The Mermaid And The Beast

by Walleye

  Belle shook her head sadly. “But you would’ve given me to a beast all over a rose?”

  “Belle, I’m so sorry about that.” He took her hands and pleaded with her. “I was wrong and I apologize.”

  Belle hugged him. “And I forgive you.”

  Gwen and Ella rolled their eyes. Belle was just too kind and goody goody in her deferring to what others wanted her to do, sometimes to her own detriment.

  Gwen came up and took his hands in her own and said with a sweet smile. “Father, you have to go now.”

  “I do?” He replied, looking around at his other daughters who were smiling teasingly at him as this was a game they’d played many times before.

  “Yes, you do.” Gwen said firmly as she led him to the door. She smiled just as teasingly at him as her two sisters had done. “Unless you want to help us with our baths and put up our hair in the latest designs and dos?”

  “Oh no. I haven’t done any of that since you were ten.” He turned beet red and backed away holding his hands out defensively. “I’m going. I’m going now. I’ll be back at three.” With that he turned and scuttled out the door as fast as he could go, leaving three giggling and smiling daughters behind him.

  Maryellen was in a room next to theirs with her door open and she had heard everything they had just said. She watched him go past her doorway with a sinking feeling in her heart. It was official. The Queen wanted nothing to do with her and it was going to happen just as she had feared.

  Johnathan was going to select one of the human girls to marry and when he said. ‘I do.’ Her tale would end but that would only be the beginning of her pain for even if she managed to reach the magic river and save herself she would not really want to live on without him.

  Tears started rolling down her cheeks, drawing Thistledown’s attention and sympathy. “I’m so sorry.” The little fairy said.

  Maryellen didn’t want someone to feel sorry for her as she realized that she was doing too good a job of that herself and the thought that she was giving into self-pity made her angry. She wiped her tears away with a swipe of her hand and got to her feet.

  She grabbed her sword belt with the sword attached to it off its hook on the wall and belted the sword on. She picked up her slate and chalk and headed towards the door. She was going to confront the Queen but first she needed information as she knew nothing about the woman and she knew of one available source who would be honest with her.

  She strode down the hall, ignoring the stabs of pain going up her legs as this had become almost second nature to her. She reached the room she wanted and rapped on the frame of the open door, getting the attention of the woman who was in there. She held her slate up.

  Good Afternoon, Janice. The slate read. They had been on a first name basis ever since the boar attack.

  “Good Afternoon, Maryellen. “ Cousin Janice Elliot said as she rose up from a cedar chest where she had been checking over the condition of some of her garments. Smiling she came forward with her arms out and embraced her friend. “It’s good to see you feeling well.”

  Maryellen returned the embrace. The two women stepped back. Maryellen took her slate and wrote on it. Need to talk.

  Janice frowned. “Talk? About what?”

  Maryellen wrote. The Queen.

  “Mother Mary, preserve me.” Elliot breathed out. She looked around to see if there was anyone nearby. She reached up and took her own sword and belt down and buckled them on. “I think you’re right, Maryellen.” She said in a very loud voice. “We need to go to the arena and practice our sword work.”

  She took the nonplussed woman’s elbow and guided her out the door and down the hall. “I’ll explain shorty.” She whispered.

  A few minutes later they were wrapped in padding and facing each other in the arena. “This is private and eavesdroppers are few here.” Elliot explained. She frowned. “Now what do you want to know about the Queen?”

  Maryellen wrote. Son inheriting crown and marriage

  “Oh, Saint Bernadette.” Elliot swore softly. “For someone who can’t speak you ask the hardest questions.” She raised an eyebrow. “You’re in love with my cousin, aren’t you?”

  Maryellen nodded and flicked out her sword. Elliot gently knocked it aside. “Are you a princess?” Elliot asked. At Maryellen’s nod of her head Elliot smiled at her. “I thought so. Just from the way you fight and carry yourself. I was thrown off by your lower half movement for a while but your sword work and elegance told me you were just like me, a warrior princess.”

  Elliot moved in and engaged in several blade passes and hits. “Let’s make this a real session for any observers and then I’ll try and tell you what I know. They then went at it hot and heavy for about fifty minutes. After which they were both ready to call it quits.

  As they stretched and cooled down Elliot told her. “My Aunt, the Queen, was a very kind woman when I visited her as a child. She was as my Mother claimed once a romantic who was lucky enough to find love in her arranged marriage but she changed after my Uncle died. She went from a romantic to cold hearted overnight.”

  “She believes very much in controlling everything in her life, including the life of her son. You can imagine how she reacted when the Princess she had picked out for her son died and then he got cursed into being a beast. She actually said she wanted me to be her heir because she remembered me as a very obedient child whom I suspect that she thought that she could control.”

  Maryellen pointed a finger at Janice in astonishment. Janice laughed. “Yes, me. I considered it, but I had changed and I turned her offer down as I like where my life is going as a knight.” She leaned forward and whispered. “She turned away from me when she found very quickly I was no longer a woman who needed someone stronger than me. If I find a perfect companion, then it will be someone who is as strong as me.”

  Maryellen laughed and shook her head, indicating that such a thing would be very hard to do.

  Janice grinned sheepishly. “Yes, I know. Most men don’t want a woman who is as strong physically or as strong or superior to them mentally.” She shrugged. “It’s their loss is all I can say.”

  “Such men are fools.” A voice said from behind them. “Our Prince is about to be such a fool and make a huge mistake if he marries one of those sisters.”

  They both whirled around and saw Sir Henry Rathbone crouching down and smiling at them. “How did you do that?” Janice demanded. “You weren’t here a minute ago.”

  Sir Rathbone looked slightly embarrassed before he shrugged his broad shoulders. “I have a small amount of magic which is why the Queen commissioned me to investigate her son.”

  Elliot sighed. “And now you’ll be telling her all about this conversation.”

  Sir Rathbone looked disgusted. Who do you think I am? A spy? That would be dishonorable. I make honest observations as a hired observer and pass them on and I don’t keep them secret once I’ve done my task. Else, I wouldn’t have told the Prince himself what I had done. Since this is a private conversation and not part of my task the Queen will never hear anything of this from me.”

  Elliot smiled at him and touched his hand with her fingertips. “You are a very unusual man, Henry,”

  He chuckled. “That’s what my Father said when I told him I was going to be a knight errant and see the world before I settled down. He gave me a choice. Go questing or be his heir.” He grinned. “One guess as to which I chose.”

  He stretched his arms out to loosen up the kinks. “I take it that Maryellen wants to know about the Queen and I bet that the reason she’s asking is that she’s in love with the Prince.”

  Maryellen slowly nodded while Elliot stared at him. “How do you know all this?”

  Sir Rathbone chuckled. “As I said, I am an observer of the human condition.”

  He looked over at Maryellen. “If you want to know how to deal with the Queen, remember this. She detests weakness and she sees being romantic as being weak. She sees her son being a beast
forever as indicating that he’s too weak and therefore unsuitable to inherit her throne.”

  He pointed a finger at her. “If you intend to confront her then you must be as strong yourself and you have to establish that you are just as royal in your birth as she is or she’ll dismiss you without a thought.”

  “Will that do any good with my Aunt?” Elliot asked.

  He shook his head. “Probably not but you will get a hearing if you ask her about the Toad Prince.”

  “The Toad Prince?” Elliot said with a frown. “I’ve heard of the Frog prince but never the Toad Prince.”

  He got to his feet. “Ask the Queen about it. I’ve said enough.” He walked away whistling.

  Elliot shook her head. “As I said an unusual man, Maryellen. But he’s not wrong. You have nothing to lose by talking to my Aunt and Henry may have given you a vital clue in the Toad Prince.” She got to her feet. “I wish you luck.”

  Maryellen turned to look at Thistledown. She held up her slate. Toad Prince?

  Thistledown sighed. “I don’t know that one. It’s probably one fairytale that isn’t very popular for some reason. You of course know the tale of the Frog Prince?”

  Maryellen shook her head. Thistledown nodded. “I should’ve expected you wouldn’t know that one, being a mermaid your fairytales would be a bit different from those told by humans.”

  She continued. “In the Frog Prince a human prince is turned into a frog and he must stay that way until a princess kisses him. You can imagine how repulsed she was by his slimy skin.”

  Maryellen stared at her and shook her head. She wrote on her slate. No mermaid would be repulsed.

  Thistledown acknowledged this. “You’re right. You live under the sea and deal with fish and eels all the time and that doesn’t even count handling sea slugs. You’d have no trouble with kissing a frog to turn him back into a prince.”

  Maryellen thought for a moment and then she smiled, got up and started walking back to the palace. Thistledown flittered after her, wondering what her friend was up to.

  When she got inside the castle Maryellen held up her slate to one of the servants who bowed and gave her directions. A few minutes later after going up a flight of stairs and following a winding hall she came to a room with a sign over the door which read. LIBRARY.

  When she entered the Keeper of Records Joseph who had helped her pick out books on human history to read, hurried over. He bowed. “Good day, Milady. How can I help you today?”

  Maryellen wrote and held up her slate. Book on Toad Prince.

  “Oh dear.” He muttered. “That is not one of the most popular tales and so most of the better-known compilations don’t include it.” As he thought he paced in a small circle with his hands behind his back as he pulled at his grey, short beard.

  Abruptly he stopped and turned to walk down the central aisle. He reached a ladder which reached up to the fourth floor. It had wheels and he rolled it down the aisle past a couple of bookcases. He stopped, locked it in place and scampered very quickly up it until he reached the third floor. Once there he studied the rows of books facing him, muttering to himself.

  His face lit up with a smile as he reached for a book. He pulled it out and blew a cloud of dust off it. He looked down to look at her with a smile on his face as he waved the book over his head. “I knew we had a copy of Strange Fairytales up here.”

  He clambered down the ladder and laid the book in her hands. “Let me know if you need any more help, Milady.” He bowed and left her to her reading.

  Maryellen flipped through the pages to the Table of Contents and she smiled when she saw the tale was there. She sat down in a chair and with the little fairy hovering over her shoulder she began to read.

  The Toad Prince

  Once upon a time in a faraway land where magic was everywhere, even in the air you breathe, there lived a toad king with his toad queen and their eight children. There were four toad princesses and four toad princes and they all lived in a tiny castle with a drawbridge and turrets which had been built for them by the fairies and was placed under the branches of a towering grandfather oak at the back of a beautiful garden where they were shaded from the bright light of the sun.

  This beautiful and well-kept garden with its gravel paths and beautiful flowers was well within the walls of the castle of a widowed king who lived in the castle with his only daughter, a beautiful young princess, who was admired even in distant lands because of her gentle personality and great beauty.

  It was her good looks and sweet personality that drew the attention of the youngest toad prince and he felt something deep inside him for her. He would observe her playing happily amongst the flowers in the garden and over time he lost his heart to her. After that he would sit under the bushes and happily watch her for hours.

  The Toad Prince first realized things were going to change when the Princess turned fifteen and became eligible for marriage for her suitors started arriving in droves. They were an amazing lot. There were tall ones, athletic ones, handsome ones, stout ones, short ones, ugly ones, ordinary ones, and charming ones.

  In spite of these men’s different looks and personalities the Princess found that all of her suitors had one thing in common, besides being men that is. She quickly realized that each one thought too much of himself and didn’t care anything for her as a person. They were never interested in the fact that she could sculpt and paint or that she loved to swim and garden and that she had very intelligent views on what needed to be done to make the kingdom successful. If they thought of her at all it was but as a means to an end, the throne she was going to give them.

  So she started rejecting their suits. And of course the rejected ones couldn’t see any reasons for their rejections and they started complaining to their friends and families. As a result she developed an undeserved reputation for being very picky, hard to please, snooty, and all the other reasons as to why it was her fault they were being rejected and no fault of their own.

  When her Father the King asked what was wrong with all the ones she’d rejected so far, she replied. “Daddy, I just want someone who cares for me as who I really am instead of a thing, a prize to be won, to advance their careers.”

  Since the King loved his only daughter he allowed this to continue for a while longer. But finally there came a time when the former crowds had faded to one or two hopefuls a week and he knew that this could not continue.

  He told her to either pick one of the former suitors she had already met or one of the new suitors and he gave her three weeks in which to do it. He never told her but he knew from the signs his body was giving him that old age was catching up with him and he was afraid that if he passed on without having seen her wed, then she would be fought over by the suitors and the kingdom would descend into war.

  After her Father left her sitting forlornly on the garden bench she declared. “I just want to have someone who loves me for myself. Is that too much to ask? Please, fairy godmother, grant me this one wish.”

  But fairy godmothers aren’t always listening in or they do things when they want to on their own schedule. Also in granting wishes sometimes the answer from the fairy godmother is ‘I’m sorry, but that is a no, my dear.’

  The Toad Prince decided that if he could get his own wish it would be to become human and live with the beautiful princess as his loving wife. But he knew that his parents would never grant such a wish as they both thought being a toad was the pinnacle of existence and why would anyone want to lower themselves to being a lowly human?

  However, there was another magic user he could consult but she was not friendly. This was the Hedge Witch who was a very distant cousin of the Sea Witch. Like her distant cousin she took great delight in charging very painful prices or twisting the words of the magic so that the wish came out all wrong.

  However, the Toad Prince came to the conclusion that he loved the Princess so much that he would take the chance. So he went to see the Hedge Witch.

  The Hedg
e Witch lived in a hedge of course and she turned out to be an abnormally large black spider with a red hour glass on her back through which real red sand colored like blood flowed. She listened to his pleas and agreed to turn him human.

  When he asked her what the price would be she told him that there would be a fee of twenty pounds of gold which he would pay her one year after he became king and at that time she would tell him of some of the other problems of being a human prince.

  He futilely protested. “I need to know more.”

  She told him with distain. ‘Tough. Take it or leave it.”

  He asked her if any of these problems she hadn’t mentioned would keep him from living a happy life with his princess? She laughed and told him he would live a full life with her.

  As a result the deal was struck and by drinking a horrible tasting pink fluid the Toad Prince became a human prince with the name of Clark. After struggling for a while learning to walk instead of hopping he went to find his true love.

  He had been afraid that he would only make toad sounds when he talked to her but when he spoke to her it was with a deep, resonant voice in words she could easily understand. He told her how much he liked her paintings and her sculptures and he spoke of their qualities with the words he’d heard her teachers use and she believed that his words were sincere.

  He found that he could also sing and he serenaded her with songs that the young toads sang to their lady loves and instead of toad trillings they came out like human songs and in them he told her how beautiful and desirable she was.

  She had always been scared of storms. But he who loved the rain taught her to stand out in the falling rain drops and enjoy the warm water while he held her hand. That was the first time she came into his arms and they shared their first kiss in the falling rain.

  She decided that he was the one and took him to meet her Father