Chapter Text
Once upon a time, in a faraway land, a young prince lived in a shining castle, and although he had everything his heart desired, he was spoiled, selfish and unkind, his childishness everlasting as he let his curiosity kill the cat. But then, one winter’s night, an old beggar woman came to the castle and offered him a single red rose in return for shelter from the bitter cold and the biting icy winds. Repulsed and fazed by her haggard appearance, the prince sneered at the gift and turned the old woman away.. but she warned him, not to be deceived by appearances, for beauty is found within.
And when he dismissed her again, the old woman’s ugliness melted away to reveal a beautiful enchantress. The little prince tried to apologize but it was too late, for she had seen that there was no love in his heart, and as punishment, she cursed him and placed a powerful spell on the castle, and all who lived in and around there.
The curse she’d placed on the little prince would cause him to transform into a hideous beast every day at sundown. During the day, he would live in agony as a little boy and just as the sun would begin to set, it began. He would go through an agonizing transition from a human into a monster. With a heavy heart and lots of tears, he would then hide away from all and cower in his dark tower, alone.
The inhabitants of the castle fell silent as the spell took its course over their bodies, cursing them to live as everyday objects. Ashamed of his monstrous form, the beastly prince concealed himself inside his castle, with a magic mirror as his only window to the outside world. The red rose that the enchantress had offered was truly an enchanted rose, which would bloom until his seventeenth year.
If he could learn to love another, and earn her love in return by the time the last petal fell, then the spell would be broken... If not, he would be doomed to remain a beast for all time. As the years passed, he fell into despair, and lost all hope.
For who could ever learn to love a beast?