I came across this almost by accident, having picked it up during a library visit with my daughter, and having got stuck at the bottom of the bag and forgotten.
It turned out to be a strange, wonderful, alternative retelling of the story of sleeping beauty.
It is different: there is a longer prelude at the beginning of the story, the “bad fairy” is just one of many, the dragon is a griffin (who doesn’t need to be slayed, but only confronted with courage), the prince is related to the bad fairy, and a few other details.
To top it off, the illustrations are gorgeous. I have attached a few of these below.
I am now convinced that older alternative versions of these stories are far better than newer alternatives.
P.S. and a great ending line too!
