All the fairies' gifts were in the meantime fulfilled;
for the princess was so beautiful, and well-behaved, and amiable, and
wise, that everyone who knew her loved her. Now it happened that on
the very day she was fifteen years old the king and queen were not
at home, and she was left alone in the palace. So she roved about by
herself, and poked at all the rooms and chambers, till at last she
came to an old tower, to which there was a narrow staircase ending
with a little door. In the door there was a golden key, and when she
turned it the door sprang open, and there sat an old lady spinning
away very busily.
"Why, how now, good mother," said the princess, "what are you doing
there?"
"Spinning," said the old lady, and nodded her head.
"How prettily that little thing turns round!" said the princess, and
took the spindle and began to spin. But scarcely had she touched it
before the prophecy was fulfilled, and she fell down, as if lifeless,
on the ground.
However, she was not dead, but had only fallen into a deep sleep; and
the king and queen, who just then came home, and all their court, fell
asleep too, and the horses slept in the stables, and the dogs in the
court, the pigeons on the house-top, and the flies on the walls.
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