Beauty and the Beast- Prologue

Beauty & The Beast</i>


Prologue



Once upon a time in a far away land, there lived a princess in a shining castle. She was very beautiful, and had once been very, very kind. But her heart had turned cold and bitter. For many years she longed to find a suitor who loved her not for just her outer beauty, but for her inner as well. She believed with her heart that one day a man would fall in love with all of her.

But years passed, and the princess, still young and beautiful; lost all hope such a thing was true. That people can love one another not just on appearances alone. So the princess became vain and cruel, her once kind heart lost in hopelessness. 'If this is how things truely are, then so be it.' the princess decided.

One winters night, an old begger man came to the castle. He was a small, frail old man who's skin was tatooed white and black. He wore a cloak and carried a staff that was carved like a birds skull. The begger offered the princess a single red rose in return for shelter. The princess sneered at the gift and ordered the man to leave. The man warned her not to forget what she once knew to be true.

When she dismissed him again, the begger transformered himself into a younger, more powerful form. The princess begged his forgivness, but it was to late. The wizard saw into her heart, and knew what must be done. As punishment for her cruelty, he transformed her into a hideous beast, and froze all the servents in time, never to age a day hence forth.

Ashamed of her monsterous form, the beast sealed herself away in her castle. The rose the wizard left, she kept preserved in a magic jar; a reminder of her lost beauty. If she could learn to love truely again, and earn the love of another, the spell would break. If not, she would be doomed to remain a beast till her dieing day. She knew it was hopeless, for who could ever learn to love a beast?