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1200
Brunhilde - Teutonic Mythology
The Grimms based a part of their fairytale on the legend of Brunhilde, a sleeping princess who was surrounded by fire and waiting for her prince to find her. In the Grimms story, Briar Rose is surrounded by roses, not fire. Legends of Brunhilde started with the Norse and spread to Germany. The longer story of Brunhilde may be found in the Nibelungenlied from the 1200's. -
1528
Perceforest - Zellandeine and Troylus
The original story that Basile had also based his story on, Zelandeine is the sleeping beauty and Troylus the king that impregnates her while sleeping. Troylus does burn his wife at the stake upon learning she was going to feed Zellandeine to the court. -
1528
Roussneau - Heider and Suralune
Predecessor books to Perceforest's Zellandeine, Roussneaus story focused on three goddesses, one cursing the child with flax and sending her into a deep slumber. Perrault's story of Sleeping Beauty adopted Roussneau, where the slumbering girl is impregnated and awakened by her baby, finds the king and ends up marrying. -
Charles Perrault - La Belle au Bois Dormant
Perrault's Sleeping Beauty is based upon Glambaltista Basile's tale, where Talia (sleeping beauty) is put into a deep sleep by a spindle and the second part when she is awakened from her baby sucking the poison from finger (a king had found Talia and had impregnated her). The original story is not one that would be told by Disney, as a king. Talia finds the king at the end of the tale, who marries her, only after having his wife burned at the stake. -
Glambalstiste Basile's The Sun, Moon and Italia.
The Italian Poet Basile wrote the story of Talia, based upon the old Italian mythology of the sun and Moon. Talia is put to sleep by flax in the finger, a king finds the sleeping Talia and impregnates her and she gives birth to the Sun and Moon. Talia is awakened by the babies sucking on her fingers and removing the flax. Talia finds the king, his queen tries to bake Talia and the children. The baker refuses, with the king finding out, burning all at the stake. The King marries Talia -
Italo Calvino - Beauty and Her Children
Story follows closely to both Perrault and Basile, but it is a rose thorn (not flax) that causes a girl (named Carol) to slumber. However, it is the step-mother that causes the curse, there were no fairies involved with the curse in Calvino's storyline. Also, there was not a king's wife that attempted to kill sleeping beauty and the baby, with the storyline of a sleeping girl being impregnated by prince and awakened by a baby. -
Grimms Brothers Sleeping Beauty
The Grimms Brother's Sleeping Beauty is based upon oral history of Perrault's tale from 1697, which is also based on two parts two the story. The first part being the Briar Rose pricking her finger on a spindle and the second with a prince waking her up. Some other German mythological traits can be found in the story, such as Bruhunnde, who was a figure sleeping in a castle and surrounded by roses to be woken up by her prince. -
Andrew Lang
Published in England by Lang in the "Langs Fiary Books", entitled The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood and considered the "modern" sleeping beauty story. The story is based more upon the Grimms' fairytale, where the girl is cursed to prick her finger on a spindle by a fairy and would enter a deep slumber. A prince will awaken sleeping beauty with a kiss. The name aurora surfaces in this tale, there is no mention of impregnation or a king's wife attempting murder. -
Alfred Lord Tennyson - The Day Dream
Lord Tennyson created a popular sleeping beauty poem in England, which incorporated the Lang storyline into a sonnet. It became very popular during the Victorian Era. This was the time when all classes of English society were reading, so this poem was published in one of the many magazines available at a cheaper rate. The Day Dream was published in Blackwood Magazine in 1842 and it had been originally published in a book of Tennyson poems in 1830. -
Alexander Afainase - The Briar Rose in Russian - Russian Fairytales
Alexander Afainase is known as the "Grimms of Russia", as the author translated the Grimms' Brothers fairytales into Russian and composed unique fairytales of his own. The Briar Rose version was translated and the story was not altered in the Russian version. -
Tom Hood - The children's book author - The Faery Realm
In 1866, Tom Hood was a prolific children's book author in England. Hood molded the sleeping beauty story from Tennyson's poem and Lang's fairytale, so that there would be a child-friendly story of sleeping beauty. In Hood's story, aurora is pricked by a spindle due to the curse of a fairy and she is awakened by a prince and the first "happily ever after" ending is introduced. Children's books became acceptable and popular within the Victorian Era. -
Laura Gonzenbach - Maruzzedda
Gonzenbach was a Swedish author that collected italian fairytales. The sleeping beauty story, entitled Maruzzedda was similiar to Basile. However, the name of the girl was Maruzzedda and she was put into a deep slumber by a hat. Once the king removed the hat, she was awakened. The king's mother would not allow Maruzzedda into the palace, but the queen snuck into the castle and the king's mother was going to murder her. The cook saved the queen and the children, with the mother burned -
Giuseppe Pitre - Sun, Pearl and Anna
Basile was Pitre's mentor, which spurred Pitre to write fairytales. The Sun, Pearl and Anna is Pitre's contribution to the sleeping beauty story's evolution. The storyline is similar to Basile version, only the twin's names were changed to Pearl and Anna. The girl, Sun, was placed in a deep sleep due to flax and a king found her and impregnated, giving birth to twins. The twins awoke Sun from sucking the flax from her finger. Sun found the king, were married after burning his wife -
Lady Jane Wilde - Ethra the Bride
A popular retelling in Victorian England Lady Jane Elgee Wilde slightly altered the sleeping beauty story, where the slumbering girl (Ethra) was a bride and sent into a trance without a curse. Ethra disappeared and was found by the prince, who dug a hole and found her in the fairy world. Eventually Ethra was awakened, when the prince was told that the girdle held together by a pin was removed and burned, the pin buried in the ground. Ethra then was awakened and married the prince. -
Tchaikovsky's Ballet - Sleeping Beauty
Tchaikovsky composed music for a ballet that was preformed in front of the Russian Emperor, based upon the Grimms' fairytale. The ballet was well received and is still preformed to this day. The music for Disney's 1959 was based upon Tchaikovsky's ballet. -
Sir Richard Burton - Pentamerone
Cilia is a young girl jumping over a rose bush, swallows a petal and gives birth to Lisa. Lisa is given to the fairies and is cursed. Lisa is to die, with her mother placing a comb in Lisa's hair and goes into a deep sleep. Lisa is placed in a glass coffin and left in a locked room. A sister in law enters the room and removes the comb and Lisa is awakened. In the end, Lisa is married into aristocracy. The basic sleeping beauty story has became very popular in England -
Joseph Jacobs - More English Fairytales
Joseph Jacobs translated Perrault's Sleeping Beauty in the Woods into English, as there were few fairytales available to English speaking children at the time, as they were reading them in French or German. Jacobs wanted to make fairytales available to all children in Great Britain. It was during the Victorian Era when children's books became very popular, which contributed to Jacobs decision to translate Perrault and Grimms fairytales. -
Meriel Level - The Story of Sleeping Beauty
Story styled after Perrault, the standard sleeping story is retold in by Level, who published in Great Britain. This book became a bestseller, while the United States was preparing for Disney's movie release. In other words, the modern Sleeping Beauty story was becoming popular worldwide. -
Walt Disney - Sleeping Beauty
Disney produced a movie "Sleeping Beauty" in the United States in 1959, based upon Perrault's story and it was an instant box office hit in the United States. The music was composed by George Bruns, based upon Tchaikovsky's ballet of Sleeping Beauty. -
Craft - Illustrated book of Sleeping Beauty
A bestselling illustrated book of Sleeping Beauty is released by K.Y. Craft. There is 32 pages of Baroque styled paintings, which reflects the standard "Disney" or "modern" storyline of Sleeping Beauty. The popularity of Craft's book illustrates how popular the story remains amongst children and adult in modern times. -
Michael Teitaum - Sleeping Bauty - Golden Books
Most children in the United States grew up with fairytales and children's book published by Little Golden Books. Teitbaum's storyline is the modern Sleeping Beauty tale and is sold widely on sites like GoodReads and Amazon. -
The Retelling of Sleeping Beauty
There have been multitudes of authors that have published books that retell or modify the original Sleeping Beauty story. For instance, one can find 123 published books retelling the story on GoodReads.
