"Are you asleep, love?" "Are you asleep?" "Love... are you asleep?" "I think someone is looking for her bedtime story, is she?" "How about your favorite?" "Sleeping Beauty." "Now, where is it?" "Let me see..." "Once upon a time, in a kingdom far away..." "A princess was born." "And she was very beautiful so they called her Beauty." "Beauty was indeed, very beautiful." "Just like yourself, love." "But!" "She was soon to learn... that when it comes to the harsher lessons of this life... beauty is not going to get you very far, very far, very far..." "Anyway..." "Soon it was the day of her christening... and everybody in the kingdom had gathered for this joyful occasion." "Including the lovely, pretty fairies of the forest... who are soon to be Beauty's glamorous godmothers." "Oh, yes." "Everyone was invited to this christening." "Everyone, that is... except maybe the one person who might have done with the day out." "You know who that was, do you?" "I'll tell you." "It was the elderly fairy." "And do you know why nobody had thought to invite the elderly fairy, love?" "Well, I'll tell you..." "Because she was old and decrepit... and not one bit useful in the eyes of other... younger and more exciting fairies... who all still had their muscle tone!" ""OhÉ Let's not invite this stinking old fairy," they probably said!" "She smells of dirty bed sheets... and all she ever talks about, is her bad knee." "Sure, she's so old, she'd probably fall asleep after 10 minutes anyway!" "Why should we care about someone who's spent her life... working on behalf of the entire community?" "So... the elderly fairy felt a little bit rejected and... left out...as...as well she might." "So she decided..." "She'd show that child a thing or two... about how it feels to be old and constantly sleepy." "First of all, she surprised them... by appearing in the middle of their la-dee-dah christening party... in a huge cloud of toxic green smoke!" "Of course, they had their excuses as to why they hadn't bothered inviting her." ""Oh, I thought that you wouldn't want to be out and about with your knee... giving you so much trouble," said the Queen." ""I thought you died months ago..."" "said one of the stupid young fairies!" "Now..." "You think... the elderly fairy... being older and... wiser, was... able to forgive them?" "Don't be ridiculous, of course she wasn't!" "She loomed over the cradle in a menacing manner... and laughed for a very long time!" "It was for longer than that!" "Oh, look at you, aren't you great... with your smooth complexions and your social calendars... dancing around on your working legs." "You make me sick!" "And you look at me... and you find me so old and repulsive!" "Well..." "I've learnt a thing or two in my time." "Try this on for size!" "And with that, she put a terrible curse on the party... that each and everyone of them would die... in the instant they ever fell asleep!" "All right so, love." "That's me for tonight." "You sleep well... and I'll see you in the morning." "With the help of God." "# Sleep, go to sleep #" "# Go to sleep #" "# If they ever fell asleep #" "# They would die #" "# They would die..." "They would die #" "# Die, die, die, die... #" "Weren't good enough for them..." "Contributor:" "PaulAl"