Samantha's Story
by Hannah Smithey
Dear Medieval Times,
My name is Samantha, Sleeping Beauty’s sister. I’m sure you are saying to yourself, “I don’t remember reading about a sister in the story.” Well I’m here to tell you how it really was and that yes, she had a sister.
Okay, so you have all heard the story about my sister Sleeping Beauty. Well, I was 12 years old when she was born and felt as though mom and dad didn’t even know that I was there or had even been there for the past 12 years. When my sister was born my parents threw a huge party and invited everyone in the kingdom. They sure didn’t do that when I came along. Well everyone was invited but the 13th fairy, Ann. I tried to tell them that they had forgotten one, but they would hear nothing of the sort. So, I myself informed, the 13th fairy about the party and asked her to help me out a bit. I asked her to cast a spell on my sister so maybe my parents would remember me and forget about little miss Sleeping Beauty, the so called perfect child. Well Ann and I worked out a plan on how it was going to happen. She would show up right before the 12th fairy, Alexis made her wish.
It all worked as planned the night of the party. Alexis was about to make her wish and then entered Ann, right on time. She made the wish that Sleeping Beauty would prick her finger on her 16th birthday and fall into a deep sleep. Well, mom and dad didn’t like this at all, that there baby girl would have this happen to her, so they had all the spinning wheels in the kingdom burned.
The years past and my sister, Sleepy Beauty had grown to be beautiful, smart, clever, and brave. Wow… how wonderful. Well she wasn’t as smart as I was if you haven’t figured this out yet. By the time that her 16th birthday had come around, Ann had fallen ill and her fairy wings had withered. She was unable to carry out our plan. So I, smart Samantha, had to do it.
See, mom and dad had all the spinning wheels burned years before and had made it a law that there was to be no spinning wheels within one hundred miles of our home. I know I said that Ann’s wings were withered but she still was able to perform magic from home. So late one night I went to visit Ann to discuss a spinning wheel. I was going to need it the night before my sister’s 16th birthday. The time came, it was the night before Sleeping Beauty’s birthday.
As discussed with Ann, I slipped away to meet her at her home. She had the spinning wheel waiting for me when I arrived with special instructions on how to make Sleeping Beauty prick her finger. After our plan was discussed in great detail, I left to go home.
I then carried the spinning wheel to the tallest tower to have my sisters fait await her. Early the next morning, Sleeping Beauty’s 16th birthday, I got up extra early to go to the tower. I had chosen to and wear an old black cloak to appear has a servant of our family. I sat in the tallest tower, spinning, waiting for my sister. Well, sure enough my dumb sister came up and asked what I was doing, the whole time not recognizing me, like the rest of the family had done over the years. I told her what I was doing and asked her if she wanted to try. She said, yes, of course, and when she sat down to start spinning, she pricked her finger and feel fast asleep.
In a great excitement I bolted out of there only to find my parents, the servants, and even the animals all asleep too! The spell had affected them also. Ann must have made a mistake. I was almost devastated until I saw that my father had a bag full of coins in his hand getting ready to go to town to buy new things for my “wonderful” sister’s birthday.
You see, the way the spell worked is that my sister would sleep for 100 years or until a “handsome prince” kissed her to wake her. I would remain the same age, like my sister, until she woke from her slumber. So basically, I got to do what I wanted to do for one hundred years. So I took the bag of money and went on my merry way. For many years, I toured the countryside, with some of my friends. About 75 years after my sister fell asleep I, met a wonderful man, and we were married. A few years after our marriage I received word that a prince had kissed my sister to wake her. The funny thing about this story is that he was not handsome. He was a prince that was cast out of his kingdom years before because he was rotten and ugly.
This “prince” had been banished from his kingdom because he had lied and cheated his own people. I heard that the last time he raised the taxes on his people and took some of there animals, is when the people revolted and ran him out of his own kingdom. He was taking their live stock to feed the guests at his elaborate parties and the taxes went to pay for all the decorations.
I guess in the end I was the one that lived happily ever after. My sister was stuck with an ugly man, both his looks and attitude. Well I guess my parents thought that it wasn’t important to listen to me when I was younger. I bet if you ask them now they would say they wish they would have. In the end, I, Samantha, truly did live happily ever after. The wonderful gifts that were bestowed upon my sister ended up not being so great after all.