This early version of Sleeping Beauty opens with the death of Sor de Plaser, the daughter of the emperor of Gint-Senay. She is mourned throughout the empire and entombed in an impenetrable moated tower. With the help of magic skills learned from Virgil, the enamored young prince Frayre de Joy manages to reach her, and once inside, the youth exchanges rings with her, rapes her body, and impregnates her. Through prayer and the help of a parrot, the girl is magically brought back to life only to discover she has not only lost her virginity, but she now has an illegitimate son.
—based on a Rachel D. Gibson synopsis
Car una dona ab cors gen
M’a fayt de prets un mandamen,
Qu’una faula tot prim li rim,
Sens cara rima e mot prim
translate A lady of noble body
gave me a valuable commission
to rhyme for her a neat fable
without rich rhymes nor subtle words

Tags

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Variants

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  1. Frayre de joy e sor de plaser [writer unknown] (medieval tale told in verse, circa AD 1300).
    2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by unknown persons

Indexer Notes

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  1. Language—Catalan Wikipedia indicates the author originally wrote in Old Occitan [also called Old Provençal], which was a prestigious literary language at the time, but he Catalan may have been the author’s own first language.
  2. Title—We see several different original titles cited. We use Frayer de joy e sor de plaser because it is the most cited of the old Provençal titles listed at BnF Data.