Mock Assignment
Sleeping Beauty
The Queen was dead. Scarcely would her child take in its first breath before the queen took her last. Abruptly a realm prepared to celebrate, was thrust into mourning, and the dedication of the princess, would become the funeral of the queen. A kingdom grieving would pass by their lost sovereign in single file; pouring tears onto pages and singing songs of a land torn. The wake was attended by the realms sister kingdoms, all offering to the king condolences, and gifts of compassion. Thus did three fairies of the woodland realm arrive at the palace of King Stephan. The king showed little interest in his guests. He sat silently as people stepped up to him one by one offering words he scarcely heard spoken. The fairies three, determined to ease the kings sorrows, joined their words to remind him of the good that remained. “We come prepared to offer one gift each to the princess.” Flora chipped merrily.
“No more, and no less.” Fauna chimed in. “They are the offerings of the woodland realm, brought forth to honor the future queen.” The king’s eyes darted up quickly at the mention of a queen. Flora stepped in to move the conversation forward.
“My gift to the princess Aurora shall be the gift of beauty.” She moved to where the child lay still in a cradle tucked far from the king’s site. With a quick movement her wand she laid a gentle mist of light over the child, bestowing upon her Flora’s gift. Next it was Fauna who would offer her gift of song, followed by Merriweather. Before the last gift could be offered, a dark smoke rose from the corner of the room. It slithered along the ground, weaving between legs and limbs working its way to the cradle before rising up into human form.
“Maleficent!” the fairies cried out in unison. It was indeed the darkest of fairies that had risen up from the stone floor. Her black dress cascaded down in ripples across her bone thin frame. The fairy, who relished pain and suffering above all other things, was now standing between the infant princess and Merriweather. “Foul Creature!” Flora cried out. “What rights have you to be here? Who has summoned your arrival?”
“I am here” Maleficent snarled. “as a guest of King Stephan himself.” She waved her hand indifferently towards the somber ruler. “I have come to do that which he wishes done. I have come to do that which he has not the courage to do himself.”
“What?” The fairies gasped in unison.
“Your Majesty what does she mean by this?” Merriweather asked. The king looked down. His eyes reflected the hollowness of his own soul.
“Since the day she took my wife from me, I have felt nothing but hatred for that creature you came here to bless.” He growled hatefully. “It is all I can do each day to stay my hand. It is a summoning of all my strength not to smother her beneath the pillow she lays upon. Yes, I did it. I called her here, I asked her to take the future queen with her back to hell. It is a fitting place for blood soaked hands I think.”
“Your Majesty no!” Fauna cried out in horror.
“Then what would you have me do?” the king questioned. “Would you have me spend the rest of my life forced to look my wife’s assassin in the eye? Would you, who claim to come in compassion, be so cruel as to let me live so cursed a life?”
“It is of no concern.” Maleficent interrupted. “I am here to release you from the pain. Though the blessings two before my arrival have temporarily limited my power, still I can offer this punishment upon the accused.” The witch fairy raised her arm over the helpless infant. Her clawed fingers arched above the child’s head. “Before the sun sets on her sixteenth birthday, she shall prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel, and die!”
“You cannot do this!” Flora screamed. “Be gone from here you fowl beast.” The three charged at the dark fairy. Before they could reach her however, she evaporated into a mist. A cackling laugh followed her into nothingness.
“Your Majesty we beg of you, do not let this be the way of it. Your anguish holds tight to your heart, but surely you know that an innocent child is not the cause of this suffering. Please, let us help her.” Flora Pleaded with Stephan. The king’s eyes turned away from the fairies three. He seemed deeply disturbed by what had just transpired. Be it guilt, conscious or compassion, the king did finally yield.
“If I do this, if I allowed you to lift this curse, then you will take this child from here. You will tell her nothing of her birth or her kingdom. You will not tell her I am her father or even that she has a father who yet lives. You will raise her as a peasant child, for she will never be a queen! You will do this or she will remain beneath the witch fairy’s spell.” The fairies agreed somberly, and Merriweather stepped forward quickly to alter the curse Maleficent had placed upon the child.
“Not in death, just in sleep the fateful prophecy you'll keep, and from this slumber you shall wake when true love's kiss the spell shall break.” Merriweather recited each word. The tip of her wand touching the child’s forehead gently, as a tear slipped down the fairy’s cheek. She quickly scooped the child up in her arms, and the fairies thee hurried away from the kingdom, and into the night.
Quickly the years did pass by. Soon fifteen full years had vanished beneath the veil of time. The three fairies disguised as the child’s aunts, did their best to raise Aurora to be a kind and loving girl. However can a truly pure child be raised within a web of lies? It was this very doubt within the hearts of the self-proclaimed aunts that summoned the dark fairy to the cottage they hid within. Their constant deception, and misleading of a helpless child, would become the very weapon the witch fairy needed to locate her mark.
From the darkness once again she would rise up to great Arora, but this time the child was grown. Her wide, fearful eyes watched the creature emerge from nothingness. “Do not scream child.” Maleficent commanded. “If you do so, I will be forced to silence you quickly.”
“Who are you?” Aurora choked fearfully.
“They told you nothing of your self did they?” The witch fairy grinned. “No, all this time you have been kept in the dark. Do not despair child. I am the mistress of the darkness. I can help you see all that they have kept hidden.”
“You lie.”
“I have no reason to lie.”
“Why are you here?”
“I pity you child. I see the suffering that has been laid upon you. I can help you overcome all the obstacles that have been upon your path. Come to me, and I shall tell you the true nature of your birth.” Aurora eyed the dark fairy wildly. She was frightened, but curious just the same. She did not want to trust this creature, but her inquisitive nature would outweigh her fear.
“Tell me what you know.” She bade of the fairy.
“I know you murdered your mother.” Maleficent replied calmly. She watched the princess flinch at her words. “I know that your father wished you dead, and summoned a witch to do the deed for him. I know that the women you call your aunts are really three fairies who tried to hide your blacked soul through deceit. They gave you beauty, so that all of your movements, no matter how sinister, would seem innocent and graceful. They gave you song, so that all of your words would sound sweet, no matter how twisted, and finally they created a prison to lock you away in should you ever wander off their carefully prepared coarse.”
“A prison?”
“An eternal slumber to keep you from taking revenge on those who betray you.”
“I don’t believe you.” Aurora whimpered.
“You do not have to. It is enough that I have told you these truths.” Aurora stood quietly for a moment longer. Her mind rushed, heavily weighing all that had been presented to her through the dark fairy’s words.
“They really want me dead?” Aurora asked. Her voice shook as she spoke.
“They do. They all hate you, and rightly so. You are a monster, a murderer even. You are alive now only because the three agreed to take you from your kingdom and keep you hidden away from the truth.”
“I don’t want to spend eternity in a prison of sleep.” Aurora whimpered.
“Then tell me child.” Maleficent questioned. “What are you going to do to stop them?”
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Edit- Messed up the copying of the story... :oops:
