Beauty and The Beast – Unhappy Ending

“I don’t know. I just don’t know,” Belle said to the enchanted furniture and invisible servants who surrounded her. “The Beast has asked me to marry him every night for a month. But I just don’t know what to do. I miss my father and my sisters. And, while I appreciate the gifts and fine clothes that The Beast has given me and all the kindness you all have shown me while I’ve been here in The Beast’s castle, I’m not sure that I love him. I’m not sure that I can marry him.”

There were gasps and whimpers and sobs from the various servants, for they were quite distressed.

“But you must. You must love him. You must marry him, or else the curse will never be broken and we will be trapped in these forms forever, the curse will never be broken and The Beast will be a brute forever.”

Belle pondered these words very carefully. And then came to a decision.

The following evening, at dinner, as she and The Beast ate their meal surrounded by the enchanted furniture and invisible servants who were all anxious for her response, Belle said, “Beast. You have asked me every night for the past month to marry you. And every night I have said no. But if you ask me again, I will say yes.”

The Beast’s eyes grew wide in amazement. He stood from his chair, walked around the table to where Belle was seated, knelt down beside her and took her dainty hand into his massive paw. “Belle,” he said with a trembling voice. “Will you marry me?”

“Yes, Beast,” she said. “I will.”

A cheer went up from the enchanted furniture and invisible servants surrounding them in the great hall. The Beast swept Belle up in his arms and spun her around and around in dizzying joy. Then, slowly, the cheers subsided, and the Beast set Belle upon her feet again.

 “What’s happening?” The Beast grumbled to his butler, the clock. “Why am I still trapped in this monstrous form?”

“Sire. She must love you. She must say the words. And she must say them quickly. Our time is almost up,” he said – for in order for the curse to be broken she had to say them before midnight. And the hour was near. “Madam,” the clock butler said to Belle, “You must love The Beast. You must declare your love for him or the curse cannot be broken.”

Surprised by this took a hesitant step backwards.

“Madam, please!” the clock butler pleaded. “You must. It all depends on you. You must. Please…”

Belle, nodded and said, “Beast. I … I … “

“Please, madam. Say it. Midnight is upon us.” The servants shrieked.

Belle spoke again, quickly now. “Beast I love you.”

The Beast and all his enchanted and transfigured servants sighed and waited for the transformation to begin. But nothing happened. The clock butler was still a clock. The door mat door man was still a door mat. The Beast was still a beast.

And he roared and howled. The entire castle shuddered at his growls. Just then the enchantress who had placed the curse upon The Beast so many years before appeared in the great hall.

“Why am I still a monster?” The Beast shouted. “She has agreed to marry me. She has said that she loves me. Why am I still a beast?”

“Because,” the enchantress explained. “She does not feel love for you. She is frightened that you will hurt her, and pressured by guilt if she fails to help your servants. But she does not love you. The curse will remain.”  Then the enchantress disappeared from the great hall as simply as she had appeared.

“This is all your fault,” The Beast snarled as he turned toward the quivering Belle. “This is all your fault,” he growled. And then he charged across the room with his claws extended and his mouth of sharpened fangs open and devoured Belle in a bloody rage.

The End.