CHAPTER VI
Whereas a certain malicious fairy, forgetful of the duties she owes to the most high and puissant King and Queen, rightful sovereigns of these realms, and to the Princess Briar-Rose, their dearly loved daughter, has, of malice aforethought, and with intent to work grievous bodily harm to the person of the said Princess, in the presence of the said most puissant Sovereigns and of divers of their loyal subjects made and uttered a prophecy, to wit: that the said Princess shall in her fifteenth year prick her finger with the spindle of a spinning-wheel, and that a certain dire misfortune shall fall upon her because of that injury, to the sorrow of her loving parents: Now be it decreed That all spinning-wheels or instruments of spinning whatsoever, in the possession of any subjects of the King’s most excellent Majesty, whether they be worked by hand or by treadle or by any other device, together with all spindles, shuttles, bobbins, and all other accessories or appurtenances thereunto belonging, shall forthwith be rendered up to the officers of the King’s most excellent Majesty appointed to receive them. And let it be further decreed That if any person or persons fail to observe or obey this edict or ordinance by unlawfully retaining any instrument of spinning or accessory thereunto, such persons shall be dealt with according to the full rigour of the law, and shall suffer the penalty of death.
The issue of this proclamation caused a great deal of interest and excitement throughout the kingdom. All the people came out of their houses to gaze at it, for they had never seen its like before, and though very few of them knew how to read they realised that it must mean something very important. So they sent for clerks and scholars to read it to them, paying a penny apiece for the service, which pennies, the clerks and scholars, being usually extra-ordinarily needy persons, were very glad to earn. It usually took about three hours to read the proclamation and to explain it; and one must admit that it might have been expressed in fewer words. To do so, however, would not have been dignified, for this proclamation was what is called a legal instrument.
The very next day into each town and village of the kingdom the King’s officers came riding. Before them went a trumpeter who stopped at the head of each street and blew a loud call. Having thus commanded attention he marched past the houses calling in a loud voice:
“Bring out your spinning-wheels. Bring out your spinning-wheels!”
So the people brought them out, not without grumbling, for a spinning-wheel is a very useful thing to have in a house, and in those days people spun and wove their own cloth to make their clothes. But they were afraid to disobey the King’s order.
And the spinning-wheels were of all shapes and sizes, some of them new and some of them hundreds of years old, and there was hardly a house that did not possess one of some kind or another. They were all collected together and loaded into waggons and taken to the capital, where they were piled up into an immense heap in the public square.
Then the King and Queen and all the court came out and watched while the big heap was set on fire. The people came out to watch too in their thousands, and a very fine sight it was to see the enormous flames shooting up into the air and to hear the crackle and hiss of the burning wood that sounded like the discharge of a hundred muskets.
The King laughed aloud in his relief, and even the Queen smiled, while the little Princess Briar-Rose, who was held up to a window of the palace to see the bonfire, stretched out her arms to the pretty flames and crowed. But the people were not very much amused by the sight because they were their spinning-wheels which were being burnt.
“I’ve had my wheel for twenty years,” said one woman, “and now I’ve none at all, and how on earth I can
“What is a wheel if the burning of it saves our little Princess?” quoth a third, “Come, cheer up, Mother, the King has reason for what he does and he will not see us want.”
And this man was right. The King had no wish to oppress his subjects, for no sooner was the pile reduced to ashes than he caused another proclamation to be issued, saying that the owner of every spinning-wheel should be paid for its loss, And not only so, but the King told his merchants to buy spun yarn from neighbouring countries so that the people might be able to weave, even though they could not spin.