This week we’re going to be talking about Sleeping Beauty. A lot of you are probably familiar with the story, so please bear with me; I’ll also talk about a possible mythological origin of the fairy tale, and some of my favorite adaptations of it.
Ready? Lets get started, then! Sleeping Beauty was originally a French fairy tale published sometime in the 1600’s. The story was loosely based on an earlier Italian version called Sun, Moon, and Talia - which, frankly, is ridiculously creepy. That version of the story had a king have sex with Sleeping Beauty while she was still asleep. She remained in her cursed slumber while she gave birth to twins. The king, for the record, was already married. Lovely, right? I’ll move on.
The version of Sleeping Beauty that most people know is called Little Briar Rose. It was collected by the Brothers Grimm, and is an oral variant on the French Sleeping Beauty story. That is what we’ll be talking about today.
Once upon a time there was a king and queen who desperately longed for a child. Their wish was eventually granted, and a daughter was born to them. In their joy the royal couple planned splendid christening ceremony, and invited seven fairies to act as godmothers to their child.
The day of the ceremony began wonderfully - until the unexpected arrival of an eighth fairy. She had not been invited because no one had seen her for years and thought her dead. Of course, this isn’t the kind of thing you can explain to a fairy! Furious at having been forgotten, she watched as six of the fairies blessed the child with gifts - beauty, song, grace, etc. The forgotten fairy then stood up and gave the princess a gift of her own - a curse, that one day the princess will prick her finger on a spindle and die.
(I had to post this picture. The eighth fairy just looks so dark and gorgeous.)
Naturally, everyone is horrified at this announcement. The fairy takes her leave amidst the chaos her “gift” has caused. Luckily for the princess, the seventh of her godmothers hadn’t bestowed her blessing before the curse was placed. This fairy does her best to mitigate the curse, changing it from death to 100 years of slumber, which can be broken by a prince’s kiss.
The king immediately forbids the use of spindles in his kingdom. It is at this point in the story that certain mainstream movie adaptations of Sleeping Beauty veer off the course of the fairy tale. In them, the princess is taken away to be raised by the fairies. However, in the original tale the princess remains at the castle, raised by her mother and father.
She grows to be sixteen without incident. Thanks to her godmothers’ gifts, the princess is beautiful, kind, and elegant. One day her parents leave the castle on royal business. The princess decides to explore, and comes upon a small room where an old woman is spinning.
Again, movie adaptations of the story vary here. The spindle is often placed there by the evil fairy, who has come to bring about her curse. In the original story, the woman weaving is honestly just an old woman - albeit a slightly foolish one.
The princess is enthralled by the unfamiliar act of spinning. After watching the woman for a while, she asks to try it.
The old woman allows her to do so (seriously! Foolish old woman! Does she not recognize the princess? Has she somehow not heard of the curse?!), and watches in horror as the princess pricks her finger on the spindle and collapses.
To her credit, the old woman immediately calls for help. Everyone tries to wake the princess, but to no avail. When the king and queen return and hear of their daughter’s fate, they are horrified. The king decides that it is destiny, and the princess is carried to a fine bedchamber. Her parents kiss her goodbye and leave.
At this point, the seventh good fairy intervenes. Deciding that it would be too horrible for the princess to wake up alone, she causes everyone in the castle to fall into a sleep just like the princess’. When she finally awakens, they will too. To keep the castle and its inhabitants safe, the fairy raises a great forest of trees and thorny plants around the castle.
Fast forward 100 years: A prince from a nearby kingdom is out on a hunting expedition when he catches a glimpse of a hidden castle through the woods. Upon returning home, he does his best to find out what the castle is. Eventually he finds an old man whose father once told him a story of a beautiful princess who was cursed to sleep for 100 years, only awakening when kissed by a prince.
Naturally, the prince is intrigued by this. He returns to where he saw the castle and makes his way through the fairy-summoned forest, which parts to let him through. Inside the castle he finds all of its inhabitants asleep. The prince ignores them, searching for the princess. He eventually finds her asleep on a bed, and immediately falls in love with her beauty.
The prince reverently kisses her, and the princess wakes up. They are married by the priest of the castle, who has woken up along with the rest of its denizens. Depending on which version of the story you read, they then live happily ever after.
That is the story of Sleeping Beauty! Slightly different than Disney’s versions, right? I hope there was something in it that was new to you guys.
I mentioned at the beginning of this post that there’s a story in mythology very similar to Sleeping Beauty. I’ve often wondered if it might have inspired the folk tales that led to the fairy tale. The tale is called The Story of Sigurd; it features a warrior and a Valkyrie, the Norse angels of the battlefield. It’s a tragedy, so don’t expect a hugely happy ending...there's fire and blood and murder within families, but hey! Still fun, right?
(Please note: To the best of my knowledge, lifkyrs are an original invention. I have found no mention of them in Norse mythology. If you know of any references to a descendant of a mortal and a valkyrie, please email me! I’d love to find out that my idea was founded in mythology!)
“No,” she replied. “I am what is called a lifkyr.” Kieth nodded as she continued, “A descendant of a mortal and a valkyrie.”
“I thought they were a myth!” Elena exclaimed. Solveig shot her an amused look, glancing down at herself and then back up as if to say, Obviously not.
“You seem to be fond of stories,” she said with a chuckle as Elena blushed. “Let me tell you mine.”
“Many centuries ago there lived a valkyrie named Brynhildr. The valkyr were the angels of the battlefield, fearsome women warriors who could sense the approach of death and were tasked by Odin to aid his chosen side in battle. When a warrior died they bore him up to the Halls of Valhalla, the Hall of the Slain, where he would join the ranks of the Einherjar. There he would be waited upon by the valkyr and never know sorrow until the coming of Ragnarök.”
“Brynhildr, however, had disobeyed Odin’s command and allowed the wrong side to win. For this, she was condemned to marry the first mortal she saw. She begged Odin for mercy and eventually softened his heart; he agreed to lay her sleeping in a castle called Hindfell, hidden behind a wall of flame. There she knew that only the truly brave would travel – and if no one came, she would lie sleeping for all eternity.”
“So basically she was Sleeping Beauty?” Liam asked. “Would that make
Odin the evil queen?”
Solveig glared at him and he quieted, though the others snickered. “There are similarities, yes. Your culture has stolen much from the Norse. May I continue?” She waited a moment and then spoke on.
“Eventually a man named Sigurðr came over the wall on his horse, a descendant of Sleipnir and an ancestor of Gunnar. He had been on many adventures of his own prior to this, including the reforging of a magical sword named Gram.” Here Solveig patted her own blade.
Kieth nodded. “I called that one.”
She smiled at him before continuing her tale. “Sigurðr had also slain a mighty dragon and in the process acquired a cursed ring. He bore this ring when he entered the castle and met Brynhildr, which of course doomed their relationship from the start. Sigurðr awoke her and they swore to be wed. That night they swapped stories of their lives, sharing all – including Sigurðr’s only vulnerability. He then gave her the cursed ring as a sign of his love and left in the morning, vowing to return.”
“He didn’t know it was cursed,” Elena interjected, seeing the look on Liam’s face.
“Indeed. Their actions had far-reaching consequences - from their union sprang my ancestors, the descendants of a human and a valkyr. There are a few other family lines around the world, but not many. Any male born to the line has the potential to be a great warrior if he should so choose; any woman born is given a greater choice still.”
Here she looked down, and her far-off tone told the others she had given this a great deal of thought. “When we enter our teens we are given a few basic abilities – the knowledge of how to wield any weapon, increased strength, slowed aging, and the ability to fly. The more we use our powers the greater they become – the less we use them, the quicker they fade. We are marked with the sign of the valkyr when these things are gifted, and this mark informs us of how much or little we have used.”
Solveig lifted her sheet of hair and twisted, revealing a purple tattoo of two wings on her back. Liam blinked. “That purple light around you when you fight,” he asked. “Is that when you’re using your powers?”
She nodded. “However, we cannot have the best of both worlds. Eventually we are forced to make a choice – either give up our powers entirely, or embrace them and become a valkyr.”
“Was Gunnar a part of the deal?” Elena asked.
Solveig smiled, the expression fleeting but sincere. “No, he was a gift to me on my tenth birthday, before I received my powers. I do not know if he was a gift from Odin or from one of my ancestors, but he has been my faithful companion ever since.
Liam blinked. “How old are you, exactly?”
Kieth swatted him on the arm and Liam blushed, realizing that the question was rude, but Solveig answered without seeming to care. “I am twenty-six.”
“You’re joking,” Elena gasped. “You look way younger! How long does your kind live?”
Solveig shrugged. “It varies depending on what life path we choose. My mother was forty-seven when she chose a mortal life.”
“What about the sword?” Kieth asked after a moment of silence. “Where did you get Gram?”
“A family heirloom, passed down through generations. My mother gifted it to me before I left.”
Liam frowned, considering. “What happened to Brynhildr and Sigurðr? You said something about them being doomed?”
“There was tragedy, of course,” she replied. “They made an opera of it several years ago.”
Kieth took over. “Sigurðr was delayed in his returning by several months and wound up staying in a castle owned by a wicked queen. She fed him a potion that made him fall in love with her daughter, and he forgot about Brynhildr entirely. He married the daughter, and perhaps all would have been well for them if his bride’s brother had not heard of a maiden who dwelled behind a curtain of fire…”
Kieth trailed off as the others stared at him. “I’m a fan of the opera,” he offered as an explanation. They laughed, though Solveig looked at him thoughtfully as he continued. “Anyway, the brother convinces Sigurðr to go with him and try to rescue the maiden, and it turns out that Sigurðr’s horse Grani is the only one who can jump the fire. The horse, of course, won’t bear the brother, so Sigurðr puts on the brother’s armor and goes in his stead. He tells Brynhildr that he’s the brother – it’s funny, but his name was Gunnar too, now that I think of it.”
Solveig nodded, continuing the tale. “Brynhildr thinks that she recognizes him but he refuses to take off his armor until they’re over the wall again. She says that they have to stay the night because she is tired, and since she will not be swayed, he agrees. In the morning he wakes up first and sees her ring. No one is sure if he remembered something about it or simply acted on impulse, but Sigurðr takes the ring and pockets it.”
“Afterwards they jump over the wall of fire; Gunnar and Sigurðr change
armor out of sight,” Kieth added. “Gunnar walks up and makes a big deal of removing his helmet. They head back to the castle, and by the end of the ride Brynhildr is half convinced that Sigurðr was just a dream. She marries Gunnar and all is well for a while until Sigurðr’s wife hears the tale. She begs him for the ring he took, and he reluctantly gives it to her.”
“Eventually she and Brynhildr wind up bickering about something, and they begin to boast about their respective husbands…‘My husband is braver than yours’, and so on. Finally Brynhildr says something about how no mortal but Gunnar would dare to cross the flames that imprisoned her. Sigurðr’s wife, of course, says that he didn’t – that it was Sigurðr who did, and oh, here’s the ring to prove it.”
Liam grimaced, imagining the scene as Solveig finished the tale. “Needless to say, Brynhildr was furious. She demanded that Gunnar kill Sigurðr and tells him of his vulnerable spot, but he is too good of a man and refuses to murder his brother-in-law. His brothers, however, have no such morals and ambush Sigurðr, stabbing him in the back and killing him.”
“Gunnar orders that Sigurðr’s funeral be huge. Brynhildr watches from the battlements, and just as Sigurðr’s pyre is set alight, she leaps to join him, crying out for him to wait so that they might rise together to Valhalla.”
In the silence that followed Liam fought to regain his composure, coughing thickly before asking, “That’s it? What is it with people and tragedies?”
“Mythology – the original soap opera,” Elena added with a grin.
Kieth, however, shook his head. “It doesn’t end there. It is said that after the pyre was burnt out, Grani was found missing from the stables. And when the stablehands were questioned, one admitted to seeing a horse galloping into the sky – a horse with two riders upon its back.”
Elena shook her head. “That is a much better ending!”
Solveig laughed. “Indeed it is.”
So there you have the Story of Sigurd! I hope you guys enjoyed it, and the short look at Hammerfall. There’s definitely a lot of similarities to Sleeping Beauty. What do you think? Could the fairy tale we know and love have been based on an ancient myth?
As far as adaptations of Sleeping Beauty go...well, I have a LOT that I like. As in, I have a pile of books sitting by my computer as I type this so that I don’t forget to mention them...
For starters, there’s Beauty Sleep, by Cameron Dokey. This is the shortest of the adaptations I’ll be mentioning here, but it is well worth the read. I’m not hugely fond of the title, as it has almost nothing to do with the book, but the story is fantastic. I love the prince, I love the looming threat of the curse...it’s just a great book, and you should check it out.
Next up is The Gates of Sleep, by Mercedes Lackey. This is book three in her Elemental Masters series, but I read it before any of the others and absolutely adored it. It’s a good introduction to the world and to the magic system, while also being a ton of fun to read. It took me about a hundred pages to really get sucked into the book - but once I was in, I was in. That story got devoured quite quickly.
Then there’s another Mercedes Lackey story (not that I love her books or anything) called The Sleeping Beauty. This is also part of a series, one called The Five Hundred Kingdoms. In them, people are forced down the paths of fairy tales that fit their lives by a magical force called The Tradition. Fairy godmothers try to counter The Tradition and let people live normal lives. The Sleeping Beauty is my second favorite in the series because Mercedes Lackey blended the Sleeping Beauty story...with the Story of Sigurd. There are two sleeping maidens, two princes, and they end up crossing over into one another’s stories. I’m doing a lousy job of explaining it, but it is excellent and you should go read it.
Speaking of the Story of Sigurd: Did you know that J. R. R. Tolkien wrote a version of it? Yup. Tolkien. Need I say more?
Last up is what is probably my favorite book of all time - Spindle’s End, by Robin McKinley. McKinley and Lackey have their own shelf on my bookshelf, and just about anything they write is gold. Spindle’s End is a beautiful adaptation of Sleeping Beauty, but the princess is reluctant, the animals are all witty and loyal, and the love interest is just about the best thing ever. It isn’t a light read, and Robin McKinley likes to go off on rabbit trails that last for several pages and then abruptly come back to the original point - but if you’re ok with that, I totally recommend giving this book a shot. I just finished rereading it, which I do at least once a year. It always makes me laugh and makes me cry - which happens very rarely with me.
That’s it for today! I will be back next week, with what will probably be my last fairy tale post for a while. What story it is remains a mystery - to both you and me! (I guess I’d better get on that, right? Any suggestions? Requests? Email me or comment below!) After that I’m planning on doing several posts about various mythologies. Sometime in mid-summer I’ll do a concentrated series on Celtic mythology, which I’m really looking forward to!
I’ll see you guys next Monday!
What about doing something on some of George MacDonald's fairy tales? :)
ReplyDelete-Monica
Ooh, interesting suggestion! Would you prefer "The Light Princess" or "The Shadows"?
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