Disclaimer: A rose by any other name is still not mine to claim.
Special thanks to Katydid43 for beta'ing this for me.
A Tale of Beauty
--
In a forest far from here
Lived a maiden hardly fair.
Dogs laid down and mirrors cracked
If ever she stopped to stare.
--
Born to the village Beautys—
Royston Beauty and his wife—
They gave her a pretty name,
A virtue to steer her life.
--
Her aunt was the forest mage
Who did teach her all she knew.
Useful spells, curses as well,
Every day her power grew.
--
One dark and stormy evening,
While wandering through the wood,
Her eyes lit on a mansion
Not too far from where she stood.
--
Known to all this structure was
For the man who dwelled inside.
His perfect form unrivaled
By any of those who tried.
--
In the rain outside his door,
She offered a rose to stay,
But the man just bid her leave,
No one ugly here could lay.
--
Her eyes flashed with the lightning
As she peered into his heart.
Disgusted by what she saw,
She let loose all her dark art.
--
"Find the Beauty who can see
Beyond your beastly disguise
Then you'll find the truth you seek.
You have 'till this flower dies."
--
Thunder rumbled through the night—
Not that anyone could hear.
Too loud were the cries of beast
Where a man had plead in fear.
--
Her anger slowly left her,
He was a pitiful sight.
But a curse once made is stone,
Even if he tried to fight.
--
Shamed, she whispered two more spells:
The first on the blood-red rose,
The second one on the beast.
They would live 'till Beauty chose.
--
At first the beast was angry,
She had taken all from him,
But then he learned of Beauty
And his life became less dim.
--
She gave him back his future,
Even if she'd caused him grief.
From her anger came his curse;
From her heart came his relief.
--
Centuries and more have passed
Since they wrote this epitaph:
"A Beauty, Compassion was;
May she always guide your path."
A/N: I wrote this for a competition. The theme was "Beauty is...." All I kept thinking was "Beauty is married to the Beast." I guess I've seen the movie too many times. Anyway, that story was already taken, so I decided to write the prequel instead. I'd planned it as a limerick, but I seem to have a problem writing odd stanza lengths. And breaking syllable patterns. Go figure. There are a lot of hidden meanings in some of the words, but I'll leave it up to you to figure them out.