Charles Perrault

“ Everybody came to wish her many happy returns, and she had so many presents that at least a dozen servants were kept busy unwrapping the parcels. The King gave her a white pony with a saddle of red velvet, and bridle and stirrups of gold, while the Queen’s present was a beautiful and costly necklace of pearls. Even the boy who turned the spit in the kitchen brought her something, and though it was only a little wooden shoe which he had carved with his own hands, the
Princess prized it just as much as though it had been made of gold. ”

“ It is not a pleasant thing to know that the fairies have decreed that one shall fall asleep for a hundred years on one’s fifteenth birthday, even though one is to be awakened by a handsome Prince at the end of that time. So all the lords-in-waiting and the ladies-in-waiting had to be very careful and discreet. If they told the Princess a story, they had to keep the word “spinning” out of it; and if they showed her a book they had to take pains to see it did not contain a picture of a spinning-wheel, or any reference to a distaff or spindle, lest she should ask what they were. ”

“ On the contrary, she was always sweet-tempered and modest, and for this reason she was loved. People may admire
good looks and a graceful deportment, and they may respect ability, but it is only sweetness of nature and goodness of heart that can win love. ”