Speaker 1: School of Humans.
Speaker 2: This episode discusses sensitive topics. Please listen with care. My
Speaker 2: name is Miranda Hawkins. Welcome to the Deep Dark Woods.
Speaker 2: Today's story is at U four ten, or Sleeping Beauty.
Speaker 3: In pastimes, there were a king and queen who said
Speaker 3: every day, oh, if only we had a child, but
Speaker 3: they never received one. Then it happened one day, while
Speaker 3: the queen was sitting in her bath, that a frog
Speaker 3: crept out of the water onto the ground and said
Speaker 3: to her, your wish shall be fulfilled, and before a
Speaker 3: year passes, you will bring a daughter into the world.
Speaker 3: What the frog said did happen, and the queen gave
Speaker 3: birth to a girl who was so beautiful that the
Speaker 3: king could not contain himself for joy, and he ordered
Speaker 3: a great celebration. He invited not only his relatives, friends,
Speaker 3: and acquaintances, but also the wise women, so that they
Speaker 3: would be kindly disposed toward the child. There were thirteen
Speaker 3: of them in this kingdom, but because he had only
Speaker 3: twelve golden plates from which they were to eat, one
Speaker 3: of them had to remain at home. The feast was
Speaker 3: celebrated with great splendor, and at its conclusion, the wise
Speaker 3: women presented the child with their magic gifts. The one
Speaker 3: gave her virtue, the second one beauty, the third one wealth,
Speaker 3: and so on with everything that one could wish for
Speaker 3: on earth. The eleventh one had just pronounced her blessing
Speaker 3: when the thirteenth one suddenly walked in. She wanted to
Speaker 3: avenge herself for not having been invited, and without greeting
Speaker 3: anyone or even looking at them, she cried out with
Speaker 3: a loud voice, in the princess's fifteenth year, she shall
Speaker 3: prick herself with a spindle and fall over dead. And
Speaker 3: without saying another word, she turned around and left the hall.
Speaker 3: Every One was horrified, and the twelfth wise Woman, who
Speaker 3: had not yet offered her wish, stepped forward because she
Speaker 3: was unable to undo the wicked wish, but only to
Speaker 3: soften it. She said, it shall not be her death.
Speaker 3: The princess will only fall into a hundred year deep asleep.
Speaker 3: The king, wanting to rescue his dear child, issued an
Speaker 3: order that all the spindles in the entire kingdom should
Speaker 3: be burned. The wise Woman's gifts were all fulfilled on
Speaker 3: the girl, for she was so beautiful, well behaved, friendly
Speaker 3: and intelligent that anyone who saw her had to love
Speaker 3: her now. It happened that on the day when she
Speaker 3: turned fifteen years of age, the King and Queen were
Speaker 3: not at home, and the girl was all alone in
Speaker 3: the castle. She walked around from one place to the next,
Speaker 3: looking into rooms and chambers as her heart desired. Finally
Speaker 3: she came to an old tower. She climbed up the narrow,
Speaker 3: winding stairs and arrived at a small door. In the lock,
Speaker 3: there was a rusty key, and when she turned it,
Speaker 3: the door sprang open. There in a small room sat
Speaker 3: an old woman with a spindle, busily spinning her flax.
Speaker 3: Good day, old woman, said the princess. What are you
Speaker 3: doing there? I am spinning, said the old woman, nodding
Speaker 3: her head. What is that thing that is so merrily
Speaker 3: bouncing about, asked the girl, taking hold of the spindle,
Speaker 3: for she too wanted to spin. She no sooner had
Speaker 3: touched the spindle when the magic curse was fulfilled, as
Speaker 3: she pricked herself in the finger the inn that she
Speaker 3: felt the prick, she fell onto a bed that was
Speaker 3: standing there, and she lay there in a deep sleep,
Speaker 3: And this sleep spread throughout the entire castle. The King
Speaker 3: and Queen, who had just returned home walked into the
Speaker 3: hall and began falling asleep, and all of their attendants
Speaker 3: as well. The horses fell asleep in their stalls, the
Speaker 3: dogs in the courtyard, the pigeons on the roof, the
Speaker 3: flies on the wall, and even the fire on the
Speaker 3: hearth flickered and stopped moving and fell asleep. The roast
Speaker 3: stopped sizzling. The cook, who was about to pull the
Speaker 3: kitchen boy's hair for having done something wrong, let him
Speaker 3: loose and fell asleep. The wind stopped blowing, and outside
Speaker 3: the castle not a leaf was stirring. In the trees.
Speaker 3: Round about the castle, A thorn hedge began to grow,
Speaker 3: and every year it became higher, until it finally surrounded
Speaker 3: and covered the entire castle. Finally, nothing at all could
Speaker 3: be seen of it, not even the flag on the roof.
Speaker 3: A legend circulated throughout the land about the beautiful, sleeping
Speaker 3: little briar rose, for so the princess was called. Legends
Speaker 3: also told that from time to time princes came, wanting
Speaker 3: to force their way through the hedge into the castle. However,
Speaker 3: they did not succeed, for the thorns held firmly together
Speaker 3: as though they had hands, and the young men became
Speaker 3: stuck in them, could not free themselves, and died miserably.
Speaker 3: Many long, long years later, once again a prince came
Speaker 3: to the country. He heard an old man telling about
Speaker 3: the Thorn Hedge. It was said that there was a
Speaker 3: castle behind it, in which a beautiful princess named Little
Speaker 3: Briar Rose had been asleep for a hundred years, and
Speaker 3: with her the King and Queen and all their royal
Speaker 3: attendants were sleeping. He also knew from his grandfather that
Speaker 3: many princes had come and tried to penetrate the Thorn Hedge,
Speaker 3: but they had become stuck in it and died a
Speaker 3: sorrowful death. Then the young men said, I am not afraid.
Speaker 3: I will go there and see the beautiful Little Briar Rose.
Speaker 3: However much the good old man tried to dissuade him,
Speaker 3: the prince would not listen to his words. The hundred
Speaker 3: years had just passed, and the day had come when
Speaker 3: Little Briar Rose was to awaken. When the prince approached
Speaker 3: the Thorn Hedge, it was nothing but large, beautiful flowers
Speaker 3: that separated by themselves, allowing him to pass without harm,
Speaker 3: but then behind him closed back into a hedge in
Speaker 3: the courtyard, he saw the horses and spotted hunting dogs
Speaker 3: lying there asleep, and on the roof the pigeons perched
Speaker 3: with their little heads tucked under their wings. When he
Speaker 3: walked inside, the flies were asleep on the wall. The
Speaker 3: cook in the kitchen was holding up his hand as
Speaker 3: if he wanted to grabbed the boy, and the maid
Speaker 3: was sitting in front of the black chicken that was
Speaker 3: supposed to be plucked. He walked further and saw all
Speaker 3: the attendants lying asleep in the hall, and above them,
Speaker 3: near the throne, the King and the Queen were lying.
Speaker 3: He walked on still further, and it was so quiet
Speaker 3: that he could hear his own breath. Finally, he came
Speaker 3: to the tower and opened the door to the room
Speaker 3: where Little Briar Rose was sleeping. There she lay, and
Speaker 3: she was so beautiful that he could not take his
Speaker 3: eyes off her. He bent over and gave her a kiss.
Speaker 3: When he touched her with the kiss, little Briar Rose
Speaker 3: opened her eyes, awoke and looked at him kindly. They
Speaker 3: went downstairs together, and the King awoke, and the Queen
Speaker 3: and all the royal attendants, and they looked at one
Speaker 3: another in amazement. The horses in the courtyard stood up
Speaker 3: and shook themselves. The hunting dogs jumped and ragged their tails.
Speaker 3: The pigeons on the roof pulled their heads out from
Speaker 3: beneath their wings, looked around, and flew into the field.
Speaker 3: The flies on the walls crept around again. The fire
Speaker 3: in the kitchen rose up, broke into flames, and cooked
Speaker 3: the food. The roast began to sizzle once again. The
Speaker 3: cook boxed the boy's ears, causing him to cry, and
Speaker 3: the maid finished plucking the chicken. And then the Prince's
Speaker 3: marriage to little Briar Rose was celebrated with great splendor,
Speaker 3: and they lived happily until they died.
Speaker 2: This fairy till was the most difficult one for me
Speaker 2: to get through, because sleeping beauty isn't beautiful at all.
Speaker 2: Stories of royal children being isolated from the world for
Speaker 2: their protection dates back to ancient Egypt, in this case
Speaker 2: around the eighteenth dynasty. The story known as the Doomed
Speaker 2: Prince is a winding tale about a prince evading his fate.
Speaker 2: A king wants a son more than anything. The gods
Speaker 2: grant the king's wish, but the seven hath or fates,
Speaker 2: predict the prince will die suddenly by a crocodile, serpent,
Speaker 2: or dog. The king builds a royal house in the
Speaker 2: middle of the mountains to protect his son from his fate. There,
Speaker 2: the prince grows big and strong. One day, he climbs
Speaker 2: to the roof and sees a man with a dog.
Speaker 2: When the prince learns what the animal is, he begs
Speaker 2: his father for one. Despite the curse, the king acquiesces
Speaker 2: and gives the young prince a boar hunting puppy. As
Speaker 2: the prince becomes a young man, he gets tired of
Speaker 2: being locked up and petitions his father to travel. The
Speaker 2: king relents and sends his son out with weapons and
Speaker 2: his dog. The prince travels north until he comes upon
Speaker 2: another kingdom. The chief fair has a beautiful daughter who
Speaker 2: he keeps in a seven hundred foot tower with seventy windows.
Speaker 2: Her beauty is famed across the land. The chief promised
Speaker 2: whoever can climb the tower and reach her can have
Speaker 2: her hand in marriage. The young prince asks to join
Speaker 2: the other suitors in the climb, and they agree. As
Speaker 2: he climbs, he and the maiden lock eyes, and when
Speaker 2: he reaches the top, she embraces and kisses him. When
Speaker 2: the chief discovers who reached the top of the tower,
Speaker 2: he's angry that it was the Egyptian prince, for the
Speaker 2: prince had told others of how he had left his
Speaker 2: kingdom because he was fleeing from his stepmother. I'm unsure
Speaker 2: if the prince is lying or if this was another
Speaker 2: reason he wanted to leave his kingdom, because the story
Speaker 2: doesn't say either way. The chief doesn't want his daughter
Speaker 2: to marry an Egyptian fugitive. Two times the king tells
Speaker 2: the prince to leave, and two times the chief's daughter protests.
Speaker 2: The third time, the chief calls for the prince to
Speaker 2: meet him. The prince is wary, but the chief receives
Speaker 2: him with open arms and tells the prince he will
Speaker 2: love him as if he were his own son. The
Speaker 2: prince and chief's daughter Mary. The Egyptian prince then tells
Speaker 2: the chief and his new wife about his fate, that
Speaker 2: he will die from a serpent, crocodile, or dog. The
Speaker 2: wife wants to kill the prince's dog because she's afraid
Speaker 2: the animal will hurt her new husband, but the prince
Speaker 2: would not have it. Later, the prince and his bride
Speaker 2: returned to the prince's home in the mountains. But while
Speaker 2: the prince has been away, a giant has taken residence
Speaker 2: and his royal house. The giant won't let the prince
Speaker 2: venture out after dark because a crocodile emerges from the
Speaker 2: river each night. Two months go by, and the prince
Speaker 2: holds a great feast. Later that same night, after he
Speaker 2: has gone to bed, his wife sees a serpent rise
Speaker 2: up to sting the prince. The princess orders a servant
Speaker 2: to fill a bowl with milk and honeyed wine for
Speaker 2: the snake to drink from. Once the snake is drunk,
Speaker 2: the princess draws her dagger and slays the serpent. Many
Speaker 2: days later, the prince and his dog take a walk
Speaker 2: that leads him far from home. The dog catches an
Speaker 2: animal in flight. The prince chases after them until they
Speaker 2: reach a river bank. Now, the dog ends up beside
Speaker 2: the crocodile, but the giant also happens to be there.
Speaker 2: The giant bewitches the crocodile so the reptile can't harm
Speaker 2: the prince, but the crocodile promises that if he and
Speaker 2: the prince meet again, the prophecy will come true and
Speaker 2: the prince will meet his doom, and this is where
Speaker 2: the story ends. No one knows what happens next, and
Speaker 2: no one ever will, because the end of the tail
Speaker 2: was destroyed. The unknown author of the story wrote this
Speaker 2: tale on a piece of papyrus, which was later stolen
Speaker 2: by the British when they excavated the tomb of King
Speaker 2: Into and put it on view at the British Museum
Speaker 2: under the name Harris five hundred. The sheet contains love
Speaker 2: poems and another story. Egyptologists have trace a tale back
Speaker 2: to the Eighteenth Dynasty, which is from fifteen fifty BC
Speaker 2: to twelve ninety two BC, but part of the scroll
Speaker 2: was burned off, so the ending of the Doomed Prince
Speaker 2: remains one of the greatest mysteries in folklore. This story
Speaker 2: represents the deep ties the Egyptians had and believing that
Speaker 2: a person's fate begins at their birth. In fact, one's
Speaker 2: fate was integral to how they interacted with the world
Speaker 2: around them, and The Doomed Prince might not seem like
Speaker 2: a sleeping beauty tale at first glance, but the central
Speaker 2: theme of agency and escaping one's fate aligned with the
Speaker 2: sleeping beauty lineage. It also includes the idea of isolating
Speaker 2: one's child, although in the prince's case it's for protection,
Speaker 2: not a curse or punishment. Another story that could be
Speaker 2: an early sleeping beauty tale comes from Norse mythology. It's
Speaker 2: from the thirteenth century Icelandic saga called the Saga of
Speaker 2: the volsungs Valkyrie. Princess Brunhild is tasked to decide the
Speaker 2: winner and a war between two kings. She chooses Ognar
Speaker 2: and kills the other king, but Odin, the ruler of
Speaker 2: Asgard and father of Thor and Loki, wanted the other
Speaker 2: king to win. In his anger, Odin strikes Princess Brunhild
Speaker 2: with a sleeping thorn and puts her in a castle
Speaker 2: surrounded by fire. However, the princess has the power to
Speaker 2: modify her punishment and makes it so that only Sigurd
Speaker 2: can ride through the fire and awaken her with a kiss.
Speaker 2: When he comes to her, she wakes, and the two
Speaker 2: spend three nights together and fall in love. Brunhild's story
Speaker 2: is a long saga with adventure and betrayal, but this
Speaker 2: is where we leave her. The slumber in her castle
Speaker 2: is where her connection to Sleeping Beauty ends. So how
Speaker 2: did this tale start from a doomed prince and a
Speaker 2: valkyrie to become the third Disney Princess. Well, the next
Speaker 2: story takes our princess down her darkest path yet. Sometime
Speaker 2: between thirteen hundred and thirteen forty four, an anonymous author
Speaker 2: wrote a tale called the Story of Troilus and the
Speaker 2: Beautiful Zelandine. It was written in French and a region
Speaker 2: of Europe called the Low Countries, which are Belgium, the
Speaker 2: Netherlands and Luxembourg. The story appeared in a multi volume
Speaker 2: collection called Perciferist. It's in book three where Prince Troylis
Speaker 2: finds the sleeping Princess Celidine and what happens after he
Speaker 2: finds her is horrific. When Zeladeine was a baby, she
Speaker 2: was cursed by the goddess Themis, who presided over her
Speaker 2: her birth with two other goddesses. themUS was angered that
Speaker 2: she wasn't given as nice a knife as the other two,
Speaker 2: so Themis cast her curse. She said, when Zeladein touched
Speaker 2: a piece of flax, it would stab her finger and
Speaker 2: put her into a sleep from which she could not
Speaker 2: be awakened, but Venus, one of the other two goddesses
Speaker 2: at the birth, decided to use her powers to save Zeladeine.
Speaker 2: There are different interpretations of the next part, but what
Speaker 2: happens to Zeladeine remains the same. Venus sends Zeladein's love
Speaker 2: Troilis to save her. He rides a bird to Zeladin's
Speaker 2: room in the tower. Once there, he finds her asleep naked.
Speaker 2: Although Troilis is nervous and knows better than to touch
Speaker 2: a maiden while she sleeps, he reminds himself of the
Speaker 2: healing power of kisses. He asks the dormant Zeladein if
Speaker 2: he can kiss her. With no answer, he proceeds. When
Speaker 2: she does not wake, he is beside himself, but then
Speaker 2: the goddess Venus pushes him to have sex with the
Speaker 2: sleeping Zeladein. At first, Troilis hesitates, but then is overcome
Speaker 2: with desire. The text says he takes Celandine's quote write
Speaker 2: to the name of maiden. Afterward, he jumps back on
Speaker 2: the bird and flies away. Nine months later, Zeladeine gives
Speaker 2: birth to a son. She wakes up when the baby
Speaker 2: sucks the splinter out of her thumb. Zeladein and Troilis
Speaker 2: are then reunited. Zeladein struggles with guilt but ultimately loves Troilis.
Speaker 2: I couldn't believe this was a sleeping beauty story. It's
Speaker 2: so far removed from the Walt Disney film I grew
Speaker 2: up on. I didn't really care for the Walt Disney film,
Speaker 2: but still I was horrified to learn Zeladein had been raped,
Speaker 2: and angry, angry that she wasn't protected, and disgusted that
Speaker 2: it was another woman who encourage this to happen to her,
Speaker 2: regardless of the fact that she's a goddess. Unfortunately, throughout
Speaker 2: the centuries, sexual assault is common and sleeping beauty tales.
Speaker 2: It's also typical to have mythic god's encouraging bad behavior
Speaker 2: among humans or doing it themselves, like in Leda and
Speaker 2: the Swan, where the Greek god Zeus disguises himself as
Speaker 2: a swan and rapes and impregnates the human Lina. We
Speaker 2: don't know who the writer is of Zeladein's story, but
Speaker 2: it's apparent they knew rape is wrong. That is made
Speaker 2: clear from what Troylis says about understanding consent and him
Speaker 2: feeling bad. There is also part in the story where
Speaker 2: Zeladein makes a sound while he's raping her and he
Speaker 2: pulls back ready to act all innocent. This tale stays
Speaker 2: true to the central themes in many sleeping beauty stories,
Speaker 2: a lack of agency or inability to escape your fate.
Speaker 2: In this version, Zeladeine has no say in what happens
Speaker 2: to her. As for Toilis, this story presents Venus driving
Speaker 2: him to override his judgment or to indulge in his lust.
Speaker 2: It could be interpreted that none of us have agency
Speaker 2: over our lives, which would make sense considering how strongly
Speaker 2: people followed religion back in those days. Because a lack
Speaker 2: of human agency in the face of the supernatural tracks
Speaker 2: with the Catholic belief systems that govern every part of
Speaker 2: life in the Middle Ages. Then in sixteen thirty four,
Speaker 2: Italian author John Patiste Bazille published Sun, Moon and Talia.
Speaker 2: His story is similar to Zeladine's, but he treats the
Speaker 2: rape trope in a less compassionate way. A great lord
Speaker 2: asks some wise men and astrologers to predict the future
Speaker 2: of his daughter Talia. They say she will be endangered
Speaker 2: by the splinter from a piece of flax. The plant
Speaker 2: used to make linen. The lord then forbade all flax
Speaker 2: from entering his house. Years later, when the girl is grown,
Speaker 2: she sees a woman spinning and is curious. Talia asks
Speaker 2: the woman to come to her and begins playing with
Speaker 2: a distaff or spindle and the flax yarn winds around
Speaker 2: while spinning, but Talia gets a splinter under her nail
Speaker 2: and immediately falls down dead. The terrified old woman runs away.
Speaker 2: The lord is so distraught he has his daughter placed
Speaker 2: upon a bed in one of their country homes and
Speaker 2: then closes the doors forever. After a time, a king
Speaker 2: is hunting in the woods when one of his falcons
Speaker 2: flies off. He sees the bird fly through a window
Speaker 2: of a shuttered house, and he uses a ladder to
Speaker 2: climb through the same window. He doesn't find anyone in
Speaker 2: the house until he happens upon Talia's body in the parlor.
Speaker 2: He is so struck by her beauty that he carries
Speaker 2: her to a bed where he quote gathered the first
Speaker 2: fruits of love. Then he leaves and thinks nothing of it.
Speaker 2: Nine months later, Talia gives birth to twins. Fairies try
Speaker 2: to help the babies find her nipples, but when they can't,
Speaker 2: the two babies begin to suck at her fingers. The
Speaker 2: splinter of the flax comes out, and Talia wakes as
Speaker 2: if from a long sleep. Upon waking to her two children,
Speaker 2: Talia finds them dearer to her than her own life.
Speaker 3: She names them.
Speaker 2: Sun and Moon. As time goes on, the king finds
Speaker 2: himself thinking of Talia and decides to hunt again in
Speaker 2: that part of the forest. This time he finds not
Speaker 2: only her, but also the twins. The king explains that
Speaker 2: it is he who had sex with her while she
Speaker 2: slept and father the twins. The two become friends while
Speaker 2: he stays with her for a few days before promising
Speaker 2: to return and take her to his kingdom. But when
Speaker 2: he gets back, he can't sleep. He's preoccupied with thoughts
Speaker 2: of Talia, Sun and Moon. The king has a wife
Speaker 2: who now suspects something isn't right and becomes jealous. She
Speaker 2: threatens a king's secretary into telling her what's going on.
Speaker 2: When he does, the queen orders a secretary to go
Speaker 2: to Talia and ask for Sun and Moon to accompany
Speaker 2: him back to the kingdom because the king wishes to
Speaker 2: see them. With great joy. Talia does as she's told.
Speaker 2: The queen then commands a cook to kill the kids
Speaker 2: and serve them to the king, but the cook is
Speaker 2: tenderhearted and cannot. Instead, he serves two lambs. The Queen's
Speaker 2: rage isn't satisfied, and she bids a secretary to bring
Speaker 2: Talia to her under the guise of the king wanting
Speaker 2: to see her. When Talia arrives, the queen blames her
Speaker 2: for her husband's misdeeds and has a large fire built
Speaker 2: in the courtyard for Talia to be thrown into. Before
Speaker 2: being tossed in the flames, Talia asks if she can
Speaker 2: at least remove her robes, and the greedy queen says yes,
Speaker 2: eyeing the golden pearls from Talia's magnificent gown. As Talia
Speaker 2: removes each piece, she lets out a scream. Talia lets
Speaker 2: out the loudest will as she takes off the last
Speaker 2: piece of clothing. The king arrives as she is about
Speaker 2: to be tossed into the fires. The king, learning of
Speaker 2: his queen's misdeeds, tosses her and the secretary into the fire.
Speaker 2: The cook is spared and rewarded for saving the children.
Speaker 2: The king marries Talia and the family of four enjoy
Speaker 2: their life to the last of their days. The moral
Speaker 2: Basillie wrote at the end of the story says, those
Speaker 2: whom fortune favors find good luck even in their sleep.
Speaker 2: I had such a hard time with this story. It's
Speaker 2: the first time I found myself crying because what happened
Speaker 2: to these women is absolutely heartbreaking. But then you add
Speaker 2: this moral, and what the fuck? This moral is downright andsane.
Speaker 2: Not only is Basilli's version almost worse because a king
Speaker 2: thinks he did nothing wrong, but neither does Talia. If anything,
Speaker 2: the moral at the end of this tale feels like
Speaker 2: it's saying Talia should be thankful a king chose to
Speaker 2: rape her. There is such a different perspective of rape
Speaker 2: between Basilei and the unknown author. Zeladein's story was about
Speaker 2: a goddess trying to save her from a curse, although
Speaker 2: saving someone through the act of rape is just about
Speaker 2: as messed up as you can get. But as I
Speaker 2: said previously, there are elements in the story that shows
Speaker 2: the characters new rape was wrong. But in Talia's story
Speaker 2: there is no remorse or anything to elude to rape
Speaker 2: being considered wrong. Instead, it's used as a way for
Speaker 2: the king to get his happily. Ever, after all of
Speaker 2: it is mind boggling, and not in a good way.
Speaker 2: French author Charles Perrot's story builds off of Bazilli's story,
Speaker 2: but thank goodness, not in the way you think. In
Speaker 2: The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood, seven resident fairies of
Speaker 2: a kingdom are invited to celebrate the birth of a princess.
Speaker 2: As the bank would start. Another older fairy arrives. No
Speaker 2: one had invited her because they all thought she was
Speaker 2: dead or bewitched. The king tries to have a place
Speaker 2: set for her, but only seven settings had been made.
Speaker 2: The fairy thinks they slighted her on purpose, so as
Speaker 2: her gift, she curses the princess. She says the girl
Speaker 2: will prick her finger on a spinning wheel and die,
Speaker 2: But a younger fairy who hid behind a tapestry comes
Speaker 2: forward changes the curse so that the girl will sleep
Speaker 2: for one hundred years, at which time a prince will
Speaker 2: awaken her. When the girl reaches fifteen or sixteen, she
Speaker 2: is exploring the castle and climbs to the top of
Speaker 2: a tower, where she comes upon a woman spinning. The
Speaker 2: young princess pricks her finger on the wheel and falls
Speaker 2: into a deep sleep. The seven fairies then put everyone
Speaker 2: else to sleep except the king and queen, although the
Speaker 2: story doesn't say why the two were the exception. Within
Speaker 2: fifteen minutes, a dense forest of brambles and thorns encompasses
Speaker 2: the castle and hides a sleeping princess and slumbering citizens
Speaker 2: from prying eyes. One hundred years pass and another king
Speaker 2: and queen sit on the throne and a different castle.
Speaker 2: Of course, the prince is hunting when he sees a
Speaker 2: tower in the distance. He's heard many rumors about the tower,
Speaker 2: including one that tells of an ogre capturing children and
Speaker 2: dragging them into the forest to eat, But when he
Speaker 2: hears the story of a sleeping princess waiting to be
Speaker 2: awakened by a prince, he instantly heads that way. Intrigued
Speaker 2: when he arrives, the thorns and brambles part before him.
Speaker 2: He makes his way to the top of the tower
Speaker 2: and sees the beautiful princess. He falls to his knees
Speaker 2: beside her, and at that moment their curses lifted and
Speaker 2: she wakes up. In Pirout's story, the prince does not
Speaker 2: kiss the princess to break the curse, is it you,
Speaker 2: dear prince, She says, you have been long in coming.
Speaker 2: As she slept, the fairies had blessed the princess with
Speaker 2: pleasant dreams so she would be prepared to meet the prince.
Speaker 2: The prince, on the other hand, is shy and awkward
Speaker 2: and not ready for this, but her words are pleasing
Speaker 2: to him, and the two fall in love. They talk
Speaker 2: for hours. Meanwhile, the other people in the castle wake up,
Speaker 2: and they are hungry. Finally, the two lovers are interrupted
Speaker 2: and called to dinner. After supper, they marry. When the
Speaker 2: prince returns to his home the next day, he lies
Speaker 2: and tells his parents he got lost. His mother doesn't
Speaker 2: believe him. The prince hides his marriage for the next
Speaker 2: two years, but his mother notices that he slips away
Speaker 2: two to three nights a week and is sure he's
Speaker 2: meeting a lover. During this time, the prince and princess
Speaker 2: have two kids. The first is a daughter named Dawn.
Speaker 2: The second is a boy named Day. The queen keeps
Speaker 2: trying to get the prince to spill his secret, but
Speaker 2: he won't. He is scared of his mother, who comes
Speaker 2: from a line of ogres and has a hard time
Speaker 2: controlling herself around children. But after two years, the king
Speaker 2: dies and the prince takes the throne. He then announces
Speaker 2: his marriage and brings forth his wife and two children.
Speaker 2: Not long after, the country goes to war and the
Speaker 2: new king has to leave for the summer. He entrusts
Speaker 2: his wife and kids to his mother, the Queen Regent.
Speaker 2: The queen sends a family to the country to help
Speaker 2: stifle her cravings, but the next time she visits them,
Speaker 2: she tells the steward to cook dawn for supper. When
Speaker 2: it's time to kill the girl, the steward cannot. Instead,
Speaker 2: the steward's wife hides dawn and he serves lamb to
Speaker 2: the queen. Eight days later, the queen once again summons
Speaker 2: a steward. This time she tells him she will eat
Speaker 2: day for supper. Again, the steward serves lamb while his
Speaker 2: wife hides a boy. Then the queen approaches the steward
Speaker 2: a third time, asking for the princess to be served
Speaker 2: in the same sauls her children are served in. The
Speaker 2: steward means to kill the princess, thinking he has no
Speaker 2: way out, but in the end he cannot. His wife
Speaker 2: hides her too, and the steward finds another animal to
Speaker 2: serve the queen la The queen overhears the two children
Speaker 2: and the princess. When she learns she has been tricked,
Speaker 2: she orders a vat to be filled with as many
Speaker 2: creatures as possible, vipers and toads, and snakes and serpents
Speaker 2: of every kind. The princess and her two kids are
Speaker 2: brought out with their hands tied behind their backs. As
Speaker 2: they are about to be tossed into the vat, the
Speaker 2: king rides up. He's arrived earlier than expected. At such
Speaker 2: a turn of events, the queen tosses herself into the vat.
Speaker 2: The king is at first upset that he loses his mother,
Speaker 2: but in the end he finds peace with his wife
Speaker 2: and beautiful kids. As with Little Red riding Hood, Perrot
Speaker 2: adds a moral to the end of this story. Too
Speaker 2: many a girl has waited long for a husband brave
Speaker 2: or strong. But I'm sure I never met any sort
Speaker 2: of woman yet who could wait a hundred years, free
Speaker 2: from fretting, free from fears. Now, our story seems to
Speaker 2: show that a century or so later, early matters not
Speaker 2: true love comes by fairy lot. Some old folk will
Speaker 2: even say it grows better by delay. Yet this good advice,
Speaker 2: I fear helps us neither there nor hear. Though philosophers
Speaker 2: may prate how much wiser tis to wait, maids will
Speaker 2: be a sighing still young blood must when young blood will.
Speaker 2: Despite the many adventures throughout the story, Pero's moral was simple.
Speaker 2: He advocated to take time falling in love A complete
Speaker 2: one to eighty from bazile A, I will say, for
Speaker 2: the time period Perou lived in and wrote his versions
Speaker 2: of Little Red, Riding Hood and Sleeping Beauty, he was
Speaker 2: kinder to women than most in an era that wasn't
Speaker 2: even remotely woman forward. There's discussion on if he was
Speaker 2: a feminist. Even though he was kinder toward women, his
Speaker 2: version of feminism was held through the male gaze, which
Speaker 2: is that women were meant to uphold moral character regardless
Speaker 2: of what happened to them. But other than the doomed prince,
Speaker 2: Perot's tale is the only one not to involve a
Speaker 2: kiss or rape, or any unconsenting touch to Wig the
Speaker 2: sleeping Maiden. However, the princess still doesn't have agency, and
Speaker 2: she still relies on the prince to save her. Once
Speaker 2: the story made its way to the Brothers Grim, though
Speaker 2: the kiss was back. The brothers Grim heard this story
Speaker 2: through the hausen Fluch sisters, who we learned about in
Speaker 2: the Little Red riding Hood episode, and the brothers almost
Speaker 2: rejected adding Sleeping Beauty or Briar Rose as she was
Speaker 2: called in their version of the tale to their collection.
Speaker 2: They knew the story was by Perrot and therefore it
Speaker 2: wasn't German enough, But it was Brunehild's story in the
Speaker 2: Norse Mythology Saga that convinced the brothers it was authentically German.
Speaker 2: Notice how Brunehild and the Egyptian prince had agency in
Speaker 2: their tales. They might have been cursed, but both took
Speaker 2: action to change their fates. Not so Frizelendine and Talia,
Speaker 2: who are fully stripped of all agency. It did not
Speaker 2: matter what they did, they could not escape their fate.
Speaker 2: Even though Pirot's story is the kindest to Maidan's, Sleeping
Speaker 2: Beauty continue to be a passive character through both his
Speaker 2: and the Grim stories. So the big question now is
Speaker 2: has that changed today? On January twenty ninth, nineteen fifty nine,
Speaker 2: Walt Disney released its third animated Princess film Sleeping Beauty.
Speaker 2: It was largely based on Perrot's version of the tale,
Speaker 2: but unlike Cinderella and snow White, we barely see or
Speaker 2: hear from the Princess Aurora, only eighteen lines and a
Speaker 2: little less than eighteen minutes of screen time, and of course,
Speaker 2: the prince kisses her without consent. To top that off,
Speaker 2: Aurora doesn't say a word after she has awakened, and
Speaker 2: again she's powerless over of fate already decided for her.
Speaker 2: Contemporary versions have also focused on other characters in the story,
Speaker 2: like we've seen with Rumpel, Stilskin and the Wolf, storytellers
Speaker 2: focused on the villain and Sleeping Beauty. In twenty fourteen,
Speaker 2: Disney released the feature length film Molificent, starring Angelina Jolie.
Speaker 2: Doctor Claudia Schwabe is a professor of German studies at
Speaker 2: Utah State University. She says, even though the movie puts
Speaker 2: the evil fairy in context, it revives similar themes to
Speaker 2: the medieval tales, including sexual assault.
Speaker 1: This entire film is mostly about Malificent and not Sleeping Beauty, right,
Speaker 1: so she sort of fades into the background a little bit,
Speaker 1: but it's all about Maleficent's backstory and the attempt to
Speaker 1: then rehabilitate the villain to enlighten the audience why did
Speaker 1: she even turn evil in the first place. But what's
Speaker 1: interesting to me is that in this version with Angelina Jolie,
Speaker 1: she has these big wings, bat like wings, and we
Speaker 1: have a scene where his name is Stephahn, like she's
Speaker 1: in love with him and he is allegedly in love
Speaker 1: with her, but then he decides to cut off her wings,
Speaker 1: which is metaphoric for rape.
Speaker 2: Another film that explores this plot device is Netflix's Sleeping
Speaker 2: Beauty from twenty eleven. The story is set in contemporary
Speaker 2: times and follows broke college student Lucy, who ends up
Speaker 2: taking a job with Madam Clara. The madam serves tea
Speaker 2: to Lucy that puts her to sleep, while clients are
Speaker 2: allowed to come in and do as they please to
Speaker 2: the girl as long as there's no penetration. As Lucy's
Speaker 2: life begins to spiral, she asks if she can put
Speaker 2: a camera in the room to see what's happening during
Speaker 2: these sessions. The madam refuses, citing the possibility that clients
Speaker 2: would be worried about blackmail, but Lucy secretly installs one anyway.
Speaker 2: Spoiler alert. During the final scene, Lucy's very first client returns.
Speaker 2: This time he drinks the tea with her, but in
Speaker 2: a much larger dose. The next morning, the madam comes
Speaker 2: in to find the man dead, but when she tries
Speaker 2: to wake Lucy and finds her unresponsive, she panics and
Speaker 2: gives Lucy mouth to mouth. Lucy awakens to find the
Speaker 2: naked dead man beside her and screams. The last shot
Speaker 2: is a still from the hidden camera of a sleeping
Speaker 2: Lucy and the dead man lying together in the same bed.
Speaker 2: It's not Truelove's kiss that breaks a curse, but mouth
Speaker 2: to mouth resuscitation that awakens Lucy to a nightmare. The
Speaker 2: film is unsettling at best, but it does raise critical
Speaker 2: questions about the nature of consent. The update does give
Speaker 2: Lucy agency to find a way to make a living,
Speaker 2: but at what cost, because at the end of the day,
Speaker 2: she's still getting drugged. Sleeping Beauty is dark. In most
Speaker 2: versions of the tale, the storyteller removes the woman's ability
Speaker 2: to act in her own interest. She can't speak or
Speaker 2: move to avenge her father's sins. She can't protest as
Speaker 2: men do what they want with her. Then she's alive
Speaker 2: again and grateful to the men that saved her. But
Speaker 2: doctor Schwabe says that's not necessarily the only way to
Speaker 2: read it.
Speaker 1: I also want to mention which is often overlooked. I
Speaker 1: think that, especially Sleeping Beauty, she is also an adventurer,
Speaker 1: so the fact that she is exploring the castle when
Speaker 1: as soon as her parents are gone and she's sort
Speaker 1: of left to her own devices. She is actually quite
Speaker 1: active and she is curious. The only difference is that
Speaker 1: her curiosity is punished, whereas the princess curiosity is rewarded.
Speaker 1: In a sense, she is actually not as passive as
Speaker 1: people might think.
Speaker 2: Author Alex E. Harrow took a different approach to the
Speaker 2: tale and her twenty twenty one book A Spindle Splintered.
Speaker 2: I want to take a moment and say how much
Speaker 2: this book impacted me. It's all I could think about
Speaker 2: for weeks after reading it, and every time I found
Speaker 2: myself getting so sad. I related to the idea of
Speaker 2: feeling stuck, of not having a say in my own life.
Speaker 2: Zinia is a modern day girl who is dying from
Speaker 2: a rare People who have this disease never make it
Speaker 2: past twenty one. She's obsessed with a story Sleeping Beauty
Speaker 2: and compares herself to the princess. Here's a quote. I
Speaker 2: used to see Sleeping Beauty as my wildest, most aspirational fantasy,
Speaker 2: a dying girl who didn't die, a tragedy turned into
Speaker 2: a romance. But suddenly I saw her as my mere reflection,
Speaker 2: a girl with a shitty story, a girl whose choices
Speaker 2: were stolen from her. On Zinia's twenty first birthday, her
Speaker 2: best friend throws her a sleeping beauty party in an
Speaker 2: abandoned tower in their town. Spindle included as a dare.
Speaker 2: Zinina touches a spindle, but when she does, she's transported
Speaker 2: back in time into a sleeping beauty tale. In this story,
Speaker 2: the princess's name is Primrose. Zinnia's arrival interrupts Primrose just
Speaker 2: as she's about to prick her finger on the spindle.
Speaker 2: She convinces Primrose that they can change her fate, so
Speaker 2: the two pack up to find the wicked Fairy and
Speaker 2: ask her to remove the curse. What they find is
Speaker 2: not what they expected. The evil fairy is not evil
Speaker 2: at all. It's Zelandine, the woman who was raped by
Speaker 2: her lover. In this adaptation, Zelandine was taken in by
Speaker 2: the fairies after she woke and learned magic, and ever
Speaker 2: since she's been trying to help women like herself. Zelandine
Speaker 2: tells it too that the point of the curse is
Speaker 2: to save Primrose when she awakens, hopefully it will be
Speaker 2: during a time that Primrose would have more control over
Speaker 2: her life. Also in this version, Primrose is queer and
Speaker 2: doesn't want to marry the prince. Zelandine tells them she
Speaker 2: can't remove the curse. Primrose and Zinia returned to the
Speaker 2: castle as night falls, and Primrose falls under the spell
Speaker 2: that leads her to the spindle. Zenia follows, hoping she
Speaker 2: can get back home to her time, but the two
Speaker 2: are intercepted by the King's guards and Zenia is thrown
Speaker 2: in jail. In another twist, Zinia falls asleep and travels
Speaker 2: through the other versions of Sleeping Beauty, calling for help.
Speaker 2: Her call is answered by her best friend and two
Speaker 2: other women, one being Brunehild. The group successfully interrupts Primrose's
Speaker 2: marriage to the prince, but as the running away, it
Speaker 2: seems time has run out for Zenia and she passes out.
Speaker 2: But this is still a fairy tale. Zinia awakens in
Speaker 2: a hospital room. Her best friend is there. In surprise,
Speaker 2: so is Primrose. Turns out, Zinia's best friend is primroses
Speaker 2: Nidas and shining Armor. And as for Zinnia's disease, it's
Speaker 2: still there, but all the blockage that had been building
Speaker 2: for twenty one years is gone. Zinia is still on
Speaker 2: borrow time, but it's a chance to do things differently.
Speaker 2: It's a story of hope, of righting wrongs, and a
Speaker 2: chance for Sleeping Beauty to take charge of her own destiny.
Speaker 2: It's the closest to a true happy ending I've run across.
Speaker 2: Sleeping Beauty reminds us how far we've come in terms
Speaker 2: of women's agency. Minus the blatantly wrong rape troop. Women
Speaker 2: were meant to be passive and to rely on men
Speaker 2: for everything. They were also meant to be thankful, regardless
Speaker 2: if they were thinking those who hurt them. But we're
Speaker 2: starting to see modern Sleeping Beauty tales with the princess
Speaker 2: defying the role she's meant to play. She has agency,
Speaker 2: and she uses that agency to take fate into her
Speaker 2: own hands, with or without a prince, and the idea
Speaker 2: of having control over one's fate. Well, that's something everybody
Speaker 2: can relate to. Next time, tall towers are made to
Speaker 2: be climbed with golden hair. The Deep Dark Woods is
Speaker 2: a production of School of Humans and iHeart Podcasts. It
Speaker 2: was created, written, and hosted by me Miranda Hawkins. This
Speaker 2: episode was produced by mikel. June was senior producer Gabby Watts.
Speaker 2: Executive producers are Virginia Prescott, Brandon Barr, Elsie Crowley, and
Speaker 2: Maya Howard. Stories were voiced by Julia Christgau. Theme song
Speaker 2: was composed by Jesse Niswanger. This episode was sound designed
Speaker 2: and mixed by Chris Childs. If you enjoyed the show,
Speaker 2: please leave a review and you can follow along with
Speaker 2: the show on Instagram at School of Humans.