by Chris Colfer
They had thick, matted fur, long claws, and razor-sharp teeth. Their mouths watered, and they licked their lips as they watched the little boy and his herd.
The sheep saw the wolves and quickly ran from the field, causing a small stampede. The little boy was left all alone, and the wolves began circling him. He was so scared, he froze where he stood and it took him a few moments before he was able to make a sound.
“Wolves!” he cried. “There are wolves in the field!”
However, his family didn’t come.
“Wolves!” he cried louder. “There are wolves in the field! A whole pack of them!”
Still, no one from the farm came to save him.
“WOLVES!” the boy cried as loud as he could. “Come quick before they eat me!”
His family heard him loud and well, but they thought he was only trying to trick them again. They shook their heads and continued their own chores.
The wolves pounced on the little boy and gobbled him up. The family didn’t realize what had happened until suppertime, when the boy didn’t return from watching the sheep. They went to the field to see what was keeping him, but all that was left was his staff and straw hat.
Naturally, it was devastating for the family and all the villagers who knew him. With the family’s permission, the village built a monument for the little boy in the center of town. It reminded the other children in the village the importance of honesty and having an honorable reputation. Even little white lies can cause big trouble.
The End
SLEEPING BEAUTY
ADAPTED FROM CHARLES PERRAULT
Once upon a time, in a far-off land, there lived a sad queen who could not have children. Although she had every luxury imaginable, the one thing she wanted more than anything was a child to hold in her arms. She cried herself to sleep every night knowing she would never be a mother. The king did everything he could to make his wife happy, but nothing eased the queen’s heartbreak.
One afternoon, to take her mind off the unfortunate matter, the queen took a walk beside a river. She stopped for a moment when she noticed something strange; it was a large fish flopping on the riverbank. Although her heart was broken, it still was kind, so the queen helped the poor fish back into the water. To her surprise, the fish peeked its head out of the water and began talking.
“Thank you ever so much for helping me back into the river,” the fish said. “I jumped out of the water to escape a predator, but I would have suffocated on the bank if it hadn’t been for you.”
“Oh my! You can speak?” the queen asked.
“I can, because I’m a magic fish,” he said. “I am so grateful to you for saving my life. I would like to say thank you by granting you a wish, if you’ll allow it. Although I’m sure a queen as fair as you does not want for much.”
At first the queen thought she might be ill or dreaming. She had never heard of a talking fish before—let alone one that could grant her magic wishes. But just in case she was not ill and was not dreaming, the sad queen told the fish her heart’s greatest desire.
“I wish to have a child,” the queen said. “But if that’s too big of a wish for a fish to grant, I understand.”
The fish winked both eyes at her, and the wish was granted.
“Nine months from now, you will be blessed with a child,” it said and swam away.
True to his word, nine months later the queen gave birth to a baby girl. It was such a miracle, the king hosted a giant celebration for everyone in the kingdom to welcome his child into the world.
There were parades and fireworks, singing and dancing, and costumes and games. The rulers from neighboring and distant lands came to join the festivities. Fairies visited the castle to bestow gifts upon the infant princess.
One fairy blessed the princess with the gift of beauty. Another fairy blessed her with the gift of health. The princess was also blessed with the gifts of talent, intelligence, and grace. Finally, it was the smallest fairy’s turn to bless her. She flew up to the cradle and withdrew her wand.
“Sweet baby princess, the gift I would like to leave you with is the gift of—”
Unfortunately, before the smallest fairy had her chance to bless the princess, she was interrupted. An evil Enchantress stormed the castle, and the celebration came to a halt.
The Enchantress was a terrible and cruel woman. She was the only person in all the kingdom not to have received an invitation, and when she’d learned this, it had angered her beyond reason.
“You have no business being here!” the king yelled. “Leave at once!”
“Leave?” the Enchantress said. “I didn’t come all this way for nothing. I too have a gift for the child.”
Everyone in attendance gasped, for they knew that the Enchantress’s gift for the princess would be very unpleasant.
“Please don’t, I beg of you!” the queen said. “She’s our only child!”
But before she could be convinced otherwise, the evil Enchantress had already begun. She didn’t bestow a gift on the baby princess, but a nasty curse.
“The child shall indeed grow to be beautiful, wise, and graceful,” the Enchantress said. “However, in sixteen years’ time she shall prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die!”
The Enchantress laughed wildly and disappeared in a thick cloud of smoke. The king and queen were devastated. They held their newborn daughter in their arms and wept. All seemed lost, until a tiny hand tapped the king on his shoulder.
“Your Majesty, I still haven’t given my gift to the princess,” the smallest fairy said.
“Can you reverse the curse?” the king asked desperately.
The little fairy shook her head. “The Enchantress is far too powerful for me to reverse her spell, but perhaps I can shape it into something a little less grim.”
The fairy waved her wand over the baby and did what she could to amend the Enchantress’s curse.
“In sixteen years’ time, the child will not die after pricking her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel, but shall fall into a deep sleep,” she said. “A sleep that can be interrupted only by a kiss of true love.”
Knowing the curse wouldn’t kill their daughter but only put her to sleep let the king and queen rest easier that night, but they still did everything in their power to prevent the prophecy from ever happening. The king ordered all the spinning wheels in the kingdom to be destroyed at once. They were rounded up by his soldiers, brought to the courtyard of the castle, and burned.
As the princess grew, her parents kept a close eye on her. She was forbidden to leave the castle and wasn’t even allowed in certain parts of it. However, she was never warned about the curse placed upon her, so the princess started resenting her parents for being so strict.
Living such a sheltered life caused the princess to become a curious and mischievous child. Every night, once everyone in the castle was asleep, the princess made it a hobby to sneak out of bed and explore the parts of the castle she was not allowed in.
On the eve of her sixteenth birthday, while her parents and the castle servants slept peacefully in their beds, the princess snuck out of her room and came upon a spiral staircase she had never seen before. It led to the tallest tower in the castle and was so high, it took the princess until morning to reach the very top.
Unfortunately for the princess, no one had thought to check the tower for a spinning wheel all those years ago. One was waiting inside, just as the Enchantress’s curse foretold.
“Oh my goodness, whatever could that be?” the princess said.
Since she had never seen a spinning wheel before and had no knowledge of the dangers it presented her, the princess began to play with it. Eventually, she figured out how it worked and became rather good at using it. But just as she became comfortable with the contraption, her hand slipped on the spindle and her finger was pricked by the needle.
The princess instantly fell into the deepest sleep she had ever experienced. The fairy’s amendment t
o the curse had worked! However, the curse was much more powerful than the fairy had expected. Not only did the princess fall asleep, but the entire kingdom entered into a deep slumber as well.
Castle servants fell asleep standing up as they did their morning chores. Gardeners dozed off while tending to the plants in the gardens. The shopkeepers, butchers, bakers, and farmers throughout the kingdom’s villages went to sleep too. The king and queen even fell asleep on their thrones.
The fairies returned and looked after the kingdom and made the people comfortable while they slept. They searched all over the world for someone to break the curse, but none of the suitors they brought to the castle awoke the princess with a kiss.
To make matters worse, the Enchantress cursed the kingdom a second time, this time with vines and thornbush. The plants grew over the land until it was virtually hidden and went unnoticed to any travelers nearby. As time went on, the fairies lost all hope of breaking the curse.
The kingdom slept for over a hundred years. Its existence faded from history and became a fable. As more time passed, the fable was reduced to just a myth, and the myth was soon forgotten entirely. Well, almost entirely.
During the curse’s one hundred and first year, an adventurous young prince was traveling through the woods when he came upon the long-lost kingdom.
“What a strange place,” he said.
Using his sword, the prince cut through the plants covering the kingdom and found a road winding through the sleeping villages. The number of people he saw sleeping peacefully was astonishing. He tapped their shoulders, poked their arms, and waved his fingers in front of their faces, but nothing woke them up.
“This must be the Sleeping Kingdom!” the prince said excitedly. “My grandfather told me about a place like this when I was a child, but I thought it was just a story.”
The prince followed the road up to the castle and eagerly began to explore. All the servants and soldiers sleeping inside seemed to be frozen in time.
Eventually, he came upon the spiral staircase leading to the tallest tower of the castle. He climbed it, hoping to get a better view of the mysterious kingdom. When he finally reached the top, he discovered the sleeping princess resting on a giant bed inside.
“What a beautiful girl,” he said to himself.
The prince’s grandfather had told him about the princess of the Sleeping Kingdom, but he was so smitten with her beauty, the prince forgot all about the story. For all he knew, she was just a pretty girl cursed to sleep for all eternity.
As if he were being controlled by something much greater than himself, the prince stood beside her bed and leaned down to kiss her lips.
The princess suddenly sat up in a daze.
“Where am I?” she asked. “Who are you?”
The sound of people waking throughout the castle echoed up to the tower. It made the prince remember the story and realize he was standing next to the famous princess. It was his kiss that had broken the spell. He had been led there by destiny.
“If the story is real, then I may be your true love,” the prince said.
The princess blushed, for she had never seen a man as handsome as the prince.
News of the awoken kingdom spread around the world, and the fairies traveled there to see it with their own eyes. Slowly but surely, the entire kingdom woke up from the sleeping curse. They cleared out the overgrown plants, and eventually (when everyone stopped yawning) the kingdom was restored to its former state.
As for the prince and the princess, the kiss turned out to be true love indeed, because they were married and lived happily ever after.
The End
THE PRINCESS AND THE PEA
ADAPTED FROM HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
Once upon a time, there was a handsome prince who was in desperate need to marry a princess. His father, the king, was getting older and wanted his son to have an heir before he died. So, the prince traveled all over the world looking for a suitable bride.
There was only one problem: All the princesses in the kingdoms nearby were already married.
“Dear son, if a princess can’t be found, why not settle for a nice duchess or a countess?” the queen asked the prince.
“No, she must be a princess—a real princess,” the prince insisted. “Father wants to leave a true royal bloodline behind when he dies. It’s the only way to make him happy.”
Eager to please his father, the prince continued his exhaustive search. He traveled to kingdoms farther away than any prince of his kingdom had traveled before. Unfortunately, he always returned to the castle empty-handed.
“I don’t think I’ll ever find a real princess to wed,” the prince said. “Father will die thinking I’m a failure.”
“Don’t worry, my son,” the queen said. “We will find you a princess, I promise. You must be patient.”
As luck would have it, rumors started circulating through the kingdom that a princess from a faraway land was missing. The queen kept the castle on high alert to look out for such a person, hoping the missing princess would be the key to her husband’s and son’s happiness.
As time went on, the old king became very ill. Fearing his father was in his final days, the prince lost all hope that he would find a princess to marry in time.
“I have no choice but to marry a duchess,” the prince told his mother. “I’ll meet with the ladies of court tomorrow and select a bride.”
Naturally, the prince was devastated, but the queen wasn’t ready to give up.
That night, the kingdom experienced the strongest rainstorm it had endured in decades. There was a soft knock on the castle door, and a servant answered it. The caller was a beautiful young maiden who was soaked to the bone and shivering in the cold.
“Please, may I be given shelter for the night?” the maiden asked. “I’ve been walking for days and have nowhere to hide from this nasty storm.”
The servant took pity on the young woman. “Of course, my dear,” he said. “Please come inside where it’s dry.”
“Thank you! I shall never forget this generosity,” the maiden said.
The servant took the maiden into the kitchen and sat her by the fire to keep warm.
“Where are you from, ma’am?” he asked.
“I wish I knew,” she said. “I’m afraid I’ve lost my memory. I’ve been traveling from kingdom to kingdom hoping to find something familiar, but so far I’ve found nothing.”
The servant’s heart began to flutter. Could this maiden be the missing princess? He informed the queen of the visitor at once.
“Interesting,” the queen said. “She might be the missing princess, but with no memory, there’s no way to be certain.”
The queen thought for a moment and came up with a plan.
“I know what to do,” she said. “We’ll offer her a bed for the night with twelve mattresses stacked on top of one another and place a pea under the bottom mattress. If the maiden has trouble sleeping, we’ll know she’s indeed the missing princess. Only a true princess could feel a small pea under a dozen mattresses!”
The servant did just as the queen said. He made a bed with twelve mattresses and offered it to the maiden.
“What a strange bed,” the maiden said. “But I am so tired, I’ll take anything I can get.”
The servant fetched the maiden a ladder so she could climb to the top of the highest mattress. He blew out the candles in her chambers and left her alone to sleep.
The following morning, word of the queen’s plan had spread through the castle. All the servants, the queen, and the prince waited anxiously outside the maiden’s door to see how she had slept.
When the maiden opened the door, she had bags under her eyes and couldn’t stop yawning.
“How did you sleep, my dear?” the queen asked.
“Not well, I’m afraid,” the maiden said. “Thank you so much for your kindness, but I tossed and turned all night long.”
“It’s a miracle!” the prince said. “We’ve found
the missing princess!”
The crowd in the hallway burst into cheers and applause. The maiden was confused by the sudden celebration.
“Excuse me?” the maiden asked. “What did you say I am?”
“I’m sorry you didn’t have a restful night, my dear,” the queen said. “We hid a pea under your bed. Only a real princess would have been able to feel it!”
The maiden was delighted to learn she was a princess, and the discovery allowed her to reconnect with her family in a far-off kingdom.
The prince and princess were married and had many children before the king passed away. Both had gotten exactly what they were looking for: The prince had finally found a wife, the princess had finally found a life, and together they found a happily-ever-after.
The End
RAPUNZEL
ADAPTED FROM THE BROTHERS GRIMM
Once upon a time, there lived a baker and his wife. They lived above their bakery in a small village, next door to a mysterious vegetable garden. The garden had thick brick walls built on all four sides to protect its vegetables from pests.
In all their time living above the bakery, the baker and his wife never met the owner of the garden, nor did they see anyone going in or out of it. However, from the window of their bedroom, they could peer down into it and gawk at all the delicious crops growing between the walls.
The tomatoes were bright red and ripe, the cabbage was healthy and full, and the mushrooms were plump and lush. Sadly, no one ever seemed to enjoy the vegetables growing there. The crops always rotted back into the earth before being eaten.
The baker and his wife had much more important things to worry about than the neglected garden; they were expecting their first child.
While carrying the baby, the wife was experiencing the strongest cravings she had ever felt. Being a good husband, the baker happily fetched his wife whatever it was she wanted to eat.
