Perspective of Beauty & the Beast

I remember it like it was yesterday.  The castle had been freshly cleaned.  Everyone was jovial and ready for the next day to arrive.  Master was a very selfish man.  At times I thought he didn't even care about all we did for him.  But he would soon realize that his selfishness would change not only his life but all of ours.

There was a knock on the door very late that evening.  Master opened the door with disgust at the sight of a hideous elder woman.  She asked him if she could stay the night and in return she would give him a beautiful crimson rose.  He sent her away to suffer in the rain and in that instant she transformed into an angelic princess.  He pleaded for her forgiveness, but she denied him, and instead she set a curse which changed us all.

Five years later.

Rumors spread like wildfire that there was a prisoner in the castle dungeon.  It was surprising to me but nothing that I was at all interested in at the moment due to my duties.  Three days later there was talk of a female prisoner in the tower.  She was sent to the guest wing and I decided to introduce myself to her.  She was very beautiful with chocolate brown hair and lily skin.  Belle was her name and I was happy to have her here.  I asked her if she was going to dinner with Master and she exclaimed no.  This was not going to go well with him, I thought.  Sure enough when he found out she refused his offer, the Beast in him came out.  He hollered with rage at her door but still she refused.  Both of them stubborn with anger.

At 11:00 p.m. I'd gone to the kitchen to help clean.  Belle wandered in a while later and asked if she may have some food.  A smile was brought to everyone's face.  Everyone started to sing and dance while she was served.  It was absolutely magical.

After that special dinner I was shocked to hear that Belle had run away.  She'd foolishly entered the west wing, which was forbidden to everyone other than Master.  When he found her there he exploded at her with fierce growls and shouts.  After she left I feared that he was going to lose the one girl that could end up being his true love and our salvation.  An hour had passed and she was back with Master slumped over her horse.  He had run out after her and come back wounded for saving her life.  I prepared some warm water and Belle cleaned his wounds gently after yet another argument with him.

February was finally here and love was truly in the air.  Belle had been with us for 6 months and master wished to give her something special.  He presented her with the castle's master library and by the expression on her face you could see that her heart melted.  Later that evening a ball would be held in honor of her as well.  While preparations where being made I rushed to the depths of my closet I pulled out the dress that I wore to my very first ball, a gorgeous canary yellow gown, and gave it to her to wear.  Just like a date they ate dinner then danced the night away with the euphony of my voice accompanied by the violins.  I knew then from watching them that they truly were destined to be together surrounded in their own love.

Once again word spread that Belle had left the castle.  In this case though she hadn’t left for fear of Beast she left to save her father.  Beast was heart broken but admitted that he loved her and had to let her go for her.  The castle became silent and took on a lonely feeling.  Her uplifting presence had left, leaving the whole place empty of happiness.  I tried to return to my duties and found that my son, Chip, was missing from his usual spot in the pantry.  After searching the castle and finding nothing I immediately sent out two of the stealthiest members of our family to see if he followed Belle to the city.  When they came back they reported that they couldn’t get any further then the end of Long Rd. because an army from the city was headed our way.

The house went into an uproar as we blocked every entry we could with huge furniture.  Beast was the only one that didn't come down from upstairs.  We all knew what he was feeling.  The horde finally made it to our front doors.  We held up against the door at first but they brought in a battering ram and eventually started to break it down.  At the very last second before they rammed the door down we hid.  They burst through and stormed in.  When they got in a look of shock crossed all of their faces when they couldn’t find us.  We waited until all of them had entered and were within our grasp.  At that moment we pounced on them and fought with all of our might against them.  The ones that were in the front room ran from us screaming and yelping but one got past us and went upstairs.

We all ran upstairs as quickly as we could to find the man that escaped.  When we got there we found Master lying on the ground with Belle at his side.  All of our heads turned to the crimson rose which sat on the table beside us.  The last of the petals gently fell to the table.  Slowly we turned our gaze to Belle and the beast.  She was weeping beside him.  Beast wasn’t moving.  Tears filled my eyes as I saw what happened.  Beast was gone.  At first I thought that my eyes were setting an illusion on me but as I whiped the tears away I discovered that there was a cascade of lights coming from the sky to Beast.  It surrounded him and he rose to the sky. The lights engulfed him and I could no longer see him.  Slowly the light descended to the ground.  When he finally reached it the light dissolved from around his body.  Instead of fur and a burly beast that used to be my master a man lay on the ground.  He got up slowly and looked around at us.  Master had transformed.  He was a man again.  As his eyes wandered around and he looked at the castle it changed as well.  Into a beautiful alabaster stone.  The dark clouds and muggy weather disappeared and the sun shone through the white clouds.  The white light returned but came towards us.  It enveloped us then slide off.  I looked down and found I wasn’t as short as I was when I was a tea kettle.  I looked at my hands. HANDS! I had hands.  I was human again. We all were.  Master walked towards Belle.  She looked shaken but her joy could be seen through it.  She ran to him and master kissed her. 

A celebration was held for the entire castle.  Belle's father came to live with us and we rejoiced in the miracle of our normal lives and in Belle.  Without her we all would have remained teapots and dustpans.  Our lives were changed again but this time for the better and I will never forget this moment for the rest of my life.