Why did Jesus say the dead girl was "not dead but asleep"?

Luke and Matthew tell of when Jesus brought a young girl back to life. Before he did it however, Jesus says to the people that the girl is only sleeping: > **Luke 8:52** > > Meanwhile, all the people were wailing and mourning for her. "Stop wailing," Jesus said. "She is not dead but asleep." > > **Matthew 9:24** > > he said, "Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep." But they laughed at him. Why did he tell the people that she was only asleep when she was clearly not? A few things come to my mind: 1. It was a parable 2. He wanted to hide his power from the people, as he did at other times. The problem here is that that would've been a lie. So, what reason was there to tell the people that she was sleeping, rather than that she was dead and he raised her from the dead?