The sixteenth birthday arrived, and there was a very special celebration to please the Princess. The castle was decorated more beautifully, if possible, than on the night of the christening, and everyone was dancing or laughing and as happy as could be. Suddenly the old fairy stepped out from a shadow, as she had done years before, and looking at the beautiful girl said, "Sleep." Immediately not one sound or stir was in that gorgeous castle. Now, you must forget for a bit all about the Sleeping Beauty, and hear about a noble Prince who was born many years later in a kingdom not far from this one. Not only was this Prince handsome and brave, but he was so kind and good that people called him "Prince Winsome." All his life he had heard terrible stories about an enchanted castle, whose towers could be seen on a clear day far off above a dense forest. It was said that the trees grew so close together in this forest that when a knight attempted to force his way through, he always became entangled in the branches and perished. Many young men were said to have met this fate; so little by little people stopped trying to reach the castle. But the little Prince was courageous. "When I am sixteen, I shall start out for the magic forest and rescue the beautiful maiden, whom, I am sure, I shall find in the castle," he said. [Illustration: JAKOB AND WILHELM GRIMM] True to his word, on his sixteenth birthday our Prince set off eagerly on his adventure. His courtiers urged him not to go, and his subjects pleaded with him, for they did not wish to lose their Prince. They were afraid he would die in the forest they so dreaded. They did not realize how difficulties and dangers give way before a brave, true-hearted youth. [Illustration: THE SLEEPING BEAUTY FROM A DRAWING BY EDITH W. YAFFEE] When Prince Winsome reached the edge of the dense forest it looked as if no man could ever enter. Great trees grew close together with their branches intertwined. So thick were they that the place looked as dark as night. When Winsome came near, a marvelous thing happened. The branches slowly untwined and the trees seemed to bend apart and make a narrow pathway for his entrance. They closed immediately after him, so that his followers were closed out and he went on alone. After a long time he found himself in the courtyard of a great castle. There was not a sound or a stir; the watchman stood sleeping at the gate, and the guards were standing as if playing a game of dice, but all were sound asleep. Prince Winsome entered the castle hall and found it full of noble ladies and knights, servants, waiting maids, flower girls, all motionless and yet the flush of life on their cheeks. The dancers seemed about to whirl away in the waltz; the musicians bent over their violins; and a servant was in the act of passing cakes to the guests--yet they all held the same fixed position, and had since that day years before when sleep overcame them.