The Sleeping Beauty of Oknö

The Swedish woman who stayed in hibernation for 32 years.

The story of The Sleeping Beauty has been retold, remastered, and rewritten countless times since it was first put into words in the 1500’s. It all starts with a princess, her name is Aurora, and her parents are warned by a wicked and spiteful fairy that their baby girl will die when she pricks her finger on a certain item. Authors and storytellers take a chance for some leeway here- maybe it’s a piece of flax, a spindle, or a needle- it doesn’t really matter. The parents will do everything they can to prevent this from happening but the prophecy is fulfilled anyways. Although, instead of dying like the curse indicates, a good fairy alters the curse in favor of the girl. Instead of dying, the princess will fall into a deep sleep for 100 years and she’ll be awakened by a kiss from a prince. And instead of waking up to everything she had ever known and loved to be dead 100 years later, the fairy also blessed her by putting the whole castle and the forest around them to sleep as well. So that when she rises, she can have her life back with the ones she loves. Now that is quite thoughtful of the fairy. I wonder if Karolina Olsson heard this story and snickered in 1908 when she woke up from her 32 year slumber to a whole different world.