What Happened to Sleeping Beauty?

Sleeping Beauty. We all know the soppy love story where a princess is cursed by a wicked fairy to prick her finger on a spinning wheel and once this happens, she falls into a deep sleep until Prince Charming kisses her awake and they all lived happily ever after. But that’s the story they tell you to keep you happy. Truth is; they didn’t live happily ever at all. Sure, Sleeping Beauty was kissed awake and they seemed happy, but the princess hadn’t realized how disgusting her prince was. He never washed and had appalling table manners which I’m sure were better than you or I. He ate with both his hands and feet and made terrible slurping noises when he ate his soup! He grunted like a noisy pig and never wiped his face of all the food so he looked like a baby who has been smearing and painting his food all over his chubby little face! The worst wasn’t over. He liked to throw a lot of the squishy foods at the wall and play games with the fruit and vegetables! I bet you would be good children and eat all your fruit and vegetables. He told corny jokes while playing a banana trumpet and wearing a pineapple hat. This was topped off with cherry earrings, juggling apples and pears badly and then to cap it all off, balancing oranges on his feet! What a sight he was! He started to throw pies and cream cakes at Sleeping Beauty and at the servants attending them. Soon the floor was covered in slippery, slimy cream and no one could walk through without slipping and falling over- so undignified!

Sleeping Beauty was horrified with this atrocity but tomorrow there was more to come. The prince walked around singing silly nursery rhymes wearing mismatched clothes and a saucepan on his head, banging it with a wooden spoon! Sleeping Beauty also realised pretty quickly that this prince who had rescued her didn’t seem to have any of the same interests as her. She’d heard from Cinderella her cousin about the difficulties she had with her prince of her dreams. So she decided to ring her up. The only telephone available was at the top of the tallest tower, as that was the only place that anyone could get reception. So here was Sleeping Beauty, practically hanging out of the window upside down, talking to her cousin Cinderella. Cinderella finally answered, out of breath and occasionally calling out instructions to the Seven Dwarfs who were learning ballet. “Prince trouble?” Cinderella asked whilst carefully pointing her toes, “My prince enjoyed colouring competitions and making cubby houses so I gave him to my sisters. Gertrude is his new queen now.”
“Mine seems to be just as much a child as yours” groaned Sleeping Beauty, “How do I get rid of him?”
Cinderella paused. “Talk to your friend the evil fairy? The one who put the curse on you?” “That would be terrible!” Sleeping Beauty cried, nearly falling completely out the window. “Or maybe you could get your fairy godparents to squirrel him away in the night to the woods. Then you’d have the whole castle to yourself”. Sleeping Beauty sighed. Suddenly she heard crashes on the other end of the phone and Cinderella exclaiming “Oh do be careful Sneezy!” and the line went dead.

Sleeping Beauty, against her better judgement, went to see the fairy who had cursed her. The fairy lived in her tower in the woods, a short ride away. There Sleeping Beauty found the fairy concocting a strange looking purple potion in a cauldron. The fairy barely glanced at her as she entered. In one corner was a spinning wheel covered with cobwebs. “I want to change my prince. He is silly as a wheel and a child.” The fairy raised an eyebrow in response. “My newest spell could certainly help you. But what would you give me in return? Sleeping Beauty wasn’t sure. What could an evil fairy want? “I want your crown” said the fairy, “I’m tired of being the wicked fairy who cursed a child. I want servants, a palace to live in and lots of gardens to grow my roses in.” Sleeping Beauty stared at the fairy. Her crown for her prince? “But if I am not a princess, will the prince still love me?” The fairy shrugged. “Your choice princess”. Sleeping Beauty suddenly turned towards the dusty spinning wheel. “I will do it. I can’t stand being married to a prince who I do not love. The fairy smiled wickedly. “Your wish is my command.” And with that she scooped up a spoonful of the purple potion which turned into a purple dust. She grabbed handful of it and threw it over the spinning wheel, chanting the spell under her breath. Immediately the dust and cobwebs lifted from the spinning wheel and before Sleeping Beauty’s eyes, it began to glow with a golden vibrancy and to spin all by itself. The spell swirled around the tower room, enveloping everyone in it. Sleeping Beauty tried politely not to cough, for the spell dust really did smell rather terrible, like rotten eggs. She really hoped that the result was worth it.

When Sleeping Beauty returned to her castle, she was amazed to see a change that she had never expected. All around the castle, a wall of thorns was growing. And strutting down the drawbridge was the Prince. At least, she assumed it was the Prince, for he had certainly changed since she last saw him. His shirt was clean and pressed neatly, his hair was brushed and he was wearing shoes and socks that matched. Gone were the fruit earrings and the food plastered all over him like a modern painting. Sleeping Beauty almost ran to him in amazement. Until… “Halt! You shall not pass!” Sleeping Beauty paused at the wall of thorns. “Why?”
“You are an imposter! You are wearing the Princess’s crown!” Sleeping Beauty touched the crown which still sat atop of her head. She was still a princess….wasn’t she? She glanced up as footsteps click clacked across the drawbridge.
Behind the Prince came none other than the Wicked Fairy. No longer in purple and black, she was dressed in a sunny yellow dress trimmed with blue. And she was smiling. Sleeping Beauty realised what she had done now. The Prince held out his hand for the crown and Sleeping Beauty reluctantly gave it to him through the wall of thorns. The Fairy proudly took it from him and plonked it atop of her own head. She almost seemed to sparkle now, truly a princess and not a wicked fairy anymore.
“Be off with you!” cried the newly transformed prince, turning away with his new bride. The newly crowned fairy turned and winked at Sleeping Beauty as she followed the prince back into the castle. Sleeping Beauty wasn’t sure what to do now. So she walked back towards town, heading for The Glass Slipper Dancing School. As she tiptoed inside, she was amazed to see all seven dwarves as well as other friends of Cinderella’s lined up along the mirrored walls pointing their toes. Cinderella practically ran towards her cousin and enveloped her in a rib-crushing hug. “So did you do it? Did you?” she asked breathlessly. Sleeping Beauty nodded. “But now I am no longer a princess. What shall I do now? My prince is married to the fairy.” “Does she still have her magic?” Sleeping Beauty thought about it. “I guess not. If she is a princess now, I must be the fairy.” She smiled. “Maybe I can make a new prince for me?” Cinderella wasn’t sure. “I’ll check out the tower with you. Let’s see if I’m right first”.

So the princesses danced their way back to the fairy’s magical tower. Strangely enough, this had not changed significantly like the castle had. Sleeping Beauty put it down to stubbornness on the part of the tower, although admittedly it wasn’t a half bad place to live if you didn’t mind sharing the space with hundreds of strange concoctions. They were all labelled and lined up neatly and alphabetically, contrary to their preconceptions. A handy spell book that happened to be lying on the table with a recipe to concoct a prince was even more helpful, so much Sleeping Beauty had to wonder if the fairy had known that she would regret her decision. Still as her and Cinderella stirred and poured and mixed, her heart grew to bursting with excitement. As she stood before the cauldron with the blue liquid bubbling away, she chanted the final magic words. A small burst of blue erupted from the cauldron, sending magic dust everywhere. As Sleeping Beauty coughed, she found a frog sitting on the floor in front of her. She groaned. But Cinderella exclaimed, “A frog prince! Can I kiss him? Please?” Sleeping Beauty sighed and nodded. Within seconds Cinderella had swooped down and kissed the frog, ending with a little dwarf standing in front of them. Cinderella squealed with delight. “I’m Confident” said the dwarf. “Come and live with me and the other dwarves” said Cinderella and Confident agreed. “You’re a wizard fairy!” cried Cinderella, “Forget a prince, just become the new fairy. Looks like it’ll be heaps more fun anyway.” So Sleeping Beauty ended her story as the new fairy, Cinderella now lives with eight dwarves and the fairy loves her new life bossing her servants about as a princess.