A look at two versions of the same story but with the same message.
One of the most endearing fairy tales told is the story of Sleeping Beauty. There are two versions of this story commonly found. The one told by the Grimm brothers based out of Germany and the traditional folktale as told in the Arabian tradition.
The two stories are very similar. There are parents that want a child desperately but cannot have one. The mother in both stories is told by a wise frog not to grieve, that soon she shall have a child. Also there is the appearance of the Wise Women. In both stories there are 13 Wise Women total. However, the king only has 12 plates so he decided to leave one of the women out of the party. On the night of the party the one that is left out comes and dooms the child to death but with the help of the twelfth fairy the child is not cursed to death but is forced to sleep for a hundred years when she pricks her finger on a spindle and just like any good fairytale she is brought out of her sleep by a dashing prince.
The style of both stories is quite different. The Grimm story is a much faster pace, moving from one event to the next. Leaving the moral of the story to the end. The Arabian story is much slower in it's pace. Also there are multiple morals given through out the story. Another major difference that comes in is that with the slower pace of the Arabian version we get closer at the characters and we see much more of their personalities.
Looking at the Arabian story we see a father figure that is very pompous, rash and hard headed. When they finally have a child his first words are that it would have been better if they had a boy, however, when looking upon his daughter he realizes that she is just as beautiful and wonderful to have. In the story it points out that the Sultan (her father) thinks that he is much more clever than he actually is. Thinking that it would be best to leave out the one wise woman by telling his servant to just invite the first twelve he comes across. All because he only had twelve gold plates and not thirteen. Another mistake of his was to think that he beat the curse given to him by getting rid of all of the spindles in the kingdom. Thinking that this could out wit the Wise Woman.
As for the princess herself she was blessed with everything in life someone could ever want, a gentleness, beauty, courage etc. In the Arabian story she was not given riches much to the dismay of her father. In the Grimm story however she was. These two stories though so similar but yet holding their strong differences have the same message. A child will pay the price for the mistakes made by their parents.
