Fauna

Fauna
Production information
Film debut	Sleeping Beauty
Appears in	Sleeping Beauty (1959)
Voice actor	Barbara Jo Allen
Biographical information
Allies	Flora, Merryweather, Aurora, King Stephan, Queen Leah, King Hubert, Lord Duke
Enemies	Maleficent, Maleficent's Crow, Maleficent's Goons
Physical description
Gender	Female
Hair color	Dark gray
Eye color	Brown

Spoiler warning! Narrative secrets ahead.

Fauna is one of the three supporting protagonists of Sleeping Beauty.

Disney History

Sleeping Beauty

Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather first appear as the invited guests of King Stefan at Aurora's christening. Each fairy intends to give a gift to Princess Aurora. Flora grants her the gift of beauty, while Fauna grants her the gift of song. But before Merryweather can give her gift, Maleficent appears. Insulted by her lack of invitation, Maleficent curses the infant to die, from pricking her finger on a spinning wheel spindle before the sun sets on the princess' 16th birthday. As Maleficent leaves, the fairies realize that Merryweather still hasn't given her gift. The little fairy got inspired by Maleficent's invasion to give a special gift. Although Merryweather can't undo the curse, as Maleficent's magic is far too powerful, she's able to weaken it by making Aurora fall asleep until awakened by True Love's Kiss.

Feeling that the princess is still in danger, they decide to raise Aurora themselves. An agreement with Aurora's parents is reached: the fairies will raise Aurora for 16 years until the curse is no longer a threat, and then return her to the palace. They change the princess's name to Briar Rose and hide her in a cottage in the woods. The fairies then decide to hide as mortals, as their magic will raise attention, and disguise themselves as Briar Rose's aunts.

Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather first appear as the invited guests of King Stefan at Aurora's christening. Each fairy intends to give a gift to Princess Aurora. Flora grants her the gift of beauty, while Fauna grants her the gift of song. But before Merryweather can give her gift, Maleficent appears. Insulted by her lack of invitation, Maleficent curses the infant to die, from pricking her finger on a spinning wheel spindle before the sun sets on the princess' 16th birthday. As Maleficent leaves, the fairies realize that Merryweather still hasn't given her gift. The little fairy got inspired by Maleficent's invasion to give a special gift. Although Merryweather can't undo the curse, as Maleficent's magic is far too powerful, she's able to weaken it by making Aurora fall asleep until awakened by True Love's Kiss.

Feeling that the princess is still in danger, they decide to raise Aurora themselves. An agreement with Aurora's parents is reached: the fairies will raise Aurora for 16 years until the curse is no longer a threat, and then return her to the palace. They change the princess's name to Briar Rose and hide her in a cottage in the woods. The fairies then decide to hide as mortals, as their magic will raise attention, and disguise themselves as Briar Rose's aunts.

16 years later, the fairies prepare a party for Briar Rose on her birthday. After failing in their attempts to bake a cake (Fauna has never cooked before) and sew a dress normally (with Flora, using Merryweather as the mannequin), they decide to use magic after closing off (almost) every crack except the chimney. Flora uses it to sew the dress, Fauna uses it to bake the cake (and later decorate it), and Merryweather uses it to clean up the room until she is distracted by seeing the dress being pink.

After she starts an argument over the color of the dress by turning it blue, they try changing the dress and each other's clothes to the opposite colors, and the magic blasts fly up the chimney and attracts the attention of Maleficent's raven, Diablo. The argument ends when both rays hit the dress at exactly the same time, making it a mixture of pink and blue and Flora was outraged at Merryweather for messing the dress up. As Briar Rose is returning from berry picking, Flora quickly turns it to pure pink and hides. Then Merryweather turns it to blue before hiding herself. After Flora points out that the mop is still running, Merryweather uses her magic to make it stop. Briar Rose, who has returned home from berry picking, is surprised. When she tells her "aunts" about the man she met in the woods, they forbid her from seeing him again. The fairies also reveal her true identity as Princess Aurora, as well as the fact that she's already betrothed in an arranged marriage.

The fairies take Aurora back to the castle and take her to a room. They use their magic to create a tiara for Aurora, to help her realize her true royal identity. However, they soon decide to leave her alone for a time as Aurora is still heartbroken of never again seeing the young man she has fallen in love with.

The fairies begin to talk about the boy, with Merryweather expressing her opinion that it's unfair for Aurora to be forced into an arranged marriage. When Fauna suggests they reveal the news to King Stefan, they hear a faint sound from the room and realize that it's Maleficent enchanting Aurora. They frantically try to stop the princess, who keeps following Maleficent (as a will-o-the-wisp) up the tower. They warn her not to touch anything, but Maleficent orders Aurora to touch the spindle to trigger the curse. The fairies arrive too late as they run into Maleficent, who briefly mocks them of their efforts of stopping her. She then reveals the now sleeping princess, who has pricked her finger, before she disappears while cackling maniacally.

The fairies feel guilty for what has happened, but Flora insists that they put everyone in the castle to sleep until Aurora awakens. However, when putting King Hubert to sleep, Flora learns that the man Aurora met in the woods was actually her fiancé, Prince Phillip. Phillip has previously intended to go to the cottage to meet Aurora, so the fairies race back to the cottage. Upon arrival, they are shocked to discover that Phillip's hat is left behind on the floor. Deducing that the prince has been captured by Maleficent, the fairies decide to go to Maleficent's domain, the Forbidden Mountain, to rescue him.

The fairies sneak into the Forbidden Mountain and witness a group of Maleficent's Goons celebrating the prince's capture by partying around the bonfire. The fairies follow Maleficent, who has been watching the celebration, to the dungeon, where Phillip is chained to the walls. They wait until Maleficent leaves the dungeon to go sleep in her tower, then they free Phillip and melt the dungeon lock. They arm him with the magical Sword of Truth and Shield of Virtue, both believed to be weapons of righteousness that will triumph over evil. As Phillip and the fairies exit the dungeon, they are confronted by Maleficent's pet raven, Diablo, who calls the Goons.

The Goons drop giant rocks, shoot arrows and pour hot oil, but Flora uses her magic to turn them into bubbles, flowers and a rainbow, respectively. Seeing the Goons fail to stop Philip and the fairies, Diablo goes to warn his mistress. Fed up with Diablo and trying to stop them, Merryweather pursues him and just as he reaches Maleficent's tower, she turns him to stone as he lands on one of the parapets, letting off a smug, angry scowl at having taught the raven a lesson before returning to Philip and the others. After escaping the Forbidden Mountain, the fairies aid Phillip by protecting him from various obstacles as they make their way to Stefan's castle that are conjured by Maleficent as she tries to stop them. Eventually, Phillip is forced into fighting Maleficent in dragon form. The fairies assist Phillip in retreating, but he is cornered at the cliff and loses his shield. Under Flora's direction, the fairies empower his sword, allowing Phillip to throw it straight into the dragon's chest, finally killing the evil enchantress.

With Maleficent gone for good, Phillip and the fairies enter Stefan's castle and go up to the tower where Aurora is in her enchanted sleep. The fairies watch as Phillip gives Aurora Love's First Kiss that awakens her from that sleep. Lastly, the three fairies go to the throne room, where they watch happily as Phillip and Aurora descend the stairs, reunite with their respective parents, and share a dance. But then, Flora notices that Aurora's dress is blue, and uses her magic to turn it pink. This upsets Merryweather, who turns the dress blue, leading to another argument. The argument continues, with the dress keep alternating colors (pink and blue) as the storybook is closed.

Songs

• The Gifts of Beauty and Song

Appearance

Fauna is dressed in a dark green with accents in a lighter shade of green and she appears to be second-in-command. Despite her tendency towards absentmindedness and obliviousness, she is the quieter and the more introspective than the other two fairies, and often functions as a peacemaker between Flora and Merryweather.

Trivia

• Barbara Jo Allen later did the voice in another Disney film as the Scullery Maid in The Sword in the Stone, although she was accidently removed from the film's opening credits (leading others to believe Ginny Tyler of Martha Wentworth was the voice of Ector's maid), which she should have been mentioned in the credits since it was her final film appearance.

Gallery

To see screenshots and pictures of Fauna, see Fauna/Gallery.