My favourite fairytale…

Some time or the other, anywhere I go, anyone I meet, somehow or the other I am always asked one question….why do you like writing and reading stories so much? My answer is always the same, “I love fairytales!’ Obviously the next question that follows is, “which one?”

My answer is , “Beauty and The Beast”; one of the most unusual love stories that existed then. There wasn’t a prince charming, there was no fairy godmother and there most definitely wasn’t eternal love at first sight.

This is a story about a simple girl, Belle, beautiful as hell. The youngest of six daughters, charming and docile she was every man’s dream and she was the apple of her father’s eye. Her father a rich merchant, had lost all his wealth at sea and was now forced to live in poverty. After months of such hardship, he heard that one of his ships was still at sea and that he would get a little bit of his merchandise back. He decided to go for the ship himself. Before he started his journey, he asked all his daughters as to what they would want when he returned. The other five daughters asked for jewels and clothes to wear, but Belle was different. She said to her father that she wanted nothing but just a rose.  He bade farewell  to his daughters and set out on his journey. Her father, the merchant was heart broken to find that the final ship was lost at sea. Disheartened  he started his journey back home. On the way, he remembered the long list of gifts he was supposed to take. He couldn’t bring any of them, but one was achievable. On his way he stopped near this beautiful garden where he saw the most perfect roses. He thought he could atleast take this one thing for Belle. He plucked a rose, suddenly a man appeared in the yard. The merchant didn’t know what to call him. He was a man, but looked nothing like it. He was ugly, like a ferocious beast.  The merchant was petrified. He apologized to the beast for plucking out the rose, and explained to the beast that the rose was for his daughter. The beast said he was going to kill him, unless, the merchant sent the girl who wanted the rose to marry him. The merchant was confused he didn’t know what he wanted to do. The beast gave the merchant 7 days to make a decision. The merchant goes back home weary  and scared. He gave the news to his daughters but Belle knew he wasn’t saying the entire truth. Finally the merchant told the girls about the beast. Belle decided she would marry the beast to save her father’s life. She lived with the beast. She just sees him during mealtimes. He asks her just one question, “Are you in love with me yet?” She says No and he doesn’t say anything. Every night she gets one recurring dream, a prince, a beautiful man. He comes to her and says that he is around her and he loves her and she shouldn’t leave him. She spends her days finding him in the castle. But to no avail. One day she asks the beast if she could visit her family because she misses them immensely. The beast sends her back home for  a month and before bidding her good bye he told her that if she didn’t come back after a month he would die. Her family was extremely ecstatic to see her and they forbade her from going back to the beast. As the month came to an end, a day after, Belle felt very uneasy. She wanted to go back to him. She went back and saw the beast dying. She ran upto him and told him that she loved him immensely and she’s sorry for not coming on time. The beast tells her that this is what happens when you don’t keep up to your promises. She apologized profusely and told him again that she loved him and that she would never leave him. Suddenly there was a puff of smoke, the beast vanished, and there he was, the man of Belle’s dreams standing right in front of her. And ofcourse, they lived happily ever after.

This fairytale has taught me a lot of things. Ofcourse the happy ending didn’t hurt. But as I grew up I started understanding this fairytale more and more. I fell in love with this fairytale and then stories altogether. I firmly believe that in the end everything does becomes alright, everything adds up. Maybe not in the way that you’d hoped, but it does. In the end, everything is good, so are you and if it isn’t alright then it isn’t the end.

This story taught me that all of us have demons, beasts, some of us have it on the outside and sometimes the beast resides inside us. But the beast is never the full story, there is always good somewhere around. The beast is the bad and the prince charming is the good, and they are the same person. Sometimes the good is on the outside and the bad on the inside. But sometimes the bad needs to come out and protect the pure and good. The beast is like the shield for the prince, so that the prince can find someone who truly loves him for him rather than finding someone who just loves him because he is good looking and is a prince.

That happens in everyday life even today. An innocent girl always has to be a beast on the outside. She needs to  be completely sure that the person she is about to reveal herself to deserves it and wont hurt her. Cause the beast can handle the hurt, but the prince will fall apart. Another thing this fairytale reminded me of the age old saying that looks don’t matter. I know I know! Easier said than done. But seriously, if there is one thing that this fairytale throws right in your face is “never judge a book by its cover”. Looks will diminish one day or another, how much ever you try, looks aren’t permenant. What is permenant is whats inside you. Your heart, your thoughts, your personality and your soul. A beautiful looking woman or man might not necessarily pure at heart. Someone who looks like prince charming on the outside might be an ugly beast on the inside. But a beast on the outside, almost always has a prince charming on the inside. Again there are exceptions but I am not talking about them.

So I guess in a nutshell, this fairytale has taught me that looks don’t matter and there are always grey shades. There is always good and bad, a beast and a prince, but the only thing that differs is where they are placed……on the outside or on the inside…….and what roles they play..the protector or the destroyer..