When the fairy tale, Sleeping Beauty, is mentioned, most people instinctively think of Walt Disney's animated movie, since it was probably pounded into their brains as a young child. I saw it as a child, and so did a lot of my friends, and there's a good reason why we were only told of the Disney version, as opposed to the original tale or one of its many other adaptations. The previous versions are very disturbing, more gruesome and less appropriate for children, because of the eating of children (Perrault), deaths and the sexual undertones. Disney's version of "Sleeping Beauty" was created to be more conservative and suitable for children, just like a good family movie from 1959 should be.
There are three other tales that Disney's version is being compared to, a manuscript version, and a sixth edition from the Grimm brothers, and one by Charles Perrault. In the Grimm brothers" versions there are only twelve out of thirteen fairies from a kingdom which are invited to the christening of the princess, so the thirteenth fairy shows up disgruntled and puts a curse on the baby that she will die at age 15 by pricking herself on a spindle, though the other fairies change the curse to only one hundred years. The king orders all spindle to be destroyed. In both of the Grimms" tales the entire kingdom sleeps for one hundred years, and is surrounded by thorns and brambles which are the graves for many brave princes, whom attempted to save the princess, but failed and died there. Then when the time is up, a prince comes to the castle, and in the manuscript version of the Grimms" tale, the thorns part, while in the sixth edition, the thorns and brambles turn into pretty flowers. This is very similar to Perrault's version, with the exception that Perrault keeps the King and Queen awake while the rest of the kingdom sleeps, and has an extended ending. The prince doesn't tell his family about meeting the princess and awakening her, but keeps it a secret for two years, even though he has two kids with her, until his father dies.
