The Beast had lived in an enchanted castle at the heart of the enchanted forest for time out of mind, and
Beauty's father was a drunkard. Since he was the kind of husband who would hide from his wife and daughter
in the woods during his lapses, it was not too much to suppose that the Beast and the drunk would eventually
cross paths.
"You must pay a tribute to me," the Beast said in his horrible awful voice, "or you will not leave these woods
alive."
The drunken father shivered and trembled, shocked nearly sober by the looming, dark presence of the village
people's worst nightmare. He blinked rapidly. "But I have nothing."
"Then you die."
"Wait! Wait! What will you accept in return for my life?"
The Beast paused. "Only your most prized possession."
The drunken man blinked again, clutched his bottle tightly, then remembered the blacksmith had offered five
gold pieces for his daughter. His sodden brain turned over slowly. "My daughter Beauty?" he said cunningly.
"Ah! Yes, she will do nicely." With that, the Beast disappeared.
So did Beauty, leaving her father chagrined and with nothing to show for her loss when he returned home.
Of course, Beauty was none too pleased to find herself in an enchanted castle at the heart of the enchanted
forest with a Beast.
"Oh, my God!" she screamed, her perfect features screwing into a pretty grimace. "What has my father done
this time? Mother will absolutely kill him! The last time, she had to pay off the blacksmith to get me back. God
knows what she used to pay him with since Father drank up all the gold."
"Will you marry me?"
Being the cunning and pragmatic father's daughter that she was, Beauty immediately saw the wisdom in not
saying "no" flat out. She pushed her long golden-blond hair out of her sparkling blue eyes.
"I'll tell you tomorrow," she said.
Several weeks went by, each night the Beast proposing and Beauty putting him off, she meanwhile enjoying his
gifts and attentions and the benefits of having an enchanted castle serve her every whim. She watched the
dishes do their nightly dance and furniture move to accommodate her, and candles light themselves. She
looked at the gold inlay and jeweled insets on everything in the castle. Beauty poked and pried and asked
questions of the enchanted dishes and furniture. How did this work?, and, What did this do?, and, Who was this
Beast, anyway, and how did he come to have an enchanted castle?, and, How long has he been here?, and,
How does he treat you?
Until one night when the Beast proposed, Beauty looked deeply into his eyes with a soulful blue gaze and said,
"I love you."
A bang and a flash, then a handsome young prince stood before her in a daze, blinking. He stared down at his
hands and gave a yelp of joy. "I'm back! You brought me back! Oh, thank you, thank you!"
"Yes, yes, fine," the Beast said in a horrible awful voice. "I'm sure you'll be a great prince and a magnificent
king. Good day."
The prince goggled. "What -- how -- you're all covered with hair!"
Annoyance crossed the Beast's terrible features. "Of course I'm covered with hair! I reversed the spell for you.
You're a prince again. Isn't that what you wanted? You were to remain a Beast, right, until a beautiful maiden
declared her love for you? So I did it. What else do you expect? Now go off and rule the kingdom, or whatever
it is princes do."
"But -- but, I thought we were getting married."
"Oh, come now, really? Whatever for? I have everything I could possibly want here. What did Mother used to
say? Oh, yes, beauty is only skin-deep. Money and power are the only things that count. I'm afraid 'queen' just
won't cut it. Besides, as you can see, I hardly look like queen material anymore." She nodded to the hat racks.
"See our fine young prince out, will you?"
The hat racks thrust the protesting prince out the obligingly open door, which then shut firmly against his knocks.
The Beast ignored the hammering and rubbed her paws together, staring around at her new, enchanted,
castle. She nodded to the dishes and the furnishings. "Okay, you kept your part of the bargain by showing me
how to reverse the spell, now I'll keep mine. Holidays and Tuesdays off, and a share in the gold. I'll turn you
into human beings on your days off as agreed." She looked around again. “My mother is going to love this
place!”
The Beast had lived in an enchanted castle in the heart of the enchanted forest for time out of mind.
end
