The Sleeper and the Spindle

The Sleeper and the Spindle is a standalone short story written by English American author Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Chris Riddell. It first appeared unillustrated in the 2013 anthology Rag & Bones: New Twists on Timeless Tales. The story is a loose retelling of Sleeping Beauty, featuring two unnamed female characters who act as reimagined versions of the sleeping princess and of Snow White. It uses classic fairy tale tropes and motifs to upend genre expectations and explore themes of gender dynamics and personal agency.

This study guide is for the 2015 hardcover edition from Harper Collins.

Plot Summary

Underneath a range of mountains, three dwarves travel from Kanselaire to the neighboring kingdom of Dorimar to buy silk for their queen. The queen feels hesitant as she prepares for her upcoming wedding. When the dwarves arrive in the town, they find everyone in an uproar about a spreading sleeping sickness. It began with the princess, who was cursed into an enchanted sleep by a malevolent fairy. Now, everyone else is falling asleep too. The dwarves return to their queen and explain the problem, suggesting that her own past enchanted sleep might protect her from the sickness. The queen decides to delay her wedding so she can go to the other kingdom and help.

The queen and the dwarves travel beneath the mountain and pass many sleeping people. At one point, the sleepers begin to follow them. Elsewhere, in a castle surrounded by thorns, a young and beautiful girl sleeps while an old woman looks over her. The woman wishes to kill the sleeper with a discarded spindle, but finds she cannot. The queen and the dwarves approach the castle and begin to see dreamlike images. When they reach the wall of thorns, they see the bodies of failed rescuers caught in the briars. The queen sets fire to the thorns and makes her way through. When they arrive, the dwarves capture the old woman and the queen kisses the sleeping girl to wake her up. The old woman begins to remember her past, in which she was captured as a young girl by the enchantress who stole her sleep and youth. The sleeper, awakening, continues the story and recounts how the enchantress spelled the kingdom to sleep so she could feed off their dreams. Now, the sleepers are all under her control.

The queen recognizes the enchantress as the same kind of creature as her own stepmother—a being who craves power and devotion. The enchantress offers the queen a position ruling the kingdoms with her. However, the old woman stabs the sleeper with the spindle, breaking the enchantment and killing her. After many decades, the old woman finally falls asleep. Suddenly, the sleepers arrive, having been called to the enchantress’s aid, and wake up. The queen and the dwarves begin their journey home. However, the queen decides instead to embark on new adventures.