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，有個國王和王后一直沒有孩子，他們?yōu)榇朔浅�傷心苦惱。有一天，王后正在河邊散步，一條小魚把頭浮出水面對她說：“你的愿望就會實現(xiàn)了，不久你就會生下一個女兒的。”過了一段時間，那條小魚所預(yù)言的情況真的實現(xiàn)了，王后真的生下了一個非常漂亮的女兒。國王高興得時時刻刻愛不釋手，決定舉行一個大型宴會。他不僅邀請了他的親戚、朋友和外賓，而且邀來了幾乎所有的女巫師，讓她們?yōu)樗�的女兒送來善良美好的祝愿。他的王國里一共有十三個女巫師，而他只有十二個金盤子來招待她們進餐，所以他只邀請了十二個女巫師，留下一個沒有邀請。

　　盛大的宴會結(jié)束后，各位來賓都給這個小公主送上了最好的禮物。女巫師們一個送給她美德，另一個送給她美貌，還有一個送給她富有，她們把世人所希望的，世上所有的優(yōu)點和期盼都送給了她。當?shù)谑�一個女巫師剛剛為她祝福之后，第十三個女巫師，也就是那個沒有被邀請的女巫師走了進來，她對沒有被邀請感到非常憤怒，她要對此進行報復(fù)，要獻上她惡毒的咒語。所以她進來后就大聲叫道：“國王的女兒在十五歲時會被一個紡錘弄傷，最后死去。”所有在場的人都大驚失色�？墒堑谑�二個女巫師還沒有獻上她的禮物，便走上前來說：“這個兇險的咒語的確會應(yīng)驗，但公主能夠化險為夷。她不會死去，而只是昏睡過去，而且一睡就是一百年。”

　　國王為了不使他的女兒遭到那種不幸，命令將王國里的所有紡錘都收上來，又把它們?nèi)�部銷毀。隨著時間的流逝，女巫師們的所有祝福都在公主身上應(yīng)驗了：她聰明美麗，性格溫柔，舉止優(yōu)雅，真是人見人愛。但恰恰在她十五歲的那一天，國王和王后都不在家，公主單獨一個人被留在王宮里。她在宮里到處穿來穿去，大小房間都看完了，最后，她來到了一個古老的宮樓。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。當她轉(zhuǎn)動金鑰匙時，門一下子就彈開了，一個老太婆坐在里面在忙著紡紗。公主見了說道：“喂！老媽媽，您好！您這是在干什么呀？”“紡紗。”老太婆回答說，接著又點了點頭。

　　“這小東西轉(zhuǎn)起來真有意思！”說著，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，以前的咒語真的應(yīng)驗了。

　　然而，她并沒有死，只是倒在那里沉沉地睡去了。國王和王后正在這時回來了，他們剛走進大廳也跟著睡著了；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做錯了事的童工的頭發(fā)，要給他一耳光，讓他滾出去，他們兩個也定在那兒睡過去了。所有的一切都不動了，全都沉沉地睡去。

　　不久，王宮的四周長出了一道蒺藜組成的大籬笆，年復(fù)一年，它們越長越高，越長越茂密，最后竟將整座宮殿遮得嚴嚴實實，甚至連屋頂和煙囪也看不見了。

　　于是，關(guān)于這個王國流傳開了這樣一個傳說，一個漂亮的正在睡覺的公主的傳說，人們所說的公主其實就是國王的女兒。從那以后，有不少王子來探險，他們披荊斬棘想穿過樹籬到王宮里去，但都沒有成功，不是被蒺藜纏住就是被樹叢跘倒在里面，就像是有無數(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叢的故事，說樹籬之內(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，他曾聽他的爺爺談起有許許多多的王子來過這兒，他們都想穿過樹籬，但都被纏在里面死去了。聽了這些，這位王子說：“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，可他卻堅持要去。

　　這天，時間正好過去了一百年，所以當王子來到樹籬叢時，他看到的全是盛開著美麗花朵的灌木，他很輕松地就穿過了樹籬。隨著他在前面走，身后樹籬又密密地合攏了。最后，他到達了王宮，看見大院內(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。他走進王宮內(nèi)，看見墻上的蒼蠅在沉睡，廚房里的廚師向上舉著手，似乎是要打那童工一耳光，一個女仆手里抓著一只黑母雞準備拔毛。

　　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，他來到古老的宮樓，推開了玫瑰公主在的那個小房間的門。玫瑰公主睡得正香，她是那么美麗動人，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來，她張開雙眼，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，國王和王后也醒過來了，王宮里所有的人都醒過來了。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，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去；廚房里的火又竄起了火苗開始燒飯，燒烤的肉又吱吱作響；廚師怒吼著扇了童工一個耳光；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，他們幸福歡樂地生活在一起，一直白頭到老。