Seeing this, what appears to be a rose, all alone in front of a house in a neighborhood in which many of the homes resemble small castles, I thought of my favorite fairy tale, Beauty and the Beast.
There are many versions of Beauty and the Beast. However, the common theme is that a Prince is transformed into a Beast as punishment. In one version, even his castle looses its glamor so to not be attractive to others. The Beast must find someone to love him and to love them in return. He must do so before an enchanted rose he was given, dies. Belle, a plain but beautiful girl, always has her nose in a book. Her father, in one version, is an inventor. He gets lost in the woods and stumbles upon what appears to be a deserted castle where he seeks shelter to wait out a storm. There, he meets the Beast who holds him captive. Belle goes out in search of her father and finds the castle in which he is being held captive. For her fathers freedom, Belle offers herself as a prisoner instead. It does not take the Beast long to fall in love with the beautiful Belle. He offers her beautiful clothes, fabulous food, the company of his servants, and of course, a library of books. It is not horrible to be held captive in this massive castle. Overtime Belle gets homesick, missing her father. The Beast agrees to let her go home with her promise to return. When Belle returns, the hunter from the village who loves her, follows her. He hurts the Beast and Belle acknowledges her love for the Beast. Beast survives and not only is he transformed back into the handsome Prince, but the castle returns to its glamorous state. Belle and the Prince, or Beast, live happily ever after. Being one who grew up always with her nose in a book, who has always dreamed of living in a castle with a library, this fairy tale is naturally my favorite. My strength, and maybe sometimes also my weakness, is to always see the good in people. Just as Belle saw the good in the Beast. I asked on Twitter, what other fairy tales are favorites. One person said Beauty by Robin McKinley which is actually a retelling of Beauty and the Beast. And, another person said The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle. I have added both of these to my Read list on GoodReads. What is your favorite fairytale? Please leave a comment below or on my Twitter or my FaceBook. As always, thank you for your support.
2 Comments
I love the Disney fairytales and by extension other fairytales. Beauty and the Beast was always my favourite. I'm a bit of a Daddy's girl and I loved to read growing up. It was good to see someone value reading rather than looks. And kindness rather than popularity when that was what I always saw around me at school
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Rachel
8/10/2021 01:23:28 pm
Thank you Emma for your comment. I agree. Books over looks! And a big heart vs a big crowd. 🙂
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