laurs # PStory

Speculative fantasy time! Creative minds requested!

Okay, we know the Beauty and the beast story; enchantress offers a single rose in exchange for shelter. Arrogant prince cursed into beast form, seeking love until the rose wilts.

BUT!

What if the prince didn't turn the 'old woman' away? What purpose would the rose have? What magic would it grant instead?

I don't know if you're familiar with Mercedes Lackey's 500 Kingdoms series? It takes place in the fairy tale world. Overall is the "Tradition;" a nonsentient but powerful magical force that brings about fairy tale stories. For example, if a young girl's father dies, leaving her in the hands of her stepmother and stepsisters, the Tradition will try to push a Cinderella story into existence; making the stepfamily more and more horrible to the girl until she goes to the ball to meet her prince. The thing is, not all stories are "Happily ever after;" there are fairy tales with tragic endings and the Tradition tries to bring these about too.

And sometimes when the time comes for Cinderella to go to the ball, sometimes the only "prince" in the kingdom is only 4 years old. Or prefers men, thank-you-very-much. So the Tradition kind of becomes a burden, trying to bring about Cinderella when it simply cannot. So magic starts to gather with nowhere to go.

The Godmothers (not necessarily only "fairy" nowadays) end up with a kingdom or two to oversee and try to make sure that stories have happy, or at least, normal endings. They test the arrogant princes, help princes on quests, thwart evil sorcerers, and basically try to break or twist the conditions of Tradition to keep it from ruining lives. (If the prince is only 4 years old, what if we help get Cinderella out of her stepmother's household and get her a good job where she can prosper and find a good man to marry instead? Or have her become a Godmother too?)

So the Enchantress/godmother may test the 'arrogant prince,' partly to ensure that he will be a good ruler, but also in hopes of keeping all those poor servants from being caught up in the enchantment.

If you are knowledgeable about the Tradition, you can thwart it. Mostly it's Godmothers who know how to do this, but some few others can be aware of it and add their own resistance to the Tradition's meddling in their own lives.

I want to write a story about how the prince turns the Traditional story on its head. He will be AWARE of the hazards of turning away old beggar women, and --using both cunning and kindness-- brings the "enchantress disguised as a beggar woman" in and puts her completely off balance. Everything she expects (either he's arrogant and gets cursed or openly kind and gets blessed) comes out completely sideways of what she would expect. The enchantress ends up mostly confused but overall pleased with the way she is treated (if a little frustrated that nothing is working the way she expects and is basically forced to struggle to get definitive proof one way or another). Aside from the potentially hilarious comedy of errors that this would turn into, I just like toying with "what if" when it comes to the old, tired stories.

Since the rose is kind of central, I need a "blessing" for the rose when all is said and done. He will, eventually, come out as a kind prince.

the rose isn't a blessing at all, it's always a curse. The "beast" needs to manipulate her into giving it instead to the entirely nasty young widow in the village who always treats people like crap and uses her widowhoodvictimization to justify her ill behavior. The enchantress and the widow fall in love and the rose accidentally makes it into the bridal boquet, so it does eventually (in spite of the beast's best efforts) get given to the right person.

The village cow catches and eats the thrown bouquet before anyone can do anything about it. The window and enchantress are in love and live happily every after, the enchantress gives up on her stupid and petty persecutions and the widow realizes she didn't need to worry about being deliberately unloveable anymore to justify the hard luck fate had thrown at herand everyone in the village gets free cowbeast-steaks

So are you looking for a purpose for the rose at the end? Let's see... this sounds like a fun story idea!

Maybe the rose should be connected with love again? Hm... perhaps when the prince finds his beloved, the rose will forever protect the two of them and keep them safe as long as they always love each other?

Or it might be an even bigger idea if the rose ended up being a bluff or having a really pointless power, like being able to to keep the castle roof clear of snow forever. I know this going against the idea that you wanted, for the rose to be central to the story, but this could be fun? That at the end of the day, the prize of the rose isn't the ultimate goal, but being kind to strangers and opening your heart to form meaningful relationships is more powerful. And the prince only finds out at the end of the story.

Sounds like you have your own story for a pet. ^_^ Buuut that's not the way I want my particular story to go, thanks. :3

Okay... how about something along the lines of... The rose of love it's thorns can prick and make bleed, but handled with care and wisdom, serves it's master a bouquet of loveliness.

the best way to counter your Enchantress with some finesse is to understand her and her motives.

Is she good, evil or neutral and just a test proctor who could care less? Is she orderly, chaotic, or just doing whatever is necessary (is she her own boss)? Does handing out the rose itself cost her anything (time, ingredients magic)?

This is a french story to start with. Are you intending to stay within that style? Traditional fairy tale politeness tests involve things like sharing of food, friendship and hospitality, typically in a style in which turns the usual power structure on its head. Hospitality is already done, unless you want to do a Cymorene style thing where it matters if the doilies are in place and the handtowels have the right crest embossed.

Sometimes like in Sheherzade they require huge sub-quests.

In Celtic stories it totally doesn't matter if the results of the tests required by the enchantress actions are good at all, so the tests could be are you using the right fork, following the weregeld rules and did you obey that chieftan. Trickster gods would aid the prince, so are you looking for Anansi or Coyote or Loki?

Okay, have you noticed all these fairy tales are about Princes? What are the King and Queen doing during all this? Are they on vacation? Maybe the King/Queen suspect their son is a complete jerk and hire the sorceress to teach him a lesson? (I have no idea about the rose though, sorry!)

I don't know if you're familiar with Mercedes Lackey's 500 Kingdoms series? It takes place in the fairy tale world. Overall is the "Tradition;" a nonsentient but powerful magical force that brings about fairy tale stories. For example, if a young girl's father dies, leaving her in the hands of her stepmother and stepsisters, the Tradition will try to push a Cinderella story into existence; making the stepfamily more and more horrible to the girl until she goes to the ball to meet her prince. The thing is, not all stories are "Happily ever after;" there are fairy tales with tragic endings and the Tradition tries to bring these about too.

And sometimes when the time comes for Cinderella to go to the ball, sometimes the only "prince" in the kingdom is only 4 years old. Or prefers men, thank-you-very-much. So the Tradition kind of becomes a burden, trying to bring about cinderella when it simply cannot. So magic starts togather with nowhere to go.

The Godmothers (not necessarily only "fairy" nowadays) end up with a kingdom or two to oversee and try to make sure that stories have happy, or at least, normal endings. They test the arrogant princes, help princes on quests, thwart evil sorcerers, and basically try to break or twist the conditions of Tradition to keep it from ruining lives. (If the prince is only 4 years old, what if we help get Cinderella out of her stepmother's household and get her a good job where she can prosper and find a good man to marry instead? Or have her become a Godmother too?)

So the Enchantress/godmother may test the 'arrogant prince,' partly to ensure that he will be a good ruler, but also in hopes of keeping all those poor servants from being caught up in the enchantment.

If you are knowledgeable about the Tradition, you can thwart it. Mostly it's Godmothers who know how to do this, but some few others can be aware of it and add their own resistance to the Tradition's meddling in their own lives.

So this story will be about the prince being aware of Tradition and thwarting it on his own, while incidentally muddling up the enchantress/godmother's attempts to do the same thing.

You mean like a detector to find his true love? Pricking the fingers of anyone but the one who skillfully handles it? An interesting use, I may snag that idea too. :)

I may think about an explanation for his parents, but likely won;t be a pig part of the story.

I hadn't thought of true love. Hearts, like roses, handled with care are different than hearts/roses handled without. But whatever works to get your imaginative waters flowing, do it! :D

is it your intention to use a world like this, or are you just describing it and want us to stick to your original post?

Princes in such a world probably get idiotically-compelled-by-tiredoverused-tropes enchantresses coming by their doors all the time, After all in a world filled with such magic there are a lot of spellcasters and only so many princes. Even princes who are truly evil probably have a few standardized responses that meet Tradition to the letter. They only get caught because their servants have no reason to help them. The good princes even know why godmothers are not here this time or if they don't they wait patiently for them to come and do their stuff because that is what you do. If you don't know plumbing call the plumber, if your evilmagics standard responses don't work, call a godmother. If your prince is doing this on his own, he needs a reason.

No, I'm not familiar with that series, but that actually seems like a very interesting read!

I really like the idea of the Tradition though. Although maybe something to consider would be, is the Enchantress/Godmother necessarily a "good" character? Do they have their own selfish motives?

Not as much as you'd think. The Godmothers are quite rare; one per kingdom at the most, one per several kingdoms at the least. And usually if the Tradition is thwarted, it's the only encounter that prince would have directly. Keep in mind the Tradition works hard to get things to go its own way, so since many stories center on evil being thwarted, an evil prince is far more likely to miss or forget little details; things that would bring about their own downfall. Or, in the case of the big, the bad and the powerful, prophesied champions spring up.

Try The Fairy Godmother if you think you might want to read the first book. :)

What if, once the prince invites her in and places the Rose in a vase in a place of honor in the castle, an enchantment of non-diminishment falls over the area that place would command.
IE. If he places it on the dining table, his larder will always be full of fresh food no matter how much he serves. If he places it on the mantle, the fire will never consume any of the wood no matter how hot it burns. If he happens to put it in a silver vase atop a golden chest..., well, you get the idea.

Hmm very nice idea :) I could see that being a very handy tool. Thank you!

Of course, you'd never want to toss the rose on a manure pile, accidentally or otherwise. No matter how much you shovel.... (Sounds kinda like my job)

I love the 500 kingdom series and this is a really interesting take on it. I know she mixed Beauty and the Beast with Red Riding hood in one story but this sounds rather fun. As far the rose, what if the Prince knows about the tradition but doesn't understand it. What if he's too arrogant to ask for advise and teaching to fill in the gaps in his knowledge? He welcomes the Enchantress but manages to get things so confused the tradition ends up thinking this isn't a Beauty and the Beast story but a Sleeping Beauty story. The rose, magical to begin with, is seized upon by the tradition and begins to grow into the famous wall. But because it's within the Castle and not outside it, plus the mix up, it can't stop growing. The Prince and the Enchantress are suddenly faced with the rose taking over the entire kingdom putting everyone to sleep but no princess to break the spell. This opens the possibility of the prince needing to become a beast to move through the rose forest to find a solution. The rose, if it remains after the resolution, can remain as a warning or the item that will start the next Sleeping Beauty story.