their way through the magic hedge, in order to
solve the mystery and to see for themselves the beautiful maiden who lay
in an enchanted sleep behind that thorny barrier. But the thorns caught
them, and held them from going forward or back, and the gallant youths
perished miserably in the thickets.

[Illustration]

After many, many years there came a King's son into that country, who
heard the story of the Princess and the hedge of briers; and he made up
his mind to try and force his way to the castle to awake the sleeping
Princess. People told him of the fate of the other Princes, who had also
attempted this difficult task; but the Prince would not be warned.

"I have made up my mind to see this maiden of whose beauty I have heard
so many wonderful tales," he cried. "I will force a way through the
hedge of thorns and awake this Sleeping Beauty, or die in the attempt!"

Now, it happened that this day was the last day of the hundred years;
and when the Prince came to the thicket that surrounded the castle and
began to push his way through, he found that the briers yielded readily
to his touch. The thorns had all blossomed into roses that scented the
air with fragrance as he went by. Primroses sprang up before his feet
and made a pathway to lead him straight to the castle gates; and the
birds suddenly broke forth into singing, as if to tell the world that
the hundred years of enchantment were over, and the Princess about to
be awakened from her long sleep.

The Prince passed through the council chamber, where the King and his
councillors were sleeping; through the room where the Queen and her
ladies slept. He passed on from hall to hall, climbed from stair to
stair, until at last he reached the tower chamber where the sleeping
Princess lay. For a moment he stood and gazed in wonder at her lovely
face; then he sank on his knees beside her, and kissed her as she lay
asleep.

Instantly the spell was broken. The King and Queen awoke, and all the
courtiers with them; the horses neighed in the stables, and shook their
glossy manes; the pigeons cooed upon the roof; the flies on the wall
moved again; the fire burnt up brightly; and the meat in the kitchen
began to frizzle once more as the spit turned round. The cook gave the
kitchen boy the tremendous box on the ear that she had started to give
him a hundred years ago, and everything and everybody went on just as
usual, as if nothing at all out of the common had occurred.