Once Upon a Time A *Sleeping Beauty… Indo-European Parallels to Sole, Luna e Talia (Giambattista Basile Pentamerone 5.5)

Abstract

In this paper I compare a few features found in the earliest versions of Sleeping Beauty with those attested in the poetic texts of two ancient Indo-European literary traditions. Specifically, I point out that, in several versions of the story, the sleeping princess and her children have names belonging to the semantic field of ‘light’ (Sun and Moon, Dawn and Day etc.). Furthermore, the protagonist of the story is the princess ‘who wakes up’ par excellence. These characteristics perfectly match those of two Indo-European goddesses of Dawn, namely: Gk. Euruphaessa/Eos and Ved. Uṣas. Finally, Uṣas and Euruphaessa are protagonists of incest, while, in a medieval version of Sleeping Beauty, a princess named ‘Sister of Pleasure’ has a non-consensual sexual intercourse with ‘Brother of Joy’. Such names might be a clue for a concealed motif of incest, which has been progressively removed from the plot, in the same way as the rape of the sleeping princess has been omitted in the most recent versions of the Sleeping Beauty (Perrault, Grimm, Pitré).