The Sleeping Beauty

Unfortunately, the Fairy Carabosse has been forgotten, for she has not been seen for a long time. Nevertheless she arrives, vastly insulted, as the other Fairies are bestowing their magic gifts. She gives a spindle and announces that one day Aurora shall prick her finger with it and die. Happily, the Lilac Fairy still has her own gift to bestow, and she confounds Carabosse by vowing that Aurora shall not die but will instead fall into a deep sleep, from which she will be awakened after a hundred years by a Prince’s kiss.

ACT I: THE SPELL

It is Princess Aurora’s sixteenth birthday, and four Princes have come to court her. During the festivities a strange woman approaches with something Aurora has never seen before—a spindle. In her fascination she pricks her finger, and the suitors rush to her aid. The old woman throws back her cloak, revealing she is Carabosse, and vanishes. The Lilac Fairy appears to fulfill her promise. She casts a spell of sleep over the castle and commands a forest to grow and conceal the palace.