Work Text:
Once Upon A Time,
In a far of Kingdom, there once lived a brother and a sister, both with hair so gold that it looked like they were kissed by the sungod himself.
On a peculiar day, the brother who was known as Enjolras, took his sisters hand and said, "Cosette, since our mother Fantine died, we have had no happiness at all. Monsieur and madame Thénardier beat us everyday and even their guests are better off then us. We must flee and plan a revolution against them!"
Cosette who loved her brother dearly thought that this was not a good idea at all. The last time that her brother tried to plan a revolution, Mr.Thénardier had him almost beaten to death.
With her dear brothers faith in her mind, she said, "No dear brother, we can't flee and plan a revolution, but I have a better plan."
She explained him how they would flee from the Thénardiers if at the end of the day Madame Thénardier would ask them to get water from the well in the wood.
Her brother agreed and said that they could hide in the woods, but only if he could plan a revolution.
At the end of the day they fled from the inn into the woods and when they were far enough from the town, they realised that they were so tired, that they lay down in a hollow tree and fell asleep.
The next day, the sun was hot and shone down on the golden curls of Enjolra's head. Then he said to his sister, "Cosette, I'm really thirsty. If there was only a little brook or puddle or a spring down here that I could drink from."
Cosette smiled at him and said, "Let's look for a brook my dear brother and get rid of your thirst." Enjolras returned the smile to his sister, and together they set of to find a brook.
What they forgot when they left was that the Thénardiers were magicians of the worst kind, and when they had discovered that the little spoiled rotten brats had disappeared, they had followed them from a distance and bewitched all brooks and springs in the forest.
Now when they found a little brook leaping over the stones, Enjolras was going to drink of it, but Cosette heard how it said as it ran, "Who drinks of me will be a lion; who drinks of me will be a lion." Then Cosette cried out, "No Enji, don't drink, if you drink you'll become a lion and tear me to pieces."
Enjolras did not drink at the end, he was still thirsty but said, "I will wait a until we find an other spring."
When they came to the next spring, Cosette heard the lauging voices of the Thénardies in the water. "Who drinks of me will be a wolf; who drinks of me will be a wolf."
Then Cosette cried out, "No, please Enji, don't drink! If you drink you'll become a wolf and devour me."
Enjolras did not drink, but said, "Ok I will wait until we come to the next spring, but then I must drink, say what you like; for my thirst is to great."
And then they came to the third brook, Cosette heard Madame Thénardiers voice, "Who drinks of me will be a roebuck; Who drinks of me will be a roebuck."
Cosette cried out, "No Enji, don't drink or you will become a roebuck." But it was too late, because Enjolras had already drunk from the water, and once the cursed water had touched his beautiful red lips, he changed into a beautiful roebuck with steel blue eyes and a golden fur.
Cosette cried over her bewitched brother and said, "Be quiet my dear roe. I will never, never leave you!" The roe who was Enjolras looked at her with a mix of sadness and annoyance. Sadness because he made his sister cry and annoyance because how could he have been so stupid? As a roe it would be even harder to plot a revolution against the Thénardies.
To keep Enjolras with her, Cosette untied her golden Garter and put it round the roebuck's neck, and she plucked rishes and wove them into a soft cord. With this she tied Enjolras neck and led him on, deeper and deeper into the woods.
When they had gone a very long way they came at last to a little house, when Cosette looked inside, she discovered that it was empty and thougt, "This is a place where we can hide, a place where we can live."
In the little house, she discovered that Enjolras still had the ability to speak through thelepathy, but they didn't know if it was because of their bond as brother and sister. And for a long time, they did not care, as they gathered leaves and moss for Enjolras to sleep on. Together they gathered roots and berries and nuts for Cosette to eat, and tender grass for Enjolras.
When it was cold, they would lie together, with Enjolras' golden fur as a soft warm pillow. If he only had his human form, it would have been a delightful life.
For a long time, they lived alone in the woods, but it happened that the king held a hunt in the forest. Then the sound of horns, the barking of dogs and the happy shouts of the huntsmen rang through the trees.
Under the curse that made him a roebuck, Enjolras could not withstand the call of the hunt and begged his sister to join the hunt, at the end he begged so hard that Cosette agreed. "But", said she to him, "come back to me in the evening; I must shut my door in fear of the rough huntsmen, so knock on the door and say, "My dear sister , let me in!" That I know it's you; if you do not say that, I will not open the door."
Enjolras who was so happy that he had the chance to run free in the woods, sprang away into the open air.
The king, who was know as Marius saw the pretty creature, and with his right hand man Grantaire and the rest of the huntsman, they started to follow the golden roebuck, but when they thought that they had him, Enjolras sprang away through the bushes, back to the cottage and said, "My dear sister, let me in!". There his sister welcomed him and tired he fell asleep on the soft moss that was his bed.
The next day, the hunters came back to the forest and when Enjolras heard the sound of horns, the barking of dogs and the happy shouts of the huntsmen through the trees, he said to his sister, "Cosette I have to join the hunt, please let me."
With a sigh Cosette opened the door, and said, "But you must be here again in the evening and say your password."
When Marius and his huntsmen saw the golden roebuck again, they all chased him, but Enjolras was to quick and nimble for them. This went on for the whole day, but at last by the evening the huntsmen had surrounded him, and one of them called Montparnasse, wounded him a little in the foot, so that he limped and ran slowly.
Grantaire, the right hand of the king who joined the hunt because his friend the king had asked, had no interest in the hunt at all. But he loved to paint the forest and it's animals in it, so when he saw Montparnasse going at the roebuck for the final blow, he made a diversion. An angry Montparnasse missed his target and the poor animal could escape. Silent Grantaire crept after the animal, to see if it was wounded or not. What he didn't expected was that the animal could speak and with astonishment he heard how it said, "My dear sister, let me in!" And saw that the door was opened for him by a woman with golden hair and was shut again at once.
Grantaire took notice of it all, and went to Marius and told him what he had seen and heard. Marius who had fallen in love with the description of the young woman said, 'Tomorrow we will hunt once more!"
Cosette however, was dreadfully frightened when she saw that her brother was hurt. She washed the blood of him, laid healing herbs on the wound and said, "Go to bed and rest Enjolras, but please don't join the hunt again."
The next morning, Enjolras did not feel the wound at all, and demanded to join the hunt again, but Costte cried and said, "No you can't! They will kill you this time and I will be alone in the forest and forsaken by all of the world."
"Then you will have me die of grief", answered Enjolras. "The curse makes me do it, I can't help it Cosette, when I hear the cry of bugel horns, the barking of dogs and the happy shouts of huntsmen, I have to go."
Bound by grief and a heavy hearth, Cosette opened the door once more, and Enjolras, full of health and joy, leapt into the forest.
When Marius saw him, he said to his huntsmen, "Now chase him all day long till night fall." Then he glared with angry eyes at Montparnasse and said, "But take care that no one does him any harm."
When the sun had set, Marius looked at Grantaire and said, "Now show me the little house in the wood;" and when he was at the door, he knocked and called out, "My dear sister, let me in!" When the door opened, he walked in, and laid his eyes on the most beautiful maiden he had ever seen. The maiden was frightned when she saw that it was not her brother, but a man who wore a golden crown upon his head. But the man looked kindly at her, stretched out his hand, and said, "My fair maiden, my name is King Marius Pontmery."
Cosette who was starteled but charmed by the beautiful man said, "Mine's Cosette."
Marius gasped when he heard the beautiful voice of Cosette and said, "Cosette, I don't know what to say."
Cosette who was charmed by the young king laughed, "Then make no sound."
Marius who smiled and took Cosette's hand said, "Cosette, will you go to the palace with me and be my dear wife?"
"Yes I will," she answered, "but the little roebuck called Enjolras must go with me, I can not leave him." Marius said, "He shall stay with you as long as you live, and shall want nothing." Just then, Enjolras came running in, and Cosette tied him with the cord of rushes, took it in her hand, and went away with Marius from the cottage.
Marius took Cosette upon his horse and carried her to his palace, where the wedding was held with a great feast. She was now the queen, and they lived for a long time happily together. Enjolras was tended, loved and cherished by Grantaire, who liked to spend time with him. Grantaire made paintings of him and let him run free in the palace garden. In the beginning Enjolras was shy, because the only person he had talked with in all those years was his sister. But slowly, he opened his heart for the man and found out that he started to care for him deeply. Enjolras kept it a secret, and the precious minutes that he spent with Grantaire were also the most paiful, because who would love him in this form? Who could love him as a buck?
What Enjolras did not know, was that Grantaire blamed himself, because he could not break the curse laid upon his dearest friend, a friend whose love for him, had turned into something more.
When the Thénardiers, who thought that little Colette and been torn to pieces by the wild beasts in the wood, and that Enjolpass had been shot for a roebuck by the huntsmen, heard that the brood lived happy and rich with a king, envy filled their hearts. And they thought of nothing but how they could gain that fortune.
As time went on, Cosette had a pretty little boy, with golden curls like herself and chocolate brown eyes like his father, and it happened that Marius was out hunting; so Monsieur Thénardier took the form of a chamber maid, went into the room where his darling Colette lay, and said to her, "Come, the bath is ready; it will do you good, and give you fresh strength; make haste before it gets cold."
Madame Thénardier who was also close by, carried with her husband the weakly Queen into the bathroom, and put her into the bath. Then they shut the door and ran away. But in the bathroom they had made a fire of such deadly heath, that Cosette was soon suffocated.
When this was done, Madame Thénardier tried to dress herself up as Cosette, she put on a soft nightgown and a placed a nightcap on her head. Then she laid herself in bed, in place of Cosette. With some magic, she gave herself the shape and look of the queen, only she could not make good for the dirty rotten theeth in her mouth.
In the evening when Marius came home and heard that he had a son, he was so glad that he cried tears of joy. With a light flutter in his heart he was going to the bed of his dear wife who he loved so much. But Monsieur Thénardier who saw the king was quickly and called out, "For your life, leave the curtains; the Queen ought not to see the light yet, and must have rest."
With a heavy heart, Marius went away, and did not find out that an imposter was lying in the bed.
But by midnight, when everyone in the castle slept, the doctor; Whose name was Joly, was sitting in the nursery by the craddle, who was the only person awake, saw the door open and Cosette walk in.
She took the child out of the cradle and laid it on her arm to feed it. Then she shook up it's pillow, laid the child down again, and covered it with a little quilt. She did not forget her brother, but she went to the golden roebuck in the corner where it lay, and stroked his back. The next morning, Joly asked the guards whether any one had come into the palace during the night, but they answered, "No, we have seen no one."
Then he tried to ask Enjolras, but Enjorlas didn't aswer. What Joly didn't know, was that with Cosette's death, the curse had become worse, and had turned Enjolras in nothing more than an animal.
Cosette came thus many nights and never spoke a word: Joly always saw her, but he was to scared to tell annyone about it.
When some time had passed in this manner, Cosette began to speak in the night ad said:
"How fares my child, how fares my roe?
Twice shall I come, then never more."
Joly did not answer, but when Cosette had gone again, Joly went to his friend Marius and told him all. Marius said, "By the stars and the music of angels, what is this? Tomorrow night I will watch by my son."
In the evening Marius went to the nursery, and at midnight Cosette appeared again and said:
"How fares my child, how fares my roe?
Once shall I come, then never more."
Then she nursed the child before she disappeared again. Marius dared not to speak to her, but on the next night he watched again. Then she said:
How fares my child, how fares my roe?
This time I come, then never more."
Then Marius, who loved his wife deeply could not restrain himself, sprang towards her and said, "You can be none other than my dear wife, my dear Cosette."
She answered, "Yes, I am your dear wife Marius, for thou have broken the curse of my death" and at the same moment she recieved life again, and by God's grace became fresh, rosy and full of health.
Then she told Marius of the evil deed which the Thénardiers had done towards her. Marius ordered royal guard, that was know as Les Amis, to look into his wife's chamberes and to seek and find the Thénardiers. Madame Thénardier who started to love the life of a queen was ripped out of the bed, while her husband was found hiding under it.
After their capture, both were cast into the fire and miserably burnt.
As soon as they died, Enjolras changed his shape, and received his human form again.
Enjolras looked at his sister and said, "My dear sister, I am human again."
Grantair who had seen the change from a distance looked with a sly blush at the beautiful man with golden curls and the face of a statue that had come to life.
Enjolras who had laid his eyes upon Grantare, ran towards him and said, "My dear Grantaire, do not weep, for it is still me."
Grantaire looked into the man's eyes and smiled when he saw the roebuck in them.
With the smile still plastered on his face, he kissed Enjolras, because he had always loved him, even when he was a roebuck and whispered, "I know."
At the end, the sister and brother lived happily ever after. The Thénardiers were dead and they both found a family, a family that would tie them together, a family that would love them for all eternity.