Briar
The Princess had the sweetest face, as a baby. Her eyes were large with curiosity, too much, the Elders speculated, for a three-month-old child. Her hair shone as of stars, and curled around her face like the fronds of the new ferns in the Woods.
The King and Queen were overjoyed, delighted, entranced- they had waited so long… Perhaps they were foolish in their delight, for they made it known far and wide, the Princess's naming ceremony would be held, on the first of spring, (a magical time), and they had invited twelve of The Highest, the greatest Gift-Granters of the Woods of Ebullience. ****************************************************************************** But they forgot one, the most powerful of all, and not only that, but the Queen's own Aunt Eddegil. She was an angry soul, angry, resentful and hateful. And all tried to forget her, all, especially the Queen. Eddegil heard. And she was angry. ******************************************************************************
"I give you the beauty of a Rose!" proclaimed Evena, the First Highest, bending down to kiss the Princess Aurora Elynda Liana Etta Diana Maura Cora Briar-Rose's pale forehead. She slipped away letting Ebba into her place. "A joyful heart is yours, my dear." She whispered, simulating Evena in her actions. Then came Estelle, granting the child the "voice of an angel", followed by Emmarose who gave her "Hair as red and gleaming as the roses' petals", and Elba, who tittered something about "artful ways" with Elaine who spoke of a "heart filled to its brim with love and empathy", then Elva declared she would " laugh as the trees in a soft breeze" as Eda sang of "eyes the greenest of new leaves", leaving Era to pronounce that she gave her a "truthful and loyal disposition", and Elsa decreed "a tongue for jokes and riddles, and the mind to go with it", Ela announced a "wisdom-overflowing child", but just as Ethel began to grant her gift, Eddegil burst into the palace, an inhuman air of abhorrence emanating from her. "Did I interrupt something?" she inquired, the false sweetness of her voice deadly. "Oh, yes, I can see I have. Well, little Princess, how would you like a gift from your Great-Auntie?" she stormed to the cradle where the baby lay. " I give you an escape from these sickly nobles, with their snobbish rules, and their "forgetfulness" their oh-so-important rank." Here she sneered, as she intoned the Princess's fate:"On your sixteenth birthday, you will prick your finger on the thorn of a rose, and die. I thought of a spinning wheel's spindle, but a rose-thorn is so much more appropriate. Do you not agree?" and she disappeared. ******************************************************************************
Ethel watched the weeping Queen with sympathy. She, too, had lost a child once. She would not, she decided, would not let this happen. Not again. Not to such sweet things as them. "My Queen," she whispered quietly, "do not weep. She will be saved yet." Louder, she called to the entire congregation, "Do not fear! For I have yet to bless our Princess." Turning to the little one, she said "You will not die, as decreed, but fall into a deep sleep, with all on the grounds in your wake. You will rest in this state till true love's kiss you obtain. Goodbye, my small one. Good Luck." To the Queen she whispered, " I Dare not do more, for fear of starting a Forest's War- a dreadful thing- it would be far worse than death." And she, too, disappeared, but left behind instead, a small thing: Hope. ******************************************************************************