It’s a tale as old as time — the children’s fairy tale where the gallant knight strides up the tower steps, armour gleaming, and enters the room where Sleeping Beauty lies in cursed repose to deliver the fated kiss that wakes her.
But what if when the rescuer removes that knightly helmet, we discover our gallant hero is a beautiful woman as well?
A new children’s book by illustrious author Neil Gaiman, The Sleeper and the Spindle, reimagines the fairy tale, including “a sort of Snow White and an almost Sleeping Beauty, with a thread of dark magic,” reports The Mary Sue.
“On the eve of her wedding, a young queen sets out to rescue a princess from an enchantment,” a summary of the book reads. “She casts aside her fine wedding clothes, takes her chain mail and her sword and follows her brave dwarf retainers into the tunnels under the mountain toward the sleeping kingdom. This queen will decide her own future — and the princess who needs rescuing is not quite what she seems.”
The beautiful artwork comes from illustrator Chris Riddell.
This is a must-read for kids, so here’s hoping it becomes a new fairy-tale classic.
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