Grimms Fairy Tales Brier Rose

briar rose from grimm’s fairy tales

by jacob and wilhelm grimm translated by

edgar taylor and

marian edwards this librivox recording

is in the public domain

read by bob nefeld

a king and queen once upon a time

reigned in a country a great way off

where there were in those days fairies

now this king and queen had plenty of

money and plenty of fine clothes to wear

and plenty of good things to eat and

drink and a coach to ride out in every

day

but though they had been married many

years they had no

children and this grieved them very much

indeed

but one day as the queen was walking by

the side of the river

at the bottom of the garden she saw a

poor little

fish that had thrown itself out of the

water and lay gasping and nearly dead on

the bank

then the queen took pity on the little

fish and threw it back again into the

water

and before it swam away it lifted his

head out of the water and said

i know what your wish is and it shall be

fulfilled in return for your kindness to

me

you will soon have a daughter

what the little fish had foretold soon

came to pass

and the queen had a little girl so very

beautiful

that the king could not cease looking on

her for joy

and said he would hold a great feast and

make mary

and show the child to all the land

so he asked his kinsmen and nobles and

friends and neighbors

but the queen said i will have the

fairies also

that they might be kind and good to our

little daughter

now there were thirteen fairies in the

kingdom

but as the king and queen had only 12

golden dishes for them to eat out of

they were forced to leave one of the

fairies without asking her

so 12 fairies came each with a high red

cap on her head

and red shoes with high heels on her

feet and a long white wand in her hand

and after the feast was over they

gathered round in a ring and gave all

their best gifts to the little princess

one gave her goodness another beauty

another riches and so on till she had

all that was good in the world

just as eleven of them had done blessing

her a great noise was heard in the

courtyard

and word was brought that the thirteenth

fairy was come

with a black cap on her head and black

shoes on her feet

and a broomstick in her hand and

presently

up she came into the dining hall

now where she had not been asked to the

feast

she was very angry and scolded the king

and queen very much

and set to work to take her revenge

so she cried out the king’s

daughter shall in her fifteenth year be

wounded by a spindle and fall down

dead then the twelfth of the friendly

fairies

who had not yet given her gifts came

forward

and said that the evil wish must be

fulfilled but

that she would soften its mischief so

her gift was that the king’s daughter

when the spindle wound in her

should not really die but should only

fall asleep for a hundred

years however the king hoped still to

save his dear child altogether from a

threatened evil

so he ordered that all the spindles in

the kingdom should be brought up and

burnt but all the gifts of the first

eleven fairies were in the meantime

fulfilled

for the princess was so beautiful and

well-behaved and

good and wise that everyone who knew her

loved her it happened that

on the very day she was 15 years old the

king and queen were not at home

and she was left alone in the palace so

she roved about by herself and looked at

all the rooms and chambers

till at last she came to an old tower to

which there was a narrow staircase

ending with a little door in the door

was a

golden key and when she turned it the

door sprang open

and there sat an old lady spinning away

very busily why

how now good mother said the princess

what are you doing there spinning

said the old lady and nodded her head

humming a tune while

buzz went the wheel

how prettily that little thing turns

around said the princess

then took the spindle and began to try

and spin

but scarcely had she touched it before

the fairy’s prophecy was fulfilled

a spindle wounded her and she fell down

lifeless on the ground

however she was not dead but had only

fallen into

a deep sleep and the king and the queen

who had just come home

and all their court fell asleep too and

the horses slept in the stables and the

dogs in the court

the pigeons on the housetop and the very

flies

slept upon the walls even the fire on

the hearth

left off blazing and went to sleep the

jack stopped

and the spit that was turning about with

a goose upon it for the king’s dinner

stood still

and the cook who was at that moment

pulling the kitchen boy by the hair to

give him a box on the air for something

he had done amiss

let him go and both fell asleep

the butler who was slyly tasting the ale

fell asleep with the jug at his lips and

thus

everything stood still and slept soundly

a large hedge of thorns soon grew around

the palace

and every year it became higher and

thicker till at last

the old palace was surrounded and hidden

so that not even the roof or the

chimneys could be seen

but there went a report through all the

land of the beautiful

sleeping briar rose for so the king’s

daughter was called

so that from time to time several king’s

sons came and tried to break through the

thicket into the palace

this however none of them could ever do

for the thorns and bushes laid hold

of them as it were with hands and there

they stuck fast and died wretchedly

after many many years there came a

king’s son into the land

and an old man told him the story of the

thicket of thorns

and how a beautiful palace stood behind

it and how a wonderful princess

called briar rose lay in it asleep with

all her court

he told two that he had heard from his

grandfather

that many many princes had come and had

tried to break through the thicket

but that they had all stuck fast in it

and died

then the young prince said all this

shall not frighten me

i will go and see this briar rose

the old man tried to hinder him but he

was

bent upon going now that

very day the hundred years were ended

and as the prince came to the thicket he

saw nothing but beautiful flowering

shrubs

through which he went with ease and they

shut

in after him as thick as ever then he

came

at last to the palace and there in the

court lay the dogs

asleep and the horses were standing in

the stables

and on the roof sat the pigeons fast

asleep

with their heads under their wings and

when he came into the palace

the flies were sleeping on the walls the

spit was standing still

the butler had the jug of ale at his

lips going to drink a draft

the maid sat with a fowl in her lap

ready to be plucked

and the cook in the kitchen was still

holding up her hand

as if she was going to beat the boy

then he went on still farther and all

was so

still that he could hear every breath he

drew

till at last he came to the old tower

and opened the door of the little room

in which briar rose was

and there she lay fast asleep on a couch

by the window

she looked so beautiful that he could

not take his

eyes off her so he stooped down and gave

her a kiss

but the moment he kissed her she opened

her eyes and awoke

and smiled upon him and they went out

together

and soon the king and queen also awoke

and all the court

and gazed on each other with great

wonder

and the horses shook themselves and the

dogs jumped up and barked

the pigeons took their heads from under

their wings and looked about and flew

into the fields

the flies on the walls buzzed again the

fire in the kitchen blazed up

brown went the jack and round went the

spit with the goose for the king’s

dinner upon it

the butler finished his draft of ale the

maid went on plucking the fowl

and the cook gave the boy the box on his

ear

and then the prince and briar rose were

married

and the wedding feast was given and they

lived happily together

all their lives long

end of briar rose

you