CHAPTER TWO
Beauty’s Rose
A year later Beauty’s father gets an important letter. He calls his six children and says, ‘Listen to this letter:’
You ship is here.
It is not lost at sea!
Please come to the port.
Everyone is happy. ‘This is wonderful news!’ say the three sons.
‘Yes,’ says their father, ‘the ship with my goods is in the port.’
‘We’re rich again!’ says Rosalind. ‘We can buy beautiful clothes.’
‘We can go back to our big house in the city,’ says Hortensia. ‘I must go to the port today,’ says her father happily.
‘Oh, father,’ says Hortensia, ‘bring me some new clothes and new hats.’
‘Yes,’ says Rosalind, ‘and some new shoes and jewels.’ Beauty’s father looks at her and says, ‘What do you want, Beauty?’
‘Please don’t spend your money, father,’ says Beauty. ‘Just bring me a rose.’
Beauty’s father gets to the port and finds his ship. But there are no goods on it — it is empty!
‘What bad luck!’ he says angrily. ‘I must go home and tell the children the bad news.’
On the way home he crosses a big forest. It is snowing and windy. He is lost.
‘Where am I?’ he thinks. ‘Where can I go? I’m very cold and tired.’ He hears some wolves and he is afraid. Suddenly he sees a big castle in the forest. And there are lights in the windows.
‘Oh, good!’ he thinks. ‘Perhaps the people in the castle can help me.’
He takes his horse to the stable near the castle. He knocks on the big door of the castle but no one answers. He waits outside the door. Then he opens the door and goes inside. He sees a big hall with a fireplace. There is a long table with a lot of food on it.
He is cold and sits near the fireplace.
‘How strange,’ he thinks, ‘there’s no one here.’
He is hungry and sits down at the table and starts to eat.
Then he is sleepy. He finds a warm, comfortable bed and falls asleep. The next morning he finds some new clothes near his bed.
‘How nice! New clothes!’ he thinks. ‘A kind person lives in this castle.’
He looks out of the window and is surprised.
‘It’s not snowing and it’s a beautiful day!’ he thinks. ‘And there are flowers in the garden.’
He gets dressed and goes to the hall. There are biscuits, chocolate and milk on the long table. He sits down and says, ‘Thank you for this lovely breakfast.’ He looks round but sees no one.
He eats and decides to go home. He goes to the stable and gets his horse. In the garden he sees some roses.
‘Beauty wants a rose,’ he thinks. He takes a lovely one. Suddenly he hears a terrible noise. He turns round and sees an ugly monster.
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