Once upon a time,

There lived a snobby princess

The princess may have been beautiful

On the outside,

But she had a very ugly heart

Being the most beautiful in all of the land,

She always had extravagant balls in her castle,

But only the fairest men and women

Were invited

 

One night,

At the princess’s gorgeous event,

A poor, old woman,

Close to death,

Had stumbled into the castle

She asked the princess if she could

Spare some food and warmth

The princess looked at the woman disgusted

And ordered her servants to show her out

The servants begged the princess

To reconsider,

There was more than enough food to spare

But the princess simply responded with,

“Women as ugly as her deserve nothing.”

 

The castle then suddenly began to shake

And the old woman transformed

From her state of sickness to health

She told the princess

That greediness made people ugly

And once those words were spoken,

The princess began to transform

Ugly scars grew all over her body

Causing her to look disfigured and hideous

 

“What have you done to me?”

The princess screamed, as all of her guest

Fled the castle

“I have cursed you for your cold, greedy, unkind heart,”

The witch said,

“True beauty is from within,

If you want the curse to be lifted

From you and all of your servants

Then make someone fall in love with you

Before all of the petals wilt off this rose”

 

A rose suddenly appeared in the witch’s hand

Enclosed in a beautiful glass case

“No one would ever love me like this”

The princess cried

“Remember, princess,

True beauty is from within”

That was all the witch said

As she disappeared

“Wait,” the princess yelled,

“Come back you ugly, manipulative witch”

But she did not

The destroyed castle was empty,

Except for the hideous princess

And all of her servants,

Who had been turned into objects

 

As the years of loneliness dragged on,

The ugly princess would read books

About love of all kinds,

And she would cry

Realizing how heartless she had been,

Knowing that now no one would ever love her

She ignored her poor servants,

Knowing that she didn’t deserve them

And she couldn’t bear seeing them

As house appliances, furniture, and useless objects

So she spent most of her days

Locked in her room

Watching the flower die

And hating herself for who she had been

 

One day,

A handsome, young man

Stumbled into the castle

“Hello?” he said,

“I’m lost and it is dark out.

I was hoping I could sit by the fire for awhile”

The princess hid

And begged one of her servants to show him out

The servant said,

“But princess,

Don’t you want to make up for last time?”

Her eyes filled with tears

Remembering what had happened years ago

“Fine,” she whispered, “He can stay,

But keep him away from me”

The servants did as they were told,

But the young man of course was curious

About who lived in that secret bedroom

That was always locked

 

One day, the young man’s curiosity took over,

And he snuck into the room

It was massive but complete destroyed

Except for the rose in the glass case

Sitting on a table, all alone

As he reached out to it

A voice screamed,

“Stop! Don’t touch that!”

It was the princess

Before he could see her,

She covered herself in a blanket

“Who are you?” he asked

“That is none of your concern,”

She said frightened,

“This is my castle

And I have been kind enough to let you stay

So please follow the rules and leave this room”

“I would like to thank the person,

Face to face,

Who has been so kind to me”

“You don’t want to see me,

I will scare you away” the princess cried

But the young man didn’t seem to care,

So he snuck up behind her and ripped off the blanket

What he found didn’t scare him

And he said,

“True beauty is from within, right?”

The princess stared up at him,

Remembering how the witch had spoken the same words

Years ago

 

From that day on,

Everything was different for the princess

The young man insisted

On spending time together

And they did

They would eat dinner,

And read,

And even explore outside

Together

Finally, the princess told the young man

How this had happened to her

And how ashamed she was

She decided to leave out how the curse

Could be cured

Of course, she wanted her servants

To live as humans again

But she knew she couldn’t force him to love her

And she had accepted her appearance

Knowing that is was the punishment that she deserved

And that true beauty did come from within

 

On a warm day

When the princess and the young man

Were exploring outside of the castle,

The young man said,

“Please don’t hate yourself

For who you use to be,

Because she is gone

And if you can’t forgive and love yourself now,

Then I guess I will just have to love and forgive you

Until you do”

The princess’s eyes widened,

“What did you just say?”

“I said that I would love you

Until you loved yourself”

Suddenly, light enveloped the princess

And she rose above the ground

The scars,

That covered her,

Began to disappear and her true form arose

Beautiful, deep red rose fell from the sky

The young man was confused at first

But soon came to understand

 

“I couldn’t tell you,”

She said,

“Of course, I wanted the curse to be broken,

But not for me,

For them,”

She said as she looked up at her servants,

Who were standing on stairs of the castle

They were laughing and smiling

In their human form

“I didn’t need it for me,”

She told the young man,

“Because with you,

I felt beautiful even with the scars

Your love and forgiveness

Healed my broken heart

So thank you for allowing me to

Forgive myself”

As she spoke the young man

Drew her close,

“You are the most beautiful girl

I have ever met,

Inside and out, even with your scars

Because I knew that you

Were trying to make up for your past

And that is the most beautiful quality

Anyone could ever have”

He said, smiling at her,

“Do you love me as much as I love you?”

The princess stared deeply into his eye and said,

“Of course I do”

With those words,

He pulled her close for a kiss

That would promise their love, forever

 

The End