Sleeping Beauty on the Woods

SLEEPING BEAUTY ON THE WOODS

Author:

First edition

La Belle au Bois dormant in Contes de ma mère l'Oye, ou Histoires ou contes du temps passé avec des moralités (Mother Goose Tales), Barbin, 1697.

Main illustrators:

Allancé Bernadette Blain Bour Clément Delafosse Devéria Didierjean Doré Giffey Gigoux Hoffmann Kelek Kliros Laboudigue Lorioux Rackham

In short:

A pretty Pincess is cursed by a wicked fairy to die, just because she hadn't been invited to her baptism. But thanks to a good fairy, instead of dying, the young Princess just falls asleep for 100 years and when she wakes up, she marries a charming Prince and has a daughter (Aurora) and a son (Jour). But an ogress wants to eat them up. Hopefully, thanks to a trick, the ogress dies, victim of her own revenge.

Selection of edition:

Sleeping Beauty Colouring Book, illustrated by Thea Kliros, Dover Classics, 1994.
Contes, illustrated by Achille Devéria, Mame, 1835.
Contes des fées de Charles Perrault, illustrated by Jean-François Gigoux, 150 etchings, Lecou, 1851.
Contes de Perrault, illustrated by Gustave Doré, 384 etchings, Hetzel, 1862.
Les Contes de Perrault, illustrated by Félix Lorioux, Hachette, 1927.
La Belle au Bois dormant, illustrated by René Giffey, Delagrave, 1938.
La Belle au Bois dormant, illustrated by René Giffey, Librairie Delagrave, 1951.
La Belle au Bois dormant, illustrated by Fernando Saez, 1971
La Belle au Bois dormant, followed by Riquet à la houppe, illustrated by André Bertrand, 18 ill., Casterman, 1972, 32 p.
La Belle au Bois dormant, illustrated by Jose Luis Macias, 7 ill. , éd. Hemma, s.d.
La Belle au Bois dormant, illustarted by Bernadette, Nord-Sud, 1984.
Contes de Perrault, illustrated by Danièle Bour, Grasset, 1984.
La Belle au Bois dormant, illustrated by John Collier, Grasset collection "Monsieur Chat", 1985.
Contes de Perrault, illustrated by Kelek, Hatier, collection "Contes de...", 1986.
La Belle au Bois dormant, illustrated by Maïté Laboudigue, Nathan, 1990.
La Belle au Bois dormant, illustrated by Mireille d'Allancé, éditions Atlas, 1992.
La Belle au Bois dormant, illustrated by Marie Gard, Fleurus, 1993.
La Belle au Bois dormant, illustrated by Marie-Anne Didierjean, Lito, 1995.
Contes de Perrault, illustrated by Frédéric Clément, Albin Michel, 1996.

Ricochet recommends: La Belle au Bois dormant in Contes de ma mère l'Oye, by Charles Perrault, illustrated by Gustave Doré, Gallimard, Folio Junior, 1988.

More about Sleeping Beauty on the Woods:

Its origins:

The myth of Persephone and the legend of Brunehilde waken up by Siegfried's kiss show the existence of an old common symbolic topic, developped in France by Perrault from oral tradition. The Beauty asleep for 100 years and waken up by a charming prince's kiss may also be seen as a metaphore: numbness of nature during Winter time and its revival in Spring. The children's names, Aurora and Jour ("day"), may also be related to the poetic illustration of the solar myth.
Variants of the tale can be found in Egypt and in the tribes of Samoyeds.

The Heroine:

The fairy godmothers have given all qualities to the Princess, typical of the 18th century: beauty, mind, grace, talent in dancing and singing... But she will have no time to show her talented nature, for she will soon fall asleep. And later on she will have many worries: she stays in the rpince's castle, living with her mother-in-law. Their marriage will be kept in secret for 2 years. Their children will be chased and once she is recognised as princess, she will almost end up as her mother-in-maw diner.

Even more:

Perrault's tale does not finish with the Prince's kiss and the awakening of all the Court. The second half of the tale is darker: queen-mother, an ogre-like figure, wants to eat his son's wife and children with sauce... Although this chapter is not the most successful and famous one, it really takes half of the story.
Notice that the topic of a magic sleeping and awakening by a kiss is also present in Snow White written by Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm. The same for the killing of innocent children (remeber that their grand-mothers wants to eat them!!), saved by a tendre-hearted servant who replaces them by dead animals.

Adaptations:

As far as literature is concerned, Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm wrote a similar tale called Dornröschen.
Walt Disney produced a cartoon film in 1959 about Sleeping Beauty.