The Grimm's version of Sleeping Beauty (Little Briar Rose) is similar to that of the Disney one, without the gimmicks and cutesy creatures.
There is a king and queen who long for a child, and are finally blessed with a beautiful daughter. Twelve good fairies come to bless her, but the thirteenth evil fairy comes uninvited and curses her to die on her sixteenth birthday by pricking her finger on a spindle. The twelfth fairy does what she can, and makes it sleep instead of death.
The king does all he can to avoid the outcome, destroying and banning all spinning wheels, but the inevitable happens, and the girl comes across one. The whole castle is put to sleep with her for a hundred years, and a forest of thorns is cast over the palace so she will not be disturbed.
In comes the prince, who braves the thorns because he hears tell of her, and is so enthralled by her beauty when he sees her that he gives her a kiss - which awakens her and the entire castle. They are married immediately, and live happily ever after.
Sleeping Beauty
Underlying Meaning
Whilst it would appear that the message is not to seek out the unknown, as Briar Rose does not know what a spindle is and therefore is cast down by it, I don't think this was the Grimm's intention. I think the whole story is a crossover of the resurrection story and that of creation. Briar Rose is resurrected from a hundred year old sleep by her prince - the Christ figure - who braves the thorn barrier to reach her, and the whole castle awakens with her, which represents the whole of creation waking up when it first came into being. (Murphy 151) When the frog tells her mother that she will soon be with child at the beginning, she is bathing, a reference to baptism. The twelve fairies or 'wise women' reference the twelve apostles. (Murphy 147) The earth itself is connected to the maiden's sleep - the thorns rise up, the animals and the entire castle go to sleep. (Luthi 24)