once upon a time there was a queen who had a beautiful baby daughter. she asked all the fairies in the kingdom to the christening, but unfortunately forgot to invite one of them, who was a bit of a witch as well. she came anyway, but as she passed the baby`s cradle, she said:

　　"when you are sixteen, you will injure yourself with a spindle and die!"

　　"oh, no!" screamed the queen in horror. a good fairy quickly chanted a magic spell to change the curse. when she hurt herself, the girl would fall into a very deep sleep instead of dying.

　　the years went by, the little princess grew and became the most beautiful girl in the whole kingdom. her mother was always very careful to keep her away from spindles, but the princess, on her sixteenth birthday, as she wandered through the castle, came into a room where an old servant was spinning.

　　"what are you doing?" she asked the servant.

　　"i`m spinning. haven`t you seen a spindle before?"

　　"no. let me see it!" the servant handed the girl the spindle ... and she pricked herself with it and. with a sigh, dropped to the

　　floor.

　　the terrified old woman hurried to tell the queen. beside herself with anguish, the queen did her best to awaken her daughter but in vain. the court doctors and wizards were called, but there was nothing they could do. the girl could not be wakened from her deep sleep. the good fairy who managed to avoid the worst of the curse came too, and the queen said to her,

　　"when will my daughter waken?"

　　"i don`t know," the fairy admitted sadly.

　　"in a year`s time, ten years or twenty?" the queen went on.

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