Friday, November 30, 2012

The Other Aurora - Chapter Five: Desolation.

Desolation is a file, and the endurance of darkness is preparation for great light."
St. John of the Cross.
Image: The Eerie Silence of the Palace, an Engraving by Gustave Dore.

Philip could not believe that she was finally awake. He embraced her and she corresponded, yet her weakness was obvious. Aurora could barely move. However, she smiled broadly and touched his cheeks  showing her Prince that she felt as blissful as he did.

'I cannot believe this is finally over,' said the Prince, sitting right beside her and holding her hands.

'I...I feel so tired. Ironic, right?' uttered the Princess in a monotonous whisper. She could barely speak.
'How long have I been...?'

'Asleep? It's been five long years,' answered Phillip.
'You have a lot to catch up to, but there will be time for that.'
'Now we have to get you on your feet.'

'I can feel my legs and my body, but I don't know whether I'll be able to move,' explained Aurora. She felt uncertain and somewhat scared.

'There's no need for that, I will carry you, my love.'

Aurora smiled again, she was confused and happy at the same time. It had been five years...she had to get used to everything again. As Philip leaned closer to her and lifted her up, she could gaze through the wooden window and felt appalled by what she saw.

The whole kingdom, the beloved land of her parents looked desolated. Dead trees, run down villages, caws of crows, the most evil of all birds...and exactly behind the Ogre Mountain, her royal palace stood completely destroyed.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

The Other Aurora - Chapter Four: Awakening.

“Perhaps it is better to wake up after all, even to suffer, rather than to remain a dupe to illusions all one's life.” 
Kate Chopin.
Image source:  http://storynory.com/wpcontent/uploads/2009/07/sleepingbeauty.jpg

Philip didn't stop. She had to wake up. He kissed her  on the cheeks, her head, her neck. He kissed her golden hair...but nothing happened.

How could this be? This isn't possible, thought the Prince struggling not to burst into tears of desperation. Aurora was not only his hope, but also the hope of a new beginning for the kingdom. If she didn't wake up, everything would have been in vain, meaningless.

As he stared fixedly at her, paralyzed by her obvious slumber he suddenly felt a movement in the lower part of the bed. Astonished, he stood up in a halt and could see that Aurora's legs were starting to move slowly. Her arms and torso followed, as if in a coordinated rhythmic movement, slow, yet firm and consistent.

Philip was awestruck, he just stood there looking at her beloved Princess regain consciousness after all these years. 

And finally, without any further anticipation. She opened her eyes. 

Ah! so they were blue...


Tuesday, November 27, 2012

The Other Aurora - Chapter Three: Kiss.


"How did it happen that their lips came together?  How does it happen that birds sing, that snow melts, that the rose unfolds, that the dawn whitens behind the stark shapes of trees on the quivering summit of the hill?  A kiss, and all was said. " 
Victor Hugo
Image hosted by Bing.com


Philip took one last moment to look at the beauty sleeping before him. He tried to remember the colour of her eyes, but it had been five years since the curse had had its effect and for some reason he couldn't remember. Now he was about to find that out and to see whether the curse will be completely lifted.

He hoped so. For the sake of everyone in the kingdom. People needed a reason to be happy or the land would be finally devastated.

The Prince leaned closer to his Princess, caressed her hair one more time and gave her a subtle, fearful kiss.

It had been done.

Time seemed to have stopped. He stared intently at her, waiting for a reaction. He gazed through the window to see if the kingdom had recovered its natural beauty, but it still looked dead.

He kissed her again and again. The last time doing it with a passion unknown to him. There were tears intermingled with his kiss and sobs of desperation and necessity.

Monday, November 26, 2012

The Other Aurora - Chapter Two: Hope.

“Hope is the thing with feathers 
That perches in the soul 
And sings the tune without the words 
And never stops at all.” 
Emily Dickinson.


Image by John Collier.

Philip could not control himself and burst into tears at the sight of her beloved Aurora. She lied motionless in an improvised bed. At least Maleficent had the decency to lie her in a bed, thought the Prince as he climbed into it and caressed Aurora's pale cheeks. He was desperate to wake her up, yet, at the same time, felt the need to enjoy the moment. He had been waiting for years and wanted it to be perfect. He wanted to be the first thing she saw when she woke up, for the landscape and the scenery awaiting were despairing.

As he prepared himself for the long awaited kiss, he considered the words of Aurora's seven fairy godmothers on the curse placed upon her.

"Maleficent's curses have always had to do with the manipulation of time."

"She has always been obsessed with stopping the passing of time."

"That is the reason why even after you kiss her, the curse may still linger for years."

"Depending on how long it takes you to find the witch's castle and vanquish her dragon form..."

"...will be the result of your quest."

"The best outcome will be for her to wake up and the kingdom to be restored immediately.Yet it may also be possible that she wakes up, but the kingdom  continues to be affected by the slumber in some way." 

"And the worst thing that could happen...is for you to be too late. But that is unlikely, one hundred years or more have to go by for this to happen."

Sunday, November 25, 2012

The Other Aurora - Chapter One: Uncertainty.


"We sail within a vast sphere, ever drifting in uncertainty, driven from end to end."

Blaise Pascal.

Image by: by ~SebastianBecker on deviantART.

After successfully vanquishing the juggernaut of a dragon Maleficent had turned into, Phillip felt exhausted. He knew he had probably fought "the battle of his life". He had defeated other dragons and creatures, but Maleficent was different. She had been the source of all his problems for a long time. It had become a kind of habit to blame her for everything that had gone wrong ever since her curse on Aurora had had its effect. 

Now, it was all over.

Phillip had dreamt of this battle many times. He had trained night and day, he had made it the purpose of his life. Strange as it may seem, Phillip felt uncertain.
What would happen now? Are we finally free? thought the Prince as he looked all around him. He could see the whole kingdom from the witch's castle and it looked bleak, desolated...rotten. The whole realm had been affected by Aurora's slumber. A once happy kingdom had been turned into a depressing land of shadows and evil.

As he went up the creaking winding stairs to meet his beloved Princess, Phillip was overcome by a feeling of distress. What if she doesn't remember me? What if she wakes up and there's something wrong with her? What if nothing happens when I kiss her?

Still, all his whatifs and hesitations did not paralyze him. He kept on until he reached the dungeon were she was sleeping peacefully. Yes, as ironic as it may seem she looked peaceful. Her body was warm, her skin was intact and her hair, perfectly golden. She looked like a sleeping statue. After all these years, she had remained intact.

Thursday, November 22, 2012

The Other Aurora - Prologue

Image by Henry Meynell Rheam




               Everybody knows the story of Sleeping Beauty. Countless cultures have adapted the tale to fit its customs and traditions. The tale has suffered transformations and shifts of characters, audience and even genre. It has been adapted to film (how can we forget the classical Disney movie of the same name?), dance (as in the famous ballet) and an adult oriented movie with the same name was also released only a year ago.

                 Yet what these stories initially aimed at children never told us was what happened to Aurora, Cinderella, Snow White...and all the other characters of tales and folktales popularized through the oral tradition after the stories ended. "And they lived happily ever after" seems to be the repetitive ending all these tales have in common, however, we might infer this is not so. Aurora was only in the middle of her teenage years when her tale ends (versions suggest she was 15, 16 or 18  when she was put to sleep - although at the time it was written, 16 year olds were considered adults) therefore it's a bit difficult to think that she lived happily ever after with Phillip. Didn't they have fights in their marriage? Did they have children? How many? Were they loved by their kingdom? 

                       I plan to answer these questions as clearly as I can to show you that Aurora, as well as all the other characters from famous tales had normal lives with ups and downs just like we do now.