ABSTRACT
Irmgard Dettbarn holds that the stories of the Sleeping Beauty and Meng Jiang Nü say “so much about the two cultures”, the western and the Chinese. And the character and content of the stories are indeed different. In this dream scenario, the western Sleeping Beauty comes through as naive and passive, unable to see the harsh realities of life as she turns away from the cruel destiny of Meng Jiang Nü. Sleeping Beauty even wants her to change the story and make a happy ending. Meng Jiang Nü is portrayed as realist, a person who has no illusions that destiny, for example in the form of the kiss of a prince, may make everything good despite the cruel acts of the envious, unfairly excluded wicked thirteenth fairy of Sleeping Beauty’s story.
