Once upon a time in a far away kingdom there was a king and queen who wanted nothing more than to have a child. Eventually nature had its way and a baby girl was born. The king and queen were overjoyed and planned a lavish feast to celebrate. They sent invitations to the six fairies who cared for the neighbouring kingdoms. As I, Carabosse had handed my responsibilities to Lilac – the youngest fairy, I was not invited. It was only recently that the slightly scatterbrained fairy had finished her apprenticeship with me. As I reflected on the situation I absentmindedly picked up a pile of midnight blue wool and started to spin it into a usable yarn. I had barely completed half of the first ball when Lilac flew in the door, her mauve hair down around her shoulders.
“Carabosse! We need to talk now.”
“What have you done now? Have you let one of those ridiculous dragons you insist on flying burn down a village? Or broken your friend’s seven league boots?”
“No!” Lilac lowered her voice and related what had happened at a summit of the fairies in which they were deciding what to gift the baby.
“Lilac, carry forth this plan perfectly and all shall be well,” I instructed the younger fairy, crossing my fingers behind my back.
****
The day of the Christening came. When the clock struck one I flew to the palace and blew open the doors with a magic wind. Surprised by my sudden appearance the king muttered some hasty apologies, claiming that had he known I was alive he would not have hesitated to include me in the festivities. I scowled at him and walked over to the other fairies noting carefully that Lilac slipped away, our plan wouldn’t work otherwise. After everyone had eaten to their satisfaction it was time for the giving of the gifts.
Candide, the first fairy made Princess Aurora as graceful as a swan. Coulante went next, gifting the princess with the beauty of a phoenix. The third gave her the generosity of a raven. The fourth the voice of a nightingale and the fifth the temper of an angel.
Then I spoke up, “With these ‘gifts’, I foresee that one day, the Princess will prick her finger on a spindle and fly.” My eyes flicked to the curtain waiting for Lilac to appear. A shocked silence was all I heard from the usually gossipy fairies.
The purple robed fairy showed herself and turned to the king and queen, “I cannot undo the fairies’ curse, it is true, however I can soften it. The princess will indeed pierce her finger on a spindle but she will not fly, she will instead fall into a deep sleep that will last a hundred years.”
The king looked shocked at this proclamation, and a hushed murmur rose in the crowd. Among the onlookers there was only one mortal I knew, a fanciful boy named Charles Perrault, as if I had called upon him with my thought I heard him clearly ask, “What did the old fairy say Tattie? Did she say the princess will die?”
I left then, keen to return to my tower.
The day after the Christening the king passed a law to destroy every spinning wheel in the land. I carefully hid mine away in the disguise of a miniature and started searching for books on charms and curses and their reversals. Near sixteen years passed in the blink of an eye without giving me any clearer idea of what to do. I made myself look like an old mortal woman and put my shrunk down spinning wheel in the pocket of my cloak along with some raw wool. Silently I flew to a little used turret of the castle and went inside. Once there I reversed the charm on my spinning wheel allowing it to grow to full size and started to spin. A few minutes later the door swung in and the strawberry blonde maiden entered the tower room.
“What are you doing, my good old woman?” she asked, gesturing to the spinning wheel.
“I’m making sheep’s wool into a thread,” I replied huskily.
“Oh, what fun!” she cried, “How do you do it? May I try and see if I can do it equally well.” As she took up the wool from the spindle her finger was pricked and she fell down in a deep sleep.
I, Carabosse cried for help and fled the castle leaving the princess and spinning wheel in my wake. Well that part was too easy. The curse was avoided for now. No doubt the actual cure will be harder. As I left I enchanted the grounds around the castle to grow a vicious thicket of thorns strong enough to prevent any prince from entering.
Later that evening when I was working on an especially difficult spell a great roar sounded from outside my tower causing me to drop the charm on the floor, it exploded in a brown cloud. I stuck my head out the window and sure enough, there was Lilac, “You imbecile!” I shouted at her.
“Carabosse, I want to speak to you,” she dismounted gracefully from her chariot of fire.
“Come in,” I grumbled.
Once she was seated she began to speak, “I went down to Makaquin today to investigate a tale I heard about a golden goose. While I was there I was summoned to the castle as Princess Aurora was asleep. I have enchanted the entirety of the castle residents to be included in the magic sleep. I thought you should know.”
“Any luck with the goose?”
“Unfortunately, the only magic about this bird is its colour. It was a dead end,” Lilac shook her head sadly.
The years passed slowly, every so often Lilac would send in a report on something she had seen, more often than not there was nothing useful whatsoever.
“Dear Carabosse,” the latest one read. “The prince in my kingdom has fallen for a mute girl who seemed to rise from the sea. I suspect that she is a mermaid. Though how she was transformed I am not sure. Possibly the sea witch who has long dwelt in that sea.
Lilac.”
I dipped my phoenix feather pen into my inkpot and began to scribe a reply, “Lilac,
You might have found something useful. But tell me this: Am I desperate enough to use a witch yet? Carabosse” I rolled it up and set it on a convenient breeze that should reach Lilac swiftly.
An hour later her response came, “Good point. I’ll keep searching. Lilac.”
I laughed quietly and went back to work.
Ninety years passed and still no luck…
“Dear Carabosse, I was speaking with an old fairy woman recently and she mentioned a prince turned into a bluebird. She said that he was turned back when the fairy who changed him so bade him to. Your faithful friend Lilac.” I started back in my chair.
“How could I convince the other fairies to take back their spells?” I asked myself, “Really,” I considered, “it is impossible, and didn’t Coulante leave this realm a year ago?”
On the eve of the sleeping beauty’s hundredth year of slumber Lilac came to me, a look of thunder on her usually cheerful features, “She’s awakened!”
“What!” I cried, “How?”
“A prince,” was all that she said in reply.
“Any sign of a beak or feathers?” I asked worriedly.
“No, and only the ones stitched into her dress,” Lilac replied easily.
“Are you sure? Any claws?”
“Perfectly, and your hands are far more claw-like than hers.”
“How dare you!” I chased her out of my tower. There I am ashamed to say I spent the rest of the day in puzzled sulking.
The next morning a pigeon arrived with a message from my former student.
“Dear Carabosse, You will be relieved to know that true love it seems can stop and reverse curses. This was recently demonstrated by a Prince turned beast and his soon to be princess so the awakened Princess should be fine.”
“True love? How lovely,” I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm. “Well let’s hope it really is true love!”
“Also I have heard of a little orphan girl whose only parental figure is her cruel stepmother, with two nasty stepsisters for her only playmates. I feel she is in need of a fairy godmother but at present I am otherwise occupied. Would you take that role for me? Lilac.”
“How far away is that child?” I asked myself.
“Lilac, what’s her address?” I sent as a reply.
A good fairy’s work is never done . . . but that’s the end to this tale.