ut she was heard to breathe softly, which satisfied those about
her that she was not dead. The King commanded that they should not
disturb her, but let her sleep quietly till her hour of awaking was
come.

The good Fairy who had saved her life by condemning her to sleep a
hundred years was in the kingdom of Matakin, twelve thousand leagues
off, when this accident befell the Princess; but she was instantly
informed of it by a little dwarf, who had boots of seven leagues, that
is, boots with which he could tread over seven leagues of ground in one
stride. The Fairy came away immediately, and she arrived, about an hour
after, in a fiery chariot drawn by dragons.

The King handed her out of the chariot, and she approved everything
he had done, but as she had very great foresight, she thought when the
Princess should awake she might not know what to do with herself, being
all alone in this old palace; and this was what she did: she
touched with her wand everything in the palace (except the King
and Queen)--governesses, maids of honor, ladies of the bedchamber,
gentlemen, officers, stewards, cooks, undercooks, scullions, guards,
with their beefeaters, pages, footmen; she likewise touched all the
horses which were in the stables, pads as well as others, the great dogs
in the outward court and pretty little Mopsey too, the Princess's little
spaniel, which lay by her on the bed.

Immediately upon her touching them they all fell asleep, that they might
not awake before their mistress and that they might be ready to wait
upon her when she wanted them. The very spits at the fire, as full as
they could hold of partridges and pheasants, did fall asleep also. All
this was done in a moment. Fairies are not long in doing their business.

And now the King and the Queen, having kissed their dear child without
waking her, went out of the palace and put forth a proclamation that
nobody should dare to come near it.

This, however, was not necessary, for in a quarter of an hour's time
there grew up all round about the park such a vast number of trees,
great and small, bushes and brambles, twining one within another, that
neither man nor beast could pass through; so that nothing could be seen
but the very top of the towers of the palace; and that, too, not unless
it was a good way off. Nobody; doubted but the Fairy gave herein a very
extraordinary sample of her art, that the Princess, while she continued
sleeping, might have nothing to fe