8 Dark Origins Behind Everyone's Favourite Disney Films
3. Sleeping Beauty
The original story of Sleeping Beauty was written in 1634 by Italian author Giambattista Basile. The Disney adaptation was released in 1959 and much like the others in this list, seemed to skip out a lot of disturbing details.
In the movie and book, the princess pricks her finger on a cursed needle, causing her and the rest of the palace to sleep forever. Prince Philip in the Disney film rescues the kingdom after defeating the witch Maleficent and kissing princess Aurora, waking her from her years of slumber.
The Italian classic tale has a much different side to the saviour. In this version, an older king enters the castle to find the coma induced beauty - named Talia - lying in her bed and takes advantage of her. He leaves, and the princess becomes pregnant not long after, giving birth to twins all whilst still asleep.
When the children are born, the maidens lay one in each of the princess' arms. One of the babies manages to suck the splint from Talia's finger that caused her sleep in the first place, waking her. The prince then returns and they marry.