"Why, of course," said the old woman, "every young girl should know how to spin. Here you are, my dear," and she gave Briar-Rose the spindle.
Now whether the Princess in her eagerness to seize the spindle grasped it too roughly, or whether it was just because the fairy had ordained that it should be so, I do not know, but anyhow the sharp iron point pricked her hand, and immediately she fell backward on to the couch in a deep sleep.
And in that very moment sleep fell upon every man, woman and child in the castle, and upon every living thing within its gates. The King, who was sitting at the Council-board with his ministers, stopped speaking in the middle of a sentence, and remained with his mouth open, in the act of uttering a word, and nobody remarked the strangeness of his conduct, for all his ministers were asleep too, just as they sat. Outside the door the sentry leaned upon his pike. In the Queen's chamber the ladies-in-waiting fell into a profound slumber in the very midst of what they were doing—one as she was hemming a handkerchief, another over her embroidery, still another while she was talking to her parrot. The Queen slept in her chair, and a little page-boy who was singing fell asleep in the middle of a note.
All through the castle the charmed slumber spread. Courtiers, officers, stewards, cooks, errand-boys, soldiers, beadles,—nay the very horses in the stables and the dogs in their kennels were stricken motionless as though they were dead. The flies ceased to buzz at the windows and the pigeons to coo upon the roof. In the great kitchen the scullions fell asleep as they were washing up the dishes, and a cook in the very act of boxing the ears of a kitchen-knave.
But not for a hundred years would he feel that blow, or be able to utter the cry that was on the tip of his tongue. The dog fell asleep under the table as he was gnawing a bone; the cat in front of a mouse-hole, the mouse itself on the other side of the skirting-board, with its little sharp nose outstretched to sniff the air suspiciously. Even the spits which were turning at the fire, laden with partridges and pheasants cooking for the Princess's birthday feast—even they ceased to turn, and the very fire stopped flickering and the flames sank down.
A deep silence fell over the castle. In the fields the lambs ceased to bleat, the horses to neigh and the cows to low. The birds in the trees were silent. One moment the air was full of the music of their twittering; the next, all was as still as in a desert. The very wind dropped to sleep in the woods; not a leaf stirred, and the white clouds were motionless in the sky.
So sleep fell upon the enchanted castle and upon all within it, because of the Princess Briar-Rose, who lay there on her couch in the ancient tower waiting till the hundred years should be past and the Prince should come to waken her.