So he
invited not only his relations, friends, and neighbours, but also all
the fairies, that they might be kind and good to his little daughter.
Now there were thirteen fairies in his kingdom, and he had only twelve
golden dishes for them to eat out of, so that he was obliged to leave
one of the fairies without an invitation. The rest came, and after the
feast was over they gave all their best gifts to the little princess;
one gave her virtue, another beauty, another riches, and so on till
she had all that was excellent in the world. When eleven had done
blessing her, the thirteenth, who had not been invited, and was very
angry on that account, came in, and determined to take her revenge.
So she cried out, "The King's daughter shall in her fifteenth year be
wounded by a spindle, and fall down dead." Then the twelfth, who had
not yet given her gift, came forward and said that the bad wish
must be fulfilled, but that she could soften it, and that the king's
daughter should not die, but fall asleep for a hundred years.
[Illustration]
But the king hoped to save his dear child from the threatened evil,
and ordered that all the spindles in the kingdom should be bought up
and destroyed.
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