Week 2 Story: Beauty & Death

In a distant town, far away off from the dark and mysterious forest, there lived a mother and her three gorgeous daughters. One bright morning, the mother got ready to set off on her weekly run to the market at the neighboring town across the forest. She asked her three daughters what they wanted her to bring home and they all replied with a variety of foods, clothing, and one even asked for a handsome man. But the third daughter didn’t ask for anything exotic, only that she be brought back the brightest and most vibrant red rose from her mother’s journey. Her mother promised to bring back what each daughter had asked for and set off.

It took her a whole days’ worth of horseback riding to get to the next town where she spent the night. The next morning she hopped out of bed at the crack of light and began in search of all that her daughters asked for. After all were in her possession, she set off in through the woods hoping to return home before it became dark. Hours went by and the mother slowly started to lose her sense of direction as the night became darker. Soon she stumbled upon a castle as tall as the stars, but cold as the winter. It was as if the weather had changed in the blink of an eye.

As she continued to explore what the castle had to offer outside, she ran into a garden that had her recalling that her third daughter asked for bright roses. Venturing through the garden she found the most vibrant rose of them all and began to find her way back home. This is when the tenant of the castle, a dark and terrifying basilisk, came to apprehend the mother. He demanded that she bring her youngest daughter to the castle to be his prisoner for stealing the roses from his garden. Frightened to her bones, she raced home on horseback.

(Basilisk attacks Horse, Source: WikiMedia)

When she got home, her daughters came out in excitement to see all that she had brought home with her. To their shock, she was in tears and stuttering her words. Eventually she came around to telling the third and youngest daughter that she had to go and be the basilisk’s prisoner as a punishment for her roses. The daughter did not hesitate and set off at a moment’s notice. When she arrived at the castle the basilisk appeared and told her that he had been under a curse from the witch of the forest. This witch enchanted him to look like this hideous beast and roam the earth for all eternity, but the basilisk figured out that there was a way to break the curse. In order to break the curse, the youngest daughter of a family must cut off the basilisk’s head with a sword and then he came be free from this nightmare. This is why when he saw the mother steal from his garden it was the perfect opportunity to break free from his curse.

Little did he know that the youngest daughter, did not come back to be his prisoner. Instead, she came back to exact revenge on the basilisk for frightening her mother to her knees. She agreed to cut the off the basilisk’s head, but at the exact moment she aimed for the body instead striking him a great deal of pain. Straight to the heart was her intent and as the basilisk laid there in agony, slowly dying, she looked down on him with nothing but a smile. She had accomplished what she came to do and was now on her way home, leaving the basilisk to die alone.

When she returned home, the mother and all the daughters were so happy and relieved that the youngest daughter made it out alive. They all asked what had happened to the basilisk, but was only told that she had escaped from his grasp, not knowing that he was dead. 

Author's Notes:

The original story "Beauty and the Basilisk" had a mother go out on a run to the next village in search for her three daughters request. The third daughter wanted three flowers, but didn't find them until she got lost in the woods and stumbled upon a castle. This is where she found the flowers and when she took them a basilisk appeared and ask for her daughter. When the daughter came to the castle, she was to nurse him for three hours a day and then eventually the basilisk demanded that she cut off his head. When she came around to cutting off his head, twice, a prince appeared and asked to marry her. The first half of the story was same because I liked how the story developed, but I did not like the ending. Most fairy tales and love story end up in favor off the "good" side, so I wanted to switch it up and have a "bad" ending that didn't result in what the audience expected. Instead of freeing the prince, she killed him instead. 

Bibliography: "Fairy Tale: Beauty and the Basilisk" from European Fairy Tales by Josef Baudis. Web Source