ДЕЙСТВИЕ 1

     Once upon a time there was a king and a queen who had long hoped for a child of their own. When, at last, a baby princess was born, they thought that a good fairy must have been looking after them.

     - I shall invite all the fairies in the kingdom to come to our baby’s christening!

     - That would be nice!

A Cradle Hymn.

Hush! my dear, lie still and slumber;

Holy angels guard thy bed,

Heavenly blessings without number

Gently falling on thy head.

Sleep my baby; thy food and raiment,

House and home, thy friends provide,

All without thy care or payment:

All thy wants are well supplied.

     - You shall have a lovely face and you shall be gentle and loving!

     - You shall be smart and you shall have a lovely voice!

     - I suppose you thought I was too old to do magic now! Well, I’ll show you! When the Princess is fifteen years old, she shall prick her finger on a spindle and fall down dead.

     - Oh, how can I have forgotten her?

     - And what shall we do now?

     - I may be able to help. I can’t undo the evil spell, but I can soften it a little. The Princess will prick her finger on a spindle, but she will not die. She will just fall asleep for a hundred years.

     - Thank you. Thank you very much.

     - I order to destroy all the spindles in my kingdom.

ДЕЙСТВИЕ 2

     - Year by year, the Princess grew more lovely.

     - On the morning of her fifteenth birthday the Princess wandered through the palace.

     - She climbed to a high tower where she had never been before.

     - There in a small room she saw an old woman at a spinning wheel.

-         Good morning!

-         Good morning!  

-         What are you doing?

-         I am spinning, my child.

-         How interesting! I have never seen that before. May I have a look at it?

-         Of course! You may even try to spin, my child. Look!   

-         Oh! Help me! Help! Oh, dear!

-         What’s the matter?

-         What’s happened?

-         What’s wrong? Look here!

-         This young pretty child seems to be dead. How horrible!

-         This is our Princess!

-         Send for the King and Queen!

-         Let’s go quickly!

-         Oh, no! That’s impossible!

-         You see? The Princess is dead!

-         No, she isn’t. The Princess fell into a deep, deep sleep.

-         And she will sleep for one hundred years. And in one hundred years a young prince will wake her up.

-         Good night! Sleep well!

-         Good night! Sleep well!

-         Good night! Sleep well!