男仆女仆也都睡著。

(三)

許多人想進入睡美人的房子，但是，人們穿不過樹墻，所以沒有一個人來過。

年復一年，公主長眠不醒。很多年過去了，人們不知道這所房子里發生了什么事情，不知道誰住在里面。樹兒長高了，你通過樹叢看不到房子，人們從樹叢旁走過，不曉得這里有一座房子。

一天，一位國王騎馬進了森林，王子也隨同他前往。國王和他的仆人在前面走得很遠(把王子拋在后面)，王子找不到他們了。王子騎著騎著，來到了花樹墻前，心想：“父王已經穿過那片樹叢，我要穿過去，找到他們。”

他走到樹墻前，樹叢打開了一條路，他穿了過去。這時，他發現一個花園，然而，所有的花草卻長得雜亂無章，遍地皆是。

他來到一座房子前，門開著，一個男人正站在門旁睡著，王子說：“多懶的人啊，他站著都睡著了!”他走進房屋，一些人坐在桌旁，手里拿著吃的睡著。

一個小男孩正在看書上的一個故事，他頭枕著胳膊睡著了。一位婦女正在穿鞋，她腳上穿著一只鞋，手中拿著一只鞋睡著。一位老人也坐那兒睡著，旁邊是筆和紙，而紙上都是陳年積土，他旁邊一個婦女懷抱著熟睡的孩子睡著。

王子從一間屋走到另一間屋，他發現以前的國王在桌旁睡著，在他身旁王后雙手抱著頭睡著。然后，他來到一間有花和有陽光的屋子，窗戶開著，玫瑰花已經從外爬進了窗戶，長滿了房間。金色的陽光透過窗戶灑落在床上，公主躺在床上，她的眼睛閉著，也睡著。

王子吻了她，她醒了過來。隨即整座房子里的人都醒了。門口的人醒了;一些手里拿著吃的人醒了;婦女醒了，穿上了她的鞋;男孩醒了，看他的故事。在桌旁的國王醒了，王后揉了揉眼睛，說：“國王，你剛才說什么來著?我睡著了?！?/p>

公主嫁給了王子，他們成為國王和王后。