| Then one night, an unexpected intruder arrived to the castle, seeking shelter
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| from the bitter storm.
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| As a gift, she offered the prince a single rose.
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| Repulsed by her haggard appearance, the prince turned the woman away…
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| But she warned him not to be deceived by appearances…
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| For beauty is found within.
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| When he dismissed her again, the old woman’s outer appearance melted away to
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| reveal a beautiful enchantress.
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| The prince begged for forgiveness, but it was too late.
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| For she had seen that there was no love in his heart.
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| As punishment, she transformed him into a hideous beast and placed a powerful
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| spell on the castle and all who lived there.
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| As day bled into years, the prince and his servants were forgotten by the world,
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| for the enchantress had erased all memory of them from the minds of the people
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| they loved.
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| But the rose she had offered was truly an enchanted rose.
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| If he could learn to love another and earn their love in return by the time the
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| last petal fell, the spell would be broken.
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| If not, he would be doomed to remain a beast for all time.
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| As the years passed, he felt into despair and lost all hope, for who could ever
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| learn to love a beast? |