Beautiful Camilla

(Just as a note, this isn't meant as a happy ending type fairy tale. It was inspired by a book my sister was reading, full of fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen, that were translated from Danish. The majority of them are not really happy tales at all, despite the fact that they were originally written for children.)

In the Woodcutters' village by the lake, there lived a wealthy man, and his two daughters. People came from far away villages to admire his youngest daughter, Cynthia, who had the beauty of a princess, whereas his eldest daughter Camilla had the beauty of a grimy lake toad. Cynthia had a perfectly oval shaped face with high cheekbones, tiny turned up nose, sparkling blue eyes, and flowing blond hair that glinted in both the sun and the moonlight. Camilla on the other hand had a pudgy round face, a nose that was a bit too big, muddy dirt colored eyes, and shaggy brown hair that hung in clumps and resembled a small animal. Cynthia had a friendly and polite demeanor, while Camilla was bitter and rude to all she encountered. Needless to say, Cynthia was the favored sister.

One evening Camilla heard a knock at the family's door. Since her father was out cutting wood, and her sister was in the bedroom brushing her fine hair, Camilla got up to see who had come to their cottage by the lake. She opened the door to see the most handsome young gentleman she had ever laid eyes on in her lifetime. Ignoring the fact that he was probably seeking Cynthia's hand in marriage, she smiled at him, and invited him in. Perhaps he would be interested in Camilla this time, not everybody could love Cynthia. But as he entered the cottage, Cynthia emerged from the bedroom, her golden hair gliding behind her with the grace of a swan on water, and the young man could not tear his eyes away from her flawless face. Taking his arm, Cynthia led the man out the door, and away from the cottage. Sure that this was going to be a romantic evening for both Cynthia and the young man, Camilla began to sob. She sobbed uncontrollably until collapsing upon the wooden floor, where she fell asleep for the night, thinking about her terrible misfortune and incurable ugliness.

When she awoke, she found she was still lying on the wooden floor, but it was not yet morning. At first she thought to clean herself up and go to her bed, but another idea came to her. If she could not be beautiful, then Cynthia should not be beautiful either. Camilla crept into the kitchen and found a large knife, which her father normally used for cutting meat. She tiptoed quietly into the room where Cynthia slept, and with a few quick slices, she chopped the blond silken hair from Cynthia's head. She was sure that the next morning, Cynthia would no longer be the favorite daughter, but the most heinous. Camilla went to bed feeling happy and relieved.

When the next morning came, Camilla was excited, and rushed out to the kitchen to see how her father would react to Cynthia's newfound ugliness. Cynthia was sitting delicately in the kitchen, her raggedly cut hair a mess on her head. A radiant smile was on her face, and she spoke with her father, who seemed not to notice her change of hair length.

"Good morning, Camilla!" said their father, "Doesn't Cynthia look absolutely ravishing this morning?"

"But…" Camilla was stunned. "Her hair…"

"Yes," her father said agreeably, "it does look even nicer than usual today."

Horrified, Camilla ran from the cottage. She wondered why her father hadn't been upset about Cynthia's terrible hair. Perhaps she had accidentally done Cynthia a favor. Maybe her father thought that short, choppy hair was even more beautiful than long, flowing hair. Realizing that she had made a mistake, Camilla wandered by the lake until she found a sharp rock. She worked for several hours, and cut her fingers many times, but finally she succeeded in cutting off most of her own hair. Staring at her reflection in the lake, she thought she looked awful. But it was what her father liked, and she knew it would be best to make him happy.

Camilla returned to the cottage in a cheerful mood, knowing that things would be better now. She went inside and there were not only her father and Cynthia, but the handsome young man she had met the day before. She smiled at him, sure that he would like her hair better than Cynthia's hair. Instead of throwing himself at Camilla, which was what she had hoped, he gasped and turned away. Cynthia looked like she was about to cry, and their father looked speechless.

"Camilla," their father finally said. "What have you done to your hair?"

"I cut it." She answered. "Just the way you like it."

"Have you been drinking poison water from the swamp, again?" he asked incredulously. "That is the ugliest hair I have ever seen. There must be something wrong with your mind."

She was sent off to bed by her father, and Cynthia went out once more with the handsome young man. In tears, Camilla could not understand why her father liked Cynthia's hair, but not hers. She decided that more drastic measures were in order. She would have to do something so terrible to Cynthia's beautiful face that nobody could stand to look at her anymore. That night, she took the knife from the kitchen once more, and brought it into Cynthia's bedroom. With one swift, forceful slice, Camilla cut the tiny nose right off Cynthia's perfect face. She then went off to her own bed, contented in knowing that she was now the prettiest sister.

The next morning, Camilla was so happy that she overslept a little bit. When she hurried out into the kitchen, Cynthia and her father were there, serving a nice breakfast to the handsome young man who had been visiting so much lately. Cynthia looked absolutely frightening with her shaggy hair and no nose, but their father and the young man didn't seem to mind at all.

"Good morning, Camilla!" said the handsome young man. "Doesn't Cynthia look perfectly stunning this morning?"

"But…" Camilla stammered. "Her nose…"

"Yes," the young man said appreciatively. "It does look even cuter than usual today."

Then the handsome young man stood up and gave Cynthia a gentle kiss right on the stump where her nose used to be. Cynthia smiled at him and fluttered her eyelashes charmingly. Camilla was shocked, and she ran from the cottage as she had the day before. She collapsed by the lake and cried for most of the day. No matter how Cynthia looked, everyone loved her anyway. Finally she calmed down, and resolved that she would just have to try harder to please her father and the handsome young man. She borrowed a gutting knife from one of the fishermen near the lake, and with a quicker motion than she had used on her sister, Camilla sliced off her own nose. The pain was quite excruciating, but it would all be worth it when everyone admired her new beauty.

She skipped merrily back to the cottage, and burst through the door, where Cynthia, their father, and the handsome young man were preparing for dinner. She grinned excitedly at all of them, and awaited their inevitably thrilled reactions. But instead of running up to her and kissing the stump where her nose used to be, as she had hoped, the handsome young man began to gag. Cynthia turned a pale shade of green as though she were about to regurgitate her breakfast. Their father looked as though he was going to faint.

"Camilla!" their father gasped. "What has become of your nose?"

"I cut it off." Camilla explained. "I knew you would like it better this way."

"Are you ill in the head?" he asked disgustedly. "You look like a monster without a nose. I cannot believe you are a daughter of mine."

She was sent to bed immediately, where she cried herself to sleep, thinking of how unfair everything was. She woke up to the sound of a thud, the door of their cottage closing. Looking out the window into the dark, she saw the handsome young man walk away from the cottage, back in the direction of the village. He was just now leaving after his visit to Cynthia. Camilla knew what she had to do. This young man would never love her, he would only ever love Cynthia, no matter how ugly she got. Stealing her father's woodcutting axe, Camilla started out after the young man. The axe was heavy, but she caught up to the man fairly quickly. Before he knew what was happening, Camilla swung the axe with all the might she had, and chopped the handsome young man's beautiful head right off his shoulders. It fell to the ground with a soft thud, and she hurried back to the cottage, in search of Cynthia.

Cynthia was the real problem, not the handsome young man. But Cynthia was Camilla's sister. Despite her hostility, Camilla could not bring herself to kill her own sister, so she decided that she would chop off Cynthia's legs instead. No handsome young man would want a girl with no legs, no nose, and ugly hair. She dragged the axe into Cynthia's bedroom, but to her surprise, Cynthia was not there. She searched the entire cottage, but Cynthia was nowhere to be found. Then Camilla looked out the window, in the direction of the lake. There, standing by the lake, were two silhouetted figures. Thinking that perhaps one of them was Cynthia, Camilla quietly left the cottage and headed towards the lake.

As she approached the two figures, she hid behind a tree so that they would not see or hear her. In the moonlight, she could see that one of the figures was Cynthia, who was kneeling by the lake, weeping and sniffling. Beside her stood a beautiful fairy woman with shimmery, translucent blue wings. Fairies were rumored to live in the lake, and help those with beauty similar to their own, but were usually just considered stories, and not real creatures. This fairy was quite real, however, and seemed to be comforting Cynthia.

"Oh Fairy," Cynthia wailed softly. "It was terrible. I looked out my window just in time to see my cruel sister Camilla cut the head off my beloved fiancé with our father's axe."

The fairy woman stroked Cynthia's head in consolation.

"I only wish you could have been there to save him," Cynthia continued miserably. "Ever since the first night I met you here, you have been able to protect me from my evil sister."

"I am sorry I could not save your fiancé," the fairy apologized. "Enchanting you was the best I could do. When you came to the lake for a drink in the middle of the night, and saw the reflection of your butchered hair in the moonlight on the lake, I knew I could give you back your beauty. My spell caused all your ugly features to be invisible to all other human beings, with the exception of you and your sister, who is causing you this harm. In fact, not only are regular people unable to see your flaws, they see you as even better than before."

Camilla, who still stood behind the tree, was furious. No matter what she did to Cynthia, Cynthia was incapable of becoming ugly. The only solution left was to kill her, it didn't matter that she was family now. She leapt out from behind the tree, the axe raised above her head, preparing to kill the unsuspecting Cynthia. The fairy, who was first to see what was happening, acted quickly. She pushed Cynthia backward out of harms way, and whispered some magical words in Camilla's direction. Camilla felt her hands tighten unnaturally around the heavy axe, and she threw herself forward through the air at a now nonexistent target, as Cynthia had been moved. The axe was so heavy that Camilla could not stop herself from moving, and she fell into the lake, still clinging to the wooden handle. She tried to let go, but found that her hands were stuck. The axe sunk to the bottom of the lake with Camilla still attached, where she drowned in both water and her own misery.

Cynthia was relieved that her evil sister was dead, and embraced the lake fairy tightly.

"Go now," said the fairy. "Every time you look into a lake or a mirror, you will see your true hideous self, ruined hair and chopped off nose. But everyone who looks at you for the rest of your life will see nothing but beauty."

With that, the fairy disappeared into the lake, and Cynthia returned to the village. She informed her father that Camilla had drowned, and after that night, they never spoke of Camilla again. Cynthia eventually married a handsome young woodcutter from the village. She was happy thereafter, but every time she saw her reflection, she remembered Camilla, and the price of beauty.