After long, long years a king's son came again to that country, and heard an old man talking about the thorn-hedge, and that a castle was said to stand behind it in which a wonderfully beautiful princess, named briar-rose, had been asleep for a hundred years, and that the king and queen and the whole court were asleep likewise. He had heard, too, from his grandfather, that many kings, sons had already come, and had tried to get through the thorny hedge, but they had remained sticking fast in it, and had died a pitiful death.
Then the youth said, I am not afraid, I will go and see the beautiful briar-rose. The good old man might dissuade him as he would, he did not listen to his words.
But by this time the hundred years had just passed, and the day had come when briar-rose was to awake again. When the king's son came near to the thorn-hedge, it was nothing but large and beautiful flowers, which parted from each other of their own accord, and let him pass unhurt, then they closed again behind him like a hedge. In the castle yard he saw the horses and the spotted hounds lying asleep, on the roof sat the pigeons with their heads under their wings. And when he entered the house, the flies were asleep upon the wall, the cook in the kitchen was still holding out his hand to seize the boy, and the maid was sitting by the black hen which she was going to pluck.
He went on farther, and in the great hall he saw the whole of the court lying asleep, and up by the throne lay the king and queen.
Then he went on still farther, and all was so quiet that a breath could be heard, and at last he came to the tower, and opened the door into the little room where briar-rose was sleeping.
There she lay, so beautiful that he could not turn his eyes away, and he stooped down and gave her a kiss. But as soon as he kissed her, briar-rose opened her eyes and awoke, and looked at him quite sweetly.
Then they went down together, and the king awoke, and the queen, and the whole court, and looked at each other in great astonishment. And the horses in the courtyard stood up and shook themselves, the hounds jumped up and wagged their tails, the pigeons upon the roof pulled out their heads from under their wings, looked round, and flew into the open country, the flies on the wall crept again, the fire in the kitchen burned up and flickered and cooked the meat, the joint began to turn and sizzle again, and the cook gave the boy such a box on the ear that he screamed, and the maid finished plucking the fowl.
And then the marriage of the king's son with briar-rose was celebrated with all splendor, and they lived contented to the end of their days.
There was once a forester who went into the forest to hunt, and as he entered it he heard a sound of screaming as if a little child were there. He followed the sound, and at last came to a high tree, and at the top of this a little child was sitting, for the mother had fallen asleep under the tree with the child, and a bird of prey had seen it in her arms, had flown down, snatched it away, and set it on the high tree.
The forester climbed up, brought the child down, and thought to himself, you will take him home with you, and bring him up with your lina. He took it home, therefore, and the two children grew up together. And the one, which he had found on a tree was called fundevogel, because a bird had carried it away. Fundevogel and lina loved each other so dearly that when they did not see each other they were sad.
Now the forester had an old cook, who one evening took two pails and began to fetch water, and did not go once only, but many times, out to the spring. Lina saw this and said, listen old sanna, why are you fetching so much water. If you will never repeat it to anyone, I will tell you why. So lina said, no, she would never repeat it to anyone, and then the cook said, early tomorrow morning, when the forester is out hunting, I will heat the water, and when it is boiling in the kettle, I will throw in fundevogel, and will boil him in it.
Early next morning the forester got up and went out hunting, and when he was gone the children were still in bed. Then lina said to fundevogel, if you will never leave me, I too will never leave you. Fundevogel said, neither now, nor ever will I leave you. Then said lina, then I will tell you. Last night, old sanna carried so many buckets of water into the house that I asked her why she was doing that, and she said that if I would promise not to tell anyone she would tell me, and I said I would be sure not to tell anyone, and she said that early to-morrow morning when father was out hunting, she would set the kettle full of water, throw you into it and boil you, but we will get up quickly, dress ourselves, and go away together.
The two children therefore got up, dressed themselves quickly, and went away. When the water in the kettle was boiling, the cook went into the bed-room to fetch fundevogel and throw him into it. But when she came in, and went to the beds, both the children were gone. Then she was terribly alarmed, and she said to herself, what shall I say now when the forester comes home and sees that the children are gone. They must be followed instantly to get them back again.
Then the cook sent three servants after them, who were to run and overtake the children. The children, however, were sitting outside the forest, and when they saw from afar the three servants running, lina said to fundevoel, never leave me, and I will never leave you. Fundevogel said, neither now, nor ever. Then said lina, do you become a rose-tree, and I the rose upon it. When the three servants came to the forest, nothing was there but a rose-tree and one rose on it, but the children were nowhere.
