Birmingham state herald., 1897-02-26

and the king invited twelve fairies to be her god mothers. UnIOrtunately there Was one wicked fairy, who had been omitted, ana resolved To revenge the ln- sulI.
 '.sne accordingly attended the banquet Where sne hau uo eat rom d silver plate, the poor king only possessing a uozen go1d ones. 1nis lhcreaSed her rage (She wasn't silver man anyway anu when all the Fairies were enooWlng the little princess With the various gifts ot beauty, aInlaullty, etc., she stepped forward and urcreed mat the child should die, the first time she prlcked her finger. Luckily n her anAleLy to punlSh the offenders sne mad usurped the time of the twelfth Idlry, who now stepped forward and did what she could to amellOrate the dreadful late or the unhappy child. She decreed that the child should not die, but sleep 10U years. CIhe first float portrayS thls Interesting scene.)
 The poor baby, who in addition to all her other tribulations la bored under the disadvantage of having no name but Sleeping beauty, grew up into a very beautiful, happy and good girl The king, being a good man, had banished from the Kingdom all sharp-pointed in- struments, including pins, needles, spin dies and the like, thinking that he might then guard his child against the bad witch's course. But the wicked fairy was . not to be so thwarted. Disguised as an old woman she Smuggled a spinning wheel into the castle garret, and one day when the princes happened to be wan dering about there in search of something to amuse herself with, life being very dull at the castle, she came upon the old dame, and begged to be taught the use of this interesting thing. The old lady willingly complied, whereupon the prin- cess Of course immediately proceeded to prick her finger with the spindle. (This thrilling moment is the subject of another f1oat)
 "Thereupon she descended to her room, where she arranged herself in a most be- coming attitude on her couch and vents to sleep. CThe ravishing picture displayed by the next float will testify to her ex- cellent taste and knowledge of effects.) The other people in the kingdom, howev- CT, not having been warned by pricking their fingers had to go to sleep just as they were, and very funny some of them must have looked.
 "At the end of a hundred years the twelfth fairy gave flower and pair of wings to an eligible young prince with the injunction that he should seek maiden more beautiful and sweet than the blossom he held. After many advent ures the flower finally guided him to the enchanted palace where the sleeping princess lay. At the sight of her wonder ful beauty the prince was so overcome with delight that he bent forward and kissed her. The magic kiss awoke the sleeping princess and all her court to new life. Each person resumed the oc- cupation he had gone to sleep over a hundred years ago; the king went back to his dinner, grumbling that it had got ten cold; the butler finished drinking the wine he had gone to sleep over, in the pantry; the kings valet finished making love to the waiting maid; and the princess finished in real life the dream of true love and the prince which she had been dreaming for a hundred years
 After they had had a good spring housekeeping to get rid of the spiders, etc, which had not been sleeping dur ing the hundred years, the king gave his consent to the marriage of his daughter, the prince took her to his own home and they lived happily ever after"