Berry's Fairy Tails, Vol.1: The Beauty and The Beast

after reading the original and listening to some very well choreographed music by nightwish i wanted to remake the classic story in my own view, hope you like it!

Berry’s Fairy Tails

Vol.1

 

The Tail of the Beauty and the Beast

                                  Beauty lies within….

 

The beast’s fur was dripping with oils and sticky liquids, his eyes were bloodshot and heavy with sleepless nights. He stared at the man as he walked throughout the rose garden; the beast hoped he had enjoyed the bountiful feast he had his servants prepare for him.

The man then reached for a treasure, rareity, a beautiful rose, the most spectacular rose the man or the beast had ever seen. As the man plucked the rose the beast grew irascible, and enraged he stormed down the castle steps and exploded through the courtyard doors.

               “You! I prepared a bountiful feast! A welcome fit for a king! And you steal from me?! You will die for your arrogance!” shouted the beast in blind anger. The man fell to the floor in fear and confusion, never before in his life as a traveling merchant had he ever seen a monster of such hideous demeanor. 

The beast grabbed the man by the collar of his tunic and dragged him down through the dungeon of the castle and threw him into a cage. The beast snarled and clawed at the walls, smashing his enormous fists into the stone walls of the dungeon, the man gripped to his bars for dear life afraid of what this monster would soon be doing to him.

“Pleas sir, your hospitality was most appreciated; you must believe that I did not know the roses were yours. They were so beautiful… I just wanted one for my daughter nothing more.” The man shouted hoping to hit a soft spot of humanity in this monster flesh. The beast’s wolf like ears perked up as he heard the man mention his daughter, he immediately sent for one of his invisible servants to retrieve an item. Soon floating through the room were many fine dresses and pieces of jewelry.

“Take these to your daughter, and the rose as well, but you must return one day after they obtain these gifts.” The beast said this as he opened the cage the man was sitting in. the man graciously accepts, but is afraid to return.

“your daughter must want to come back after she sees these fine gifts, and if she come on her own accord then you will have repaid your debt to me for taking one of my treasures, I shall take one of yours.” The beast explains, the man’s eyes fill with fear for his daughter’s life and he quickly runs away from the castle. 

The beast waits at the castle for the man to return with his daughter.

 

The man travels through the forest, and he arrives at the neat and tidy little cottage where his three daughters await his return impatiently, Belle, and the two elder sisters who seemed to be bonded together by glue all waited in the front doorway, belle who was pure and kind, was contrasted by her siblings who were greedy and lustful.

“Daddy!” they all exclaimed at the same time as the man appeared out of the forest, Belle ran to him to help him with the many odd boxes he had brought back with him, while the sisters waited at the door. Belle grabbed her father in a tight embrace and the man held her back, his heart was heavy for he thought he would never see his daughters again, especially his darling belle. He knew as a father he must love his children equally, but belle always was his favorite, and the elder siblings knew it.

“Daddy you are filthy! And you smell like a stable! Where on earth have you been? You said that you would return two days ago, but you never came home. Sister said you had been eaten by wolves!” exclaimed Belle with tears forming in her eyes from happiness and the stench.

“I was about eaten by wolves, you could say that, but all that matters is that I am home with you all now.” The man said as he and Belle walked to

The sisters all helped the father settle into his chair, the two elder siblings were very concerned with the many gift boxes that were piled up onto the dinner table.

               “Those are gifts from a… acquaintance of mine. I am afraid I will have to leave again tomorrow to meet with him again.” The man said avoiding the tale of his incarceration. The sisters began to tear into the packages one by one fighting over the many fine dresses, Belle sat in a stool next to her father and stared at him with her inquisitive brown eyes,

               “What is it Belle?” asked the man.

               “Tell me about your travels father” she pleaded, but the man did not know how he would tell her about anything without revealing to her the beast’s demands.

               “Another time perhaps my dear.” The man replied stretching his arms in the air with a yawn. The ruffling of the boxes and papers from the dining table grew silent as one of the older siblings tossed the rose to Belle and the man,

               “Why would your Friend give us some dead weed as a gift? He must be stupid!” the other sibling exclaimed as they continued to ruffle through the boxes and bags.

               “My goodness! Daddy you remembered I was making a flower press book! I have needed a rose such as this for it! Thank you.” Belle thanked happily and wrapped her father in another warm embrace, then grabbed the half wilted rose and ran to their room to place the rose in her diary.

Several hours had passed and the man’s heart grew heavy, for he knew this may be the last time he would ever see his children again, he would go to the beast without his daughter and receive his punishment. Belle noticed her father crying and entered his room,

               “Daddy, there is something you are not telling me, what is happening to you; you have not stopped crying once since you returned.” Belle asked sitting next to him placing her hand on his shoulder.

               “It is a terrible story, the man I am going to see tomorrow is going to imprison me, and he said the only way he would set me free, was to offer you as a payment. You mustn’t follow me tomorrow Belle. If I do not return he will surely come here and take you three from me by force.” Said the man, as he did Belle covered her mouth in a fearful stupor.

               “Daddy no! Do not go! The four of us can run and go live back in the city!” demanded Belle loudly, the sisters peeked their heads in the room as Belle stood holding her fists at her sides, but the man did not respond.

               “Go to bed Belle, I have to wake up early tomorrow morning.” The father said turning his chair away from Belle. Belle obeyed, and left the room as her eyes filled with tears.

 

The morning was misty and still dark; the father saddled up one of the two remaining horses and set off towards the massive castle in the distance. Unknown to the man, Belle had saddled up the remaining horse and began to follow her father to the beats castle. White air bellowed out of the horse’s nostrils as it barreled through the forest after the hoof prints of the father’s horse.

Soon the hoof prints stopped at two very large gate doors, Belle leapt off the horse and walked up to the enormous knockers, she had to leap into the air and catch the cold knocker to use it, as she did the gates opened slowly, on the other side stood her father wide eyes and stricken with disbelief.

               “BELLE! I told you to not follow me!” the father shouted, but it was too late, the castle gates closed and the large loud footsteps of the beast could be heard echoing from the castle door.

               “Is she here?! My word she is gorgeous” said the Beast, still hidden by the darkness of the castle. Belle stepped forward and said,

               “I am here, now pleas release my father, I will trade you, my life for his.” The man then ran in front of Belle as if to block her from seeing the beast in the face, but it was far too late, the beast had emerged from its den and stared upon a petrified Belle.  She could not move as the beast walked up to her and pushed her father aside like he was nothing, white air bellowed out of his nostrils just like the horses. The horses were in a panic and began to go wild with fear, they soon ran away.

               “Do you fear my face?” asked the beast as he got uncomfortably close to Belle.

               “I fear every part of your body…” answered Belle choking on her own words.

                              “You have nothing to fear, for you will be staying here for the rest of your life. You will be the mistress of this castle, and I your humble servant. You, merchant, you may go.” The beast finished looking over at the man who was adamant on staying.

Belle then turned to him and said

               “Sisters need you father, please go… I will be fine.” Then reluctantly, the man left fearing for his daughter’s life.

 

 

Night had descended on the castle, and Belle had not left her room, the beast entered wearing a stretched and torn frock coat, which looked to be ten sizes far too small.

               “My lady, it is dinner time. You must eat food to live, which is the way of the world.” The beast said trying to get her to come down the stairs.

               “When may I leave?” asked Belle. The beast snarled at the question then shouted,

               “I ALREADY TOLLED YOU! YOU MAY NEVER LEAVE!” he then left the room and slammed the door, Belle proceeded to weep, she looked up to see a floating cloth, she jumped in fear believing she was seeing a ghost.

“Do not fret my dear; the master just wants a friend.” Said a voice, but nobody was there. Belle stood from her bed and held one of her fists up saying,

“Show yourself! I, I am not afraid to fight you!” the cloth then fell to the floor and Belle saw the door open, then close. Belle’s attention then turned to the moaning of her stomach.

 The beast sat at the table alone, not once touching the fabulous array of delicacies that had been laid before him. So the beast heard a sound he thought he would never hear in his castle, the footsteps of a beautiful maiden, she soon walked down the stairs and to the dining hall table, she sat at the chair that was farthest from the beast, the beast bore a disturbing smile upon his grotesque face.

               “The duck is always superb; your father seemed to enjoy it the most.” Said the beast in an attempt to make small talk, his rough gritty voice cracked on every word, he was nervous.

               “You will not speak of my father, pleas. I am only down here to eat; this absurd situation has given me a stress hunger.” Belle said in an attempt to stay mannerly. The beast’s ears lowered as her words were so obviously filled with hatred for him. But her pressured on.

               “You know, we have many fine dresses from my mother and my mother’s mother here, and their jewelry as well, you are the mistress of this castle now you may help yourself to anything you desire. We have every delicacy from around the world, and every book ever printed in our library, I have read them all myself, some are incredible reads of adventure and-“

               “You have books?” asked Belle surprised that a grotesque monster could even read.  The beast’s ears perked up again, he then stood and bowed to Belle saying,

               “Yes my lady, I can show you to them whenever you wish.” She stood and walked over to the Beast saying,

               “Pleas now sir, I wish to see your library.” The beast smiled letting a little slobber drip from his massive spaced out teeth, then began to walk, Belle followed.

The library was a massive room filled with thousands of books; Belle was in awe as she looked around the room at all of the books.

               “May I?” she asked the beast as she walked over to one of the book cases,

               “By all means my lady, this is your home, you may choose whichever books you desire.” The beast Answered bowing.

Belle soon lost herself in a sea of books, reading every one she could find to relate to. Jules Vern, Poe, Henry James, Robert Burns, and Gabrielle-Suzanne, who was always her favorite. She decided she would bury herself in the worlds that others had created to take the pain out of this world that she was trapped in.

               “I find the philosophical works of Plato to be a real treat if you ever get bored of the fantasy stuff.” Said the beast picking up a copy of “Crito” Belle was entirely surprised that this monster could read and understand the works of Plato, and began a lengthy conversation with the beast about other books and works that they had both read, and soon discovered that they had both read the very same books throughout their lives. Over the next few months their conversations began to get longer and deeper. A bond slowly grew between the Beast and Belle, but Belle began to grow homesick, on the night of the anniversary of the day she had come to the castle she asked the beast if she could visit her home.

               “Belle these past months of my life has been the most pleasant of my very long life, and I have you to thank for that. I believe I can survive one night without one of our conversations.” The beast granted her request, and gave her a mirror and a ring, and insisted that she promise to return the next morning.

               “if you need to know what is happening here at the castle, merely look into the enchanted mirror, and when it is time for you to return, turn this ring on your finger three times, then you will be transported to my side, my dearest friend.” The beast explained, and then Belle did something the Beast had never had before, the grabbed him in a warm embrace and said,

               “Thank you Adam.” She then left promising her return to him. The Beast had never told her his true name, he did not know how she could have found it out, but tears of happiness weld up inside of him and flowed down his beastly face as he realized he was in love with Belle. The beast placed the library room chair in front of the rose garden, and sat in it awaiting Belle’s return.

 

Belle traveled the very same pathway that she had traveled a year before to her home, it was just as she had left it, and the two older siblings had been hanging up laundry on the clothes line as she arrived on her steed.

               “Belle?! Is that you?!” remarked her sisters as they noticed she was dressed in the finest clothing they had ever seen.

               “Yes my sisters I have been allowed to return for one whole day! Where is father?!” she asked excitedly, she ran inside and into her father’s room where he sat in his chair depressed still for the loss of his precious Belle, but as she walked through the door of his room the man nearly had a heart attack as he leapt towards her holding her in the warm embrace he had been missing the past year.

               “MY GOD child I have missed you so much, what has that awful monster been doing to you?!” asked the father, Belle told him everything, and the two sisters listened in jealous of the royal treatment that their sister had been given.

               “Daddy he is not a monster at all, he is a kind gentle man, I do not know why the lord has cursed him to be so hideous, but he is truly kind to me. We stay up long hours of the night reading books together and talking about our reads.”   After hours of hearing his daughter dote over her keeper the man was no longer sad about what she would be returning to, he knew that she was well taken care of, and could ask for nothing more for his precious Belle.

But the sisters were angry, and devised a plan to make her stay one day longer, at night while everyone was preparing for bed, they snuck into the kitchen and took the onions from the cabinet, they cut into one and dripped the juices into their eyes, to create fake tears, they entered their shared room in what seemed to be hysterical crying.

               “My god! Sisters what is it?” asked bell, concerned for her sisters tears.

               “We do not want you to go tomorrow, can’t you stay one more day?” they asked simultaneously, Belle then thought back to the beast, and how sweet he had been to her, she knew he wouldn’t mind another day of being alone. She agreed to her sisters pleads, not knowing of the dastardly planning that took place to construct their pleas.

The next day, Belle helped her sister with the chores, and they sat around speaking of things they wanted, as usual Belle could only think of one thing,

               “An adventure, like in the books I read” her siblings had other aspirations.

               “Money! Sex! Jewels of unknown origin!” they shouted with their noses up in the air trotting around the middle room as if they were wearing the items they dreamt of. Belle soon began to grow curious about what the beast was doing without her there, so she looked though the enchanted Mirror, what she saw filed her heart with guilt and fear.

The beast was lying in front of the roses, his fur was falling off in patches, and smoke was rising from his body, he was reaching for the roses saying,

               “Who could ever love a beast…? Belle…my Belle…? I was a fool to have believed…”  Belle immediately ran to her Fathers room and held him one last time saying,

               “I have to go now, he needs me, I will always love you daddy.” He father nodded happily knowing his daughter had found her place in this world.

Then Belle turned the ring around three times, and was suddenly tossed into a realm filled with light and wind, and soon she found herself in the courtyard, she saw the library chair, and in front of it was the beast, half dead from heartbreak.

               “Beast!” she shouted running to his side falling to her knees and holding him in her lap.

               “Belle, you have returned? But why? I was not going to come after you.” The beast asked confused.

               “I do not care about that. Please don’t die…” the beast placed one of his large clawed fingers on Belles lips, he then asked,

               “Do you want to hear a fairy tale?”  Belle’s eyes were filled with tears as she nodded they streamed down her cheeks,

               “There once was a prince, you see. He had everything, money, power, wealth. Some even said he was immortal to hunger or dieses. One day, the rainiest day the kingdom had ever seen, a woman came knocking at his castle door, she was lost and had nowhere to go. She was hideous, wrinkled and misshapen by god. The prince ordered his servant to slam the door in her face and deny her safety. But before the door closed a great flash of light appeared, and the ugly hag turned into a beautiful maiden. She told the prince that for his cruelty, his face would match his heart, and his body would match his soul. The woman was a fairy, and she cursed the prince, before she left she said, you shall remain that way, never ageing, never dying until you are loved, and you love in return. And she then left. And the prince became a hermit; he hid himself away from the world. For who could ever love a beast...” the beast’s last seven words grew soft as the color left his goat like eyes. Belle laid over the man she loved crying tears of pain and sadness, the tears littered the monstrous face of the Man, as they did a glowing light appeared next to her, a woman with no clothing, as bright white as a wedding dress stood before them, four butterfly like wings sprouted from behind her, her short white hair framed her face perfectly. She was a vision of pure beauty, Belle knew who she was.

               “STAY AWAY! I WILL NOT LET YOU HURT HIM!”   She shouted grabbing a small dagger the Man had attached to his waist belt. The blade was shaking in Belle’s hands; she had never held a weapon before.

               “You would fight to defend this creature?” asked the Fairy. Belle did not answer.

               “Do you love this bitter thing?” asked the Fairy, but she knew the answer,

               “Yes I do, he is the gentlest spirit I have ever met, I love this man, beauty does not litter his body, but his soul is more beautiful than you are physically.” Belle explained dropping the dagger to the ground. The Fairy smiled a very scary smile; she then walked over to Belle and stroked her lush brown hair saying,

               “Then I shall give you a chance to be with him, he shall find happiness with you Belle.” The Fairy then crouched over the Man and said.

               “You got lucky, another hundred years and I was ready to pull the plug on you.” She then placed her hand on the Man’s forehead, and a great flash of light grew from them. In the place of the grotesque monster, a handsome prince laid. The fairy then began to walk away,

               “Wait! Fairy, how did you know my name?” asked Belle as she held the Prince.

               “Ha! Young lady, this is a tale that has been tolled very many times, and only one thing remains constant. The kind, loving, beautiful woman saves the monstrous, bitter beast, every time.” With those final words, the Fairy walked away slowly transforming into the deformed old lady again.

 

The prince awoke, and was free of the curse, Belle’s father and sisters moved into the castle the sisters became maids, and the father was retired to the life of a king at Prince Adam’s request. Adam and Belle lived happily ever after.

 

 

 

                                    The End

Author's Note

I DO NOT OWN THE RIGHTS TO DISNEY'S "BEAUTY AND THE BEAST" or the original works done by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, this is merely for entertainment purposes. pleas rate and review folks! cover image thanks to GOOGLE image search lol.

Reviews

[B.C. Luna]

the.. never use THE END after a story. even a short one

[Lost in Wonderland]

this is very good:) such a sweet fairy tale with a good message

[Dakota]

Beauty and the beast is one of my favorite classics and I like the twist you put on it here, without taking anything away from it or changing the characters up too much. Thanks for not making it a disney remake!

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[Rain]

an interesting twist to a classic tale :)
i havent read or watching beauty and the beast before...i think...just glimpses and flashes of a talking teapot and a woman in a yellow dress crosses my mind..there is a teapot right?...O_O
anyway, im not gonna nit pick, I just like to enjoy the story :)
nicely written

[Calypso]

Nicely said.

[the-One-with-the-Darkne..]

I really like this. Better converstaions and ideas. Love how you gave Belle evil step sisters and made her rich with happiness. Like the fairy tale ending to a very good version. You are quite the romantic.

[Coyote Poetry]

I like your version of the story. Better conversation and more interesting characters. A happy ending to a old story.
Coyote

[ShaneBerry]

thank you Ecnelis, you see the reason i did not make belle become friends with the invisible servants is because that felt too "Disney" and i am trying to do the original telling of the story some justice, but you are right i kind of forgot about them several times lol. it was kind of a last minute write, i plan on revising it later on. and i noticed i kept going back and forth between tense too, i think that is because i am very new to writing "fairy tales" lol, the Wow was supposed to be out of place, i never state what time period this is, but the Fairy mentions that this has all happened many times before, with subtle differences. but in a few weeks i should have a revision even better than this one lol, thanks for your generous review! :D

[Ecnelis]

I woke up this morning to see this and I had to read it because I am writing my own version you see!

I love the little twists you put on the story, though all in all it was quite classic, which is nice since mine isn't very classic. Your word choice is wonderful except for that "WOW" which totally stopped the flow of the story and killed the mood. Try something a bit more period "Oh my!" or the like.

You did change tense quite a few times in this. You started past tense, worked your way into present then back to past.

I felt the ending needed more than a paragraph. You mention invisible servants at one point yet never mention them again. If you only mention something once it is fluff and should be taken out but I like the idea! Include them a bit more and maybe through them in at the end. Maybe Belle becomes friends with them?

It definitely needs a good grammar read through. I don't remember were but you had one sentence that hadn't even been finished. Nothing major, just simple stuff you should be able to find if you look.

All in all, it was quite enjoyable!