Sleeping Beauty

Gold cherry
Poem of the week

By GlosKat

Sat, 03 Jan 2026
  • 1559 reads
29 comments
 

Spinning wheel and golden thread

Lovely lady bows her head

Evil fairy wants her dead

Or so the story goes

 

Lovely lady's no victim

Has a plan to capture him

Princes tend to be quite dim

As everybody knows

 

A very gentle needle prick

Will make her look asleep and sick

That should do the husband trick

The lady thinks she knows

 

A hundred years she did there lie

She seems asleep with tight shut eye

A Prince just happens to pass by

A-hunting as he goes

 

What have we here ?  This lovely miss

Sleeping in her pearly bliss -

He never thinks to give a kiss

Upon those lips of rose

 

He shouts into her ear with 'Yah!'

Then has a go with CPR

But nothing seems to get him far

She still stays comatose

 

He spies a spring across the dell

He'll tip her into yonder well !

The water shock will break the spell

He drags her by her toes.

 

To swim the lady ne'er has tried

She sinks down deep and there she died

The Prince shrugs 'Well at least I tried'

A-hunting off he goes

Certificate U
Poem
Humour

Comments

Submitted by insertponceyfre... on

Never mind the Inspiration Point miss - you could always have another go perhaps? This is very funny - thank you Gloskat!

 

Submitted by GlosKat on

Hi Claudine thank you for the cherries.  I'm not one of life's great romantics !  

 

Submitted by Turlough on

Only the best fairy tales have the word ‘comatose’ in them. Where fine rhyme and rhythm and humour meet you brought a smile to my face throughout.

I suspect that the last line a-hunting off he goes might be a medieval poetic euphemism for went for a pint with his mates.

Nice one Kat.

Turlough

Submitted by GlosKat on

Thank you Turlough, always value your opinion.  To my mind a poem's not a poem if it don't rhyme.  The comatose verse was my favourite,  I was determined to get CPR in there somehow.  

I did have some more ideas of how the dim-witted prince might try increasingly bizarre methods of waking her up, not realizing that a simple kiss would suffice, but I didn't want to bore people.  

Actually I did a bit of research on Sleeping Beauty while I was writing the poem, and the original story (long before the Brothers Grimm) isn't romantic at all.  The king/prince (he gets promotion in some versions) comes across the sleeping princess and rapes her while she's unconscious, then goes on his merry way hunting (or off for a pint).  Nine months later she wakes up to find she's given birth to twins.  All very grim, with one 'm'.

I think over the years old tales have been made cuddly and cutesy, when originally they were quite violent / nasty / sexist.  I blame the Victorians and Disney.

 

Submitted by Turlough on

I agree with you about rhyming poetry. I enjoy reading it more if it rhymes. If I write a poem that rhymes I know when it’s finished but with non-rhyming stuff I never know until somebody tells me it seems alright. I’ve struggled with poetry all my life. I blame the schoolteachers and the classic poets.

This day and age you’re treading on dodgy ground imagining other ways in which a dim-witted prince might rouse an innocent and beautiful woman from her slumbers, so you were wise to skirt round this. I wonder if there’s any poetry in the Epstein files. I wonder if Brian Epstein was any relation.

Loads of stuff written for kids is gruesome. Beatrix Potter’s books would sometimes make my kids cry when they were little so instead I’d read them something by Stephen King at bedtime and there wouldn’t be a peep out of them… sometimes for weeks.

You reminded me of this which also makes me laugh…

The Tiger Who Came for a Pint.

Turlough

Submitted by GlosKat on

You're right.  I've changed the first line of the comatose verse.  I was uncomfortable myself with the original, it was all I could think of to rhyme at the time.  

 

 

 

Submitted by Turlough on

I didn’t really think your comatose verse needed changing. I was just being a bit tongue-in-cheek about Epstein and the English former prince because you said you had some more ideas of how the dim-witted prince might try increasingly bizarre methods of waking her up.

Waking her up, or stirring her from her slumber… a great response to this week’s inspiration point thing.

Turlough

Submitted by GlosKat on

Oh yes - stirring from slumber !  I can wriggle out of being blind as a bat and reading it as 'spinning' now.

And I'm being slow this morning, I missed the ref to Andrew. It's me that's dim-witted. It's bitterly cold here so I'll blame sluggish blood flow to the old brain ..

I really wasn't comfortable with that line about the iron bar, I'm much happier with the replacement, so thanks for giving me a nudge (even if you didn't mean to).  

 

 

 

Submitted by skinner_jennifer on

The poor princess went out with a splash! surprise Oh Dear,

I agree with you about so many fairy tales being scary. There are so many incidents that happen in our world that can't be explained. Those incidents become more and more real the longer I live.

I like how you got the story across with some humour, it lightened the mood.

I often wonder about Little Red Riding Hood and her Grandmother being eaten by the Big Bad Wolf, with all the strange things we know now about Skin Walkers, which I believe in strongly along with Dire Wolves. Funnily enough I took a photo of the Wolf Moon on Saturday night, it was so bright and beautiful.

Anyway I enjoyed your poem.

Jenny.

 

Submitted by GlosKat on

Thanks for your time Jenny.  I don't know if you have ever read Angela Carter's short story 'The Company of Wolves', or seen the film of the same name, but it is her typically gothic take on the Red Riding Hood story.  I would recommend both of them. From what you have said, I think you would agree with her take on it.

I've never heard of Skin Walkers or Dire Wolves but I will look them up.

I was watching the Wolf moon last night, did you know it was a Supermoon as well ?  Apparently if you stand on your head and watch as it comes over the horizon you lose the optical illusion which makes it look bigger, but I didn't try that !

 

Submitted by skinner_jennifer on

Hi GlosKat, I've seen the film The Company Of Wolves, but not read the book. It definitely puts another scary perspective on the story of Red Riding Hood. 

You gave me a smile smiley with your description of standing on your head to watch the Wolf moon coming over the horizon...just imagine anyone going to those lengths. I did love the aura I captured around the moon, though it was more beautiful in real life than on a photo, but at least I've captured the memory. yes

Jenny.

.

 

Submitted by TJW on

Yep, that's me all day.  YAAAAAH!!!! Then drag her and throw her in the water.

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

you've woven this with fun and skill! Pity he hadn't learnt life-saving swimming himself. Rhiannon

 

Submitted by GlosKat on

I'm not sure he was that interested to be honest Rhiannon !  I can't see him getting himself wet.  I think he was more interested in going off hunting (or for a pint, as Turlough says).

Thank you for your comment, appreciate your interest.

 

Submitted by Mark Say on

Better than the Disney movie. smiley

 

Submitted by GlosKat on

Thank you Mark !  Probably more realistic, but then what isn't ..

 

Submitted by celticman on

I've read Angel Carter's Company. Can't mind how it goes. But she's a bit Grimm on the happy ending idea. Dim Prince. Aye. Totally. Ending sprung a few leaks...

 

Submitted by GlosKat on

Hi CM, thank you for reading.

Spoiler Alert :

Carter's The Company of Wolves has a happy ending for RRH and the Wolf, but not so happy for Granny.  So 2 out 3.

 

Submitted by celticman on

One of them had to get the chop. I'm all for animal rights. But sometimes you do need a good woodcutter. 

 

Submitted by airyfairy on

A funny and beautifully composed variation on the fairy tale, and it's our social media Pick of the Day! Please do share if you can.

Picture by Mattinbgn, free to use at Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Launceston_Cataract_Gorge_First_...

Submitted by GlosKat on

Well, well, thank you very much !

 

Submitted by Turlough on

Hurroo! Congratulations! I expect you'll be going for a pint to celebrate. 

Turlough

Submitted by GlosKat on

Thank you. I expect I will, but at somewhat more than 24p a pint ! 

 

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

All the darkness of a fairy tale. Maybe she had a lucky escape down the well instead of the isle with simple minded prince but it serves her right for trying to orchestrate her destiny. Wells are terrifying things, thank goodness we have progressed to taps. 

An imaginative and very funny take of sleeping beauty.

 

Submitted by GlosKat on

Thanks Jane !

I think it illustrates one of my favourite sayings : "Be careful of your dreams, they may come true".

She was dreaming of a prince, and look what happened ..

 

Submitted by airyfairy on

This is our wonderful Poem of the Week! Congratulations!

GlosKat - I was so taken with the tale of how this came about that I've pinched your original idea of 'Spinning' for this week's actual Inspiration Point. It's a wonderful prompt. Thank You!

Submitted by GlosKat on

Doh - famous for being a numpty !

Thank you, glad something good has come out of my dodgy eyesight !

 

Submitted by David Kirtley on

It's a pity the Prince hadn't read or watched the old fairy tales! He would have known that all he had to do was give her a kiss! A sad ending. It is a 'grim' modern take on the old tale. I hope this doesn't mean romance is dead, but certainly is a good warning not to use magic recklessly. I enjoyed reading it.

 

Submitted by GlosKat on

Thank you for your comment, David.

Glad you enjoyed it, I certainly had a lot of fun writing it !  Coming up with rhymes for CPR was a bit tricky but I was determined to get tthat in somewhere.  A modern prince would definitely have been on a First Aid course ..