After the beautiful Princess Aurora is born into royalty, the entire kingdom gathers to celebrate, including three good fairies, Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather. Everything is perfectly fine until an uninvited guest appears, the evil fairy Maleficent. Maleficent curses the young princess by announcing that she will prick her finger on a spinning wheel's spindle and die before sunset on her 16th birthday. Fortunately, one of the good fairies, Merryweather, softens the curse so Aurora will not die, but only fall into a deep sleep instead, and the only way to wake her from her sleep is true love's kiss. Finally, the day comes.—Pat Conolly