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THE BEAUTY OF THE SLEEPING WOODS

T H I S P R O J E C T I S C O - F U N D E D B Y T H E E R A S M U S + P R O G R A M O F T H E C O M M I S S I O N O F T H E E U R O P E A N U N I O N . T H I S P U B L I C A T I O N

R E F L E C T S T H E V I E W S O N L Y O F T H E A U T H O R , A N D T H E C O M M I S S I O N C A N N O T B E H E L D R E S P O N S I B L E F O R A N Y U S E W H I C H

M A Y B E M A D E O F T H E I N F O R M A T I O N C O N T A I N E D T H E R E I N

1

THE BEAUTY OF THE SLEEPING WOODS

Once upon a time, in a far away land, somewhere in

Europe, there reigned a king and his queen. Yet, the richer

they became, the sadder they felt. Because of their

ancestors’ sins, they

haven’t been

granted the gift of

life, neither natural,

nor human: their

land was dry, completely lacking vegetation, and

their hearts were empty, as they had no children to

love.

One day, a little green fish, saved by the queen from the toxic waters, whispered

before swimming away in the clean ocean:

Magically, there appeared three god fairies to present their gifts for the imperial pair:

As a reward for your

kind heart, I will bless

your kingdom with the

gift of life!

I’m FLORA! I shall

enrich your kingdom

with green forests,

delightful flowers and

magical trees full of

delicious fruits!

I’m FAUNA and, as a gift

to you, I will animate

forests with all the animals

of the world!

I’m GOOD WEATHER

and you will feel my

presence both in the blue,

clear sky and in your

hearts when the queen

gives birth to the most

beautiful girl in the whole

world!

2

Out of the blue, there came the fourth fairy, frightening the crowd with her sharp voice:

King frightened:

Maleficent:

King, queen, subjects:

My name is MALEFICENT but the

evil that people like to associate me

with is, in fact, their own! My three

kind sisters blessed you with the most

precious gift of all: They gave you

LIFE! Beautiful, healthy, green,

happy life! But if you fall into the

sleep of ignorance, as most people do,

you will lose it and you will destroy

the ones they gave it to you!

What do you mean by the

sleep of ignorance?

I mean the unawareness

that characterizes your

actions! You, humans,

believe that you can take

everything for granted!

We don’t understand!

3

Maleficent:

Queen to king:

King, approving:

Deforestation caused death of

animals and the tragedy of the

environment! The air became

toxic and our climate changed for

the worst, because of global

heating!

Maleficent is right!

Our ancestors were unaware of

the tragic consequences of their

actions: they wanted warm

homes, so they cut every tree in

the woods!

You say you love life, but you

don’t cherish it, you don’t guard it! You kill your forests and the

animals, you poison your waters

and dirty the sky, making the air

unbreatheable!

You terminate life!

4

Subjects:

I don’t want Aurora to grow up in such an ugly world. We

want her to be the light of our

life, but, before that, we are

obliged to light up the world

she lives in.

Yes, because of their ignorance,

we ended up living in dry, arid,

lifeless world. They left us a

“sleeping” world…..

5

King:

Creating the happy end …

You can change the end of the story!

Don’t fall into ignorance and your

world won’t fall asleep! Keep it fresh, green and healthy and

you and your children will live

happily ever after!

We can do that paying more attention

to our gifts. We will guard our Flora,

Fauna and Good Weather in order to

keep Aurora and all our children

healthy and happy. From now on,

each subject must respect the

environment! Deforestation and

pollution are completely forbidden!

Whoever dares to cut any tree will

pay with his life! A life for a tree is a

fair trade, as trees support human life!