The only one way to break the spell by “the usual method” (16)…a kiss. They are told of a beautiful princess locked away in a tower covered in thorns and roses, that as long as she sleeps the kingdom will sleep. They are confronted at their favorite inn with horror stories of a sleeping death that is relentlessly seeping over the land from the Forest of Acaire. Meanwhile, her dwarfs, numbering only three, go out under the “unpassable” mountains that separate the queen and princess’ kingdoms, seeking “the finest silken cloth” for their wedding gift to the queen.

Detail of the queen in her bower, despondent, armour slouched in the corner as if abandoned by her fate. She is underwhelmed by her fate post-sleep, and her resigned metaphysical angst with the reality of her marriage is evident in her grim face, the golden skulls on her bedclothes, how she darkly notices the wedding preparations outside the castle, “Every hammer blow felt like a heartbeat” (14), each beat mapping the way to “the path of her death”. The queen has a suit of armor slouching against the wall in her bower and is about to get married to the prince that woke her from her own sleeping spell. However, neither queen nor princess are quite what they appear to be. The sleeping princess in the tower, recognizable by her hair “the golden yellow of meadow flowers” (38), is also poisoned, dreaming an endless dream of her future and awaiting rescue.

The queen, nameless but recognizable by her blackest of black hair and crimson lips, awaits her marriage and is disappointed by her life after her poisoned ordeal. Gaiman fractures them piece by piece into a heroine-centric world, weaving them seamlessly back together again to create a complete evolution in both stories. The princess is ghostly behind a illuminated, misty rose and thorn jacket.ĭedicated to their daughters, Gaiman’s mesmerizing novella, wrapped in stunning illuminated, gothic illustrations by Riddell, deconstructs two iconic fairy tales, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White. This is the cover of my personal copy of The Sleeper and the Spindle.

Chris riddell sleeper and the spindle