Trisha Speed Shaskan - Truly, We Both Loved Beauty Dearly!: The Story of Sleeping Beauty as Told by the Good and Bad Fairies

by Trisha Speed Shaskan

illustrated by Amit Tayal

Special thanks to our adviser, Terry Flaherty, PhD, Professor of English,
Minnesota State University, Mankato, for his expertise.

Editor: Jill Kalz
Designer: Lori Bye
Art Director: Nathan Gassman
Production Specialist: Kathy McColley
The illustrations in this book were created digitally.

Picture Window Books
1710 Roe Crest Drive
North Mankato, MN 56003
www.capstonepub.com

Copyright 2014 by Picture Window Books, a Capstone imprint.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole
or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by
any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without written permission of the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Cataloging-in-publication information is on file with the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-1-4048-7940-9 (library binding)
ISBN 978-1-4795-1945-3 (paper over board)
ISBN 978-1-4795-1949-1 (paperback)
ISBN 978-1-4795-1883-8 (eBook PDF)
ISBN 978-1-4795-5577-2 (eBook)

People around here call me the Bad Fairy, or BF. My real name
is Edna. Im the one who cast that spell on Sleeping Beauty.
Thats not the whole story, though. The story begins before
Beauty was born, when BF used to mean something different.

Im Ednas younger sister. Im the so-called Good Fairy,
otherwise known as Stella. You cant count on my sister
for the whole story. Im the one who knows it all.

Pish posh, Stella! Im more than 500 years old. IM the
one who knows it all. Now let me tell the story, please.
I first met the king long ago. We became friends, and he
named me his BF (which stood for Best Fairy back then).
I bewitched his castle. It still sparkles to this day.

Yes, Edna was once the kings BF. But over time, her
mind got a little rusty. During one Lunar Festival, Edna
overdid it and made the moon glow too brightly. It nearly
blinded everyone. I told her to stop.

Moonlight, Edna said, time to drop!

(She was supposed to say, Time to STOP!)

The moon dropped. Fast!

After that, Edna wasnt invited to
anything. It was just too dangerous
to have her around.

One day the king and queen announced the biggest party
ever: a feast for their new baby girl, the princess. All the
fairies, except Edna, were invited. Each of us prepared a
special gift. I worked on Gracefulness (because, you know,
a princess shouldnt be klutzy).

I did NOT get invited to the feast. A mistake, surely.
The king wouldnt forget his BF, would he? So I prepared
my gift for the princess: Compassion. Every princess
needs the ability to feel and understand the troubles
of her people, right?

On the day of the feast, the guard checked the guest list.
I wasnt on it.

I had never felt so bad in all my life.

I loved the princess dearly, and I was going to give her
my giftwith or without an invitation.

So I fired up my wings and flew in through a window.
Stella was just about to give her gift of Gracefulness.

On the princess 16th birthday, I shouted, she
will prick her finger on a magic spinning wheel! The
wound will stand for the suffering of the people of her
kingdom! And it will remind the princess to be kind!

Ednas spell began well enough. But then she said,
Dont worry, dear princess. When you die, your tears
will comfort lives!

(She was supposed to say, When you CRY!)

I dont have Ednas ancient powers. But I did my
best to fix the mess. My NEW gift to the princess
was that she WOULDNT die on her 16th birthday.
Instead, she would prick her finger and fall asleep
for 100 years.

When I mixed up the spell, the king banned me from the
castle. I didnt have a chance to fix my mistake. So I
waited. On the princess 16th birthday, I dressed up as
an old woman. I snuck into the tower and spun the magic
wheel myself. That way the princess wouldnt do it, and we
could avoid the whole sleeping-for-100-years mess.

I knew Edna was up to something, so I followed her.
Her plan began OK. But then the princess walked in.
Shed seen a light in the tower.

Go away! Edna yelled.

But it was too late. The princess
had already stumbled and pricked
her finger. What a klutz.

I did the only thing I could do: I put the entire castle
to sleep. Vines grew and spread. They covered the
walls and the tower where the princess slept.

For years everyone snoozed. Over time, word traveled