Long, Long ago in a far away land there lived the good King Stephen and his wife. The King and Queen had wished many long years for a child. Finally they were blessed with a beautiful baby girl. They named her Aurora. On the childs coronation day the King and Queen held a huge feast to celebrate and invited everyone in the land. Everyone except one person, the malevolent Bad Fairy. The three Good Faries (who were invited) were to bestow upon the little Princess four gifts: from the first fairy, the gift of song: from the second fairy, the gift of eternal beauty: from the third fairy, the gift of long life. The fourth gift was to be bestowed upon the Princess by all three faries but before that happened, the Bad Fairy stormed into the feast hall. You see, the Bad Fairy had heard about the Princesss birth and she knew that Aurora would interfere with her plans to take over the Royal Kingdom. So the Bad Fairy bestowed her own gift on the little Princess.
"On her sixteenth birthday," began the Bad Fairy, "The Princess Aurora will prick her finger on a splinter and die."
She then stormed out of the castle and returned to her Evil Fortress of Badness. Everyone was in such an uproar except the three Good Faries, who realized that, since Aurora had already been blessed with long life, she couldnt die and instead only fall asleep.

On the eve of Aurora's sixteenth birthday she had just finished her bath in her royal apartments and was dressing for the ball. Aurora had always been somewhat of a klutz (you see, the Good Faries forgot to bless her with the grace of a swan) and tonight was no exception. First she ripped her dress getting it on, then she lost her earring, which she promptly found (when she stepped on it). When she was finally ready she headed down to the ball. Unfortunately for her, she made a very ungraceful entrance as she tripped on a rug at the top of