Emma and the monster

EMMA AND THE MONSTER

Once upon a time, there was a merchant who often had to travel great distances to sell his fine wares and one day, he felt he should bring his two sons, his daughter, Emma and his wife a gift and when he asked them what they would like, everyone told him not to worry about any sort of gift for them except a big hug when he came home, and when he insisted on buying a gift for Emma, she said “Well, I would dearly love a red rose.”, because she knew that would cost her father little or nothing and it would provide pleasure to the whole family through its beauty and scent. The merchant promised to try to find one and went on his way, but he found that red roses, or roses of any colour were harder to find than he expected. On the way back he became lost and he finally came to a castle and he thought “I’ll stay here for the night; I’m sure the owner of this castle won’t mind.”, and he was served food and wine by invisible servants and it was the finest food he had ever tasted. The next day, he saw a rose bush that was simply smothered with red roses and he thought “I’ll just pick a few roses for my daughter.”, but as soon as he’d done so, a hideous monster leapt out and roared “I provided you with food and shelter and you dare to steal my roses! You ungrateful boor. Prepare to die!” “Please” he begged the monster “I didn’t mean to steal them. It’s just I’ve been searching all over for a red rose because my daughter asked for one. Please spare my life. Please think of my wife, my sons and my daughter who will be heartbroken if I don’t return.” “Very well” said the monster gruffly “you may go if you promise to bring me the first living thing to greet you when you get home back to me.” The man agreed at once, knowing it would probably be Bess, who was a strikingly beautiful cocker spaniel, golden retriever mix. He did not want to give even her up to the monster, but it would be much better than his wife or daughter, but when he got home, Emma was the one who hugged him, kissed him and told him how glad she was to see him again and he heaved an extremely long groan “What’s the matter, Daddy?” Emma asked kindly “I thought you’d be thrilled to have me greet you.” “Well” sighed her father “normally I would be over the moon about your greeting, but it means I’ve got to hand you over to a monster, and I can’t do it; I CANNOT do it. Tomorrow, I’m going to go back to the monster and beg him to take me prisoner instead of you.” “Oh, no, Daddy, you can’t do that; you mustn’t do that.” said Emma in dismay “Let me go; I’m sure that the monster will not harm me.” Her father did not agree to Emma’s plan at all, but she was so determined she had to give in. The very next day, the monster knocked on the front door and Emma went to answer it, and as she expected it was the monster. She bade her mother and father goodbye. Tears were flowing down both her mother and father’s cheeks, and both her brothers had faces as long as a giraffe’s neck, but she assured them that everything would be okay. She then went to the monster and said “Okay, I’m ready to go now.”, and the monster took her by the hand and led her away. When they reached the monster’s castle, Emma noticed that the table in the dining room had been set for two with the finest china and crystal and Emma thought “If the monster were planning to eat me, surely he would not have bothered to set the table for two with such fine crystal and china.”, and when she was shown to her room, she found an enormous bookcase filled with books; most of which she was sure she would be intensely interested in, so any thoughts that she had that the monster was planning to eat her disappeared from her mind entirely. That evening, she found the cupboard in her room was filled with dresses of the finest silk and she finally decided on the royal blue one with beads all over the bodice and went down to dinner, and she found it was the most delicious dinner she had ever had. There was only one thing that was beginning to vex her and it was that every night, just as she was getting ready for bed, the monster asked her to marry him and she had to keep saying “No, I am afraid I cannot marry you. To marry you, I have to love you, and I really cannot love you.”, and the monster ended up very upset, hurt and disappointed and Emma hated to see the monster so upset and one night she said “I must tell you, you vex me greatly by asking me to marry you so often. I really do not think I could ever become fond of you enough to marry you, and it really breaks my heart to have to refuse you so often.”, and the monster stopped asking immediately, for he hated to think he was making Emma unhappy by asking. One day the monster asked “Are you happy here?” she said “Yes, but I really would like to be able to talk to my family” and the monster went upstairs and came down again with a mirror and said kindly “This is a magic mirror and all you have to do is say “Let me see my family, please” and you will see them and be able to talk to them” Emma did so and she saw the most horrifying sight. She saw that her father was very ill, her mother was nursing him and her two brothers were downstairs sitting in their chairs, looking very worried and miserable. She almost dropped the mirror, but managed to grab it in time and rushed to the monster saying “My father is very ill. You must let me go back to my family!” and the monster said “You may go at once and you need never come back here again, although I would really like it if you did.” Emma thanked him with the greatest sincerity and said she would almost certainly drop in once or twice a month, because he had become such a good friend to her. When Emma got home, she went straight up to her father’s bedroom. “EMMA!” cried her father in tremendous surprise and delight “How…how did you manage to escape?” “I didn’t have to, Daddy” she replied “the monster said I could go back to you and I need never return unless I wanted to, and I have to tell you, I am going to continue to visit him once or twice a month because he has become such a good friend to me.”, and he agreed to let Emma do that. Her father soon became well again and one night, she had a really horrible nightmare. She dreamt that the monster was very ill; he was almost dying and she sat bolt upright in bed, thinking to herself “I must go back to the monster right now. If he is still alive I will tell him I will marry him, no matter how ugly he is. I simply cannot let him die after all the kindness he showed me.”, and rushed straight back to the monster’s castle in her nightie. At first she couldn’t find him anywhere but finally she saw him lying down near the fountain. At first she thought he was dead, but he stirred ever so slightly and she said “My dear monster, I don’t care how ugly you are anymore. I will marry you. I simply could not bear to have you die of grief after all the kindness you have shown me.”, and an astonishing thing happened. The monster’s skin split right down the back and there was this handsome prince standing there. “Emma” he said kindly “you have broken the spell that was put on me. About a year ago, a lady came to my castle, begging for a place to stay, but I refused, so she turned me into a hideous monster. “And a monster you shall remain, until and unless you can find someone to love, and who loves you in return.” How I despaired of that ever happening, but it has happened now.” Emma was delighted. She agreed to marry him at once, but she said that she wanted her mother, father, her two brothers and her dog, Bess to be allowed to come and live in the castle for the rest of their lives, and he instantly agreed, and soon with the help of the servants, who were no longer invisible, a wedding was held for Emma and the prince, and her two brothers each fell in love with two of the scullery maids, and soon there was a wedding held for them, too and for the rest of their days, Emma, her mother and father, her two brothers and their dog, Bess lived in the lap of luxury all their lives.

THE END

(By Shelley Goodman. Written on the 27^th of February 2016)