Sleeping Beauty's earliest influence apparently
comes from "Perceforest," a French romance first printed in 1528. While
not a Sleeping Beauty tale, Perceforest (1528) contains many elements
similar to the later Sleeping Beauty tales. Sone scholars debate the connection
between the stories, but I believe there are enough similarities to warrant
comparisons. You can read more about Perceforest on Wikipedia.
The next known version of the tale came from
Giambattista Basile's "Sun, Moon, and Talia" also known more formally
as Il Pentamerone, Day 5, Tale 5 (1636). This is the tale which
is thought to have influenced Perrault's Sleeping Beauty, the version
I have annotated on this site. Perrault included his version, the first
to use Sleeping Beauty as a title, as the first tale in his Histories
ou Contes du temps passé (1697).
After Perrault, the Grimms wrote down "Briar
Rose" for their own collection of tales. This version is the tamest and
does not involve any of the cannibalism, adultery or rape that is found
in some of the earlier renditions. The Grimm version is thought to be
derived from the Perrault version which preceded it, although the Grimm
brothers would have vehemently denied such a connection. The Grimm's tale
is the most well-known version, barring Disney's animated feature, although
Perrault's title is more commonly used. The Grimm tale ends earlier than
the others with Beauty awaking with the Prince's chaste kiss. The former
versions like Perrault's continued the story with the marriage and the
events that followed. In the earliest variations, the king or prince impregnates
Beauty in her sleep and then leaves. She wakes up when she gives birth
to her twin children and one suckles her finger, removing the flax.
Sleeping Beauty has been around for a long
time and scholars speculate that it appears in embryonic form in a story
in the Volsunga Saga. The story tells of Brynhild and her fear
of being married to a cowardly man when she is banished to earth.
Perrault's story was first translated into
English in Robert Samber's Histories, or Tales of Past Times (1729). A copy of that story can be found in Iona and Peter Opie's Classic
Fairy Tales. Andrew Lang adapted his version from Perrault's story.
Sleeping Beauty has been popular since its first publication by being
printed in chapbooks and appearing in pantomimes. Perrault was also one
of the last interpreters of the tale to avoid waking Beauty with a kiss.
Most of the versions written and produced since then have used the kiss
to awaken the sleeping princess.
Another sleeping beauty tale, "The
Ninth Captain's Tale," also appears in 1,001 Arabian Nights,
although its relation to the European Sleeping Beauties is tenuous at