# Briar-Rose explained — Household Tales

> Chapter companion for Household Tales by Jacob Grimm.

## What happens

A king and queen finally have a daughter after a frog prophesies her birth. At the feast, twelve of thirteen Wise Women bestow gifts, but the uninvited thirteenth curses the princess to die at fifteen from a spindle prick. The twelfth Wise Woman softens the curse to a hundred-year sleep. Despite the king burning all spindles, the princess pricks her finger on her fifteenth birthday, falling asleep along with the entire castle, which becomes surrounded by an impenetrable thorn hedge. After a hundred years, a prince arrives as the hedge opens, finds Briar-Rose, and awakens her with a kiss. The whole court revives, and the prince and princess marry.

## Themes in this chapter

### Magic and the Supernatural

The frog prophecy, the Wise Women's gifts and curse, the hundred-year sleep, and the enchanted thorn hedge all center on supernatural forces.

### Transformation and Redemption

The princess's curse is softened from death to sleep, and the prince's arrival after a century redeems the kingdom from its enchanted slumber.

### Promises and Their Consequences

The king's failure to invite the thirteenth Wise Woman leads to the curse, showing the consequences of broken hospitality.

## Character check-ins

### Briar-Rose

The princess cursed to sleep for a hundred years after pricking her finger on a spindle; awakens by a prince's kiss.

### the young King

The king's son who braves the thorn hedge, finds Briar-Rose, and awakens her with a kiss; they marry.

### the Virgin Mary

Not present; no match found in excerpt.

### the servants

The court, including the cook and maid, fall asleep and later awaken with the princess.

## Key lines

> Your wish shall be fulfilled; before a year has gone by, you shall have a daughter.

The frog tells the queen that her wish for a child will come true within a year.

_The frog's prophecy initiates the birth of the princess._

> The King’s daughter shall in her fifteenth year prick herself with a spindle, and fall down dead.

The thirteenth Wise Woman curses the princess to die at age fifteen from a spindle prick.

_The curse is the central conflict of the story._

> It shall not be death, but a deep sleep of a hundred years, into which the princess shall fall.

The twelfth Wise Woman softens the curse so the princess will sleep for a hundred years instead of dying.

_This modification allows for the eventual happy ending._

> But by this time the hundred years had just passed, and the day had come when Briar-rose was to awake again.

Exactly a century later, the time for the princess to awaken arrives.

_The prince's arrival coincides with the end of the curse._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/household_tales_se/chapters/briar-rose
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/household_tales_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/household_tales_se/chapters