To Love a Beast
(Can also be found here.)
There was once an old farmer that desired a child so badly that he swore to the heavens that he would even take a bear as his child. When he returned to his home, his wife announced that she was pregnant and they both believed that they were blessed by some divine being from above. Instead, the farmer had ended up cursing himself and his soon-to-be son. When the child was born, the farmer was appalled when he saw that the child resembled a grizzly bear from the waist up.
For many years, he hid his son from the rest of the world before the son pleaded that he would be allowed to go out into the world. The father grudgingly gave his son his blessing, a fiddle, and a horse before the bear-man left to travel deep into the forest.
About a year later, a king got lost in the woods and knew that he would surely perish if he did not find his way out, and was soon drawn to the cottage in the middle of the woods by a passionate song played on a violin. The bear-man opened his door and allowed the king to stay the night and feast upon the great bounties that the bear-man had acquired over many hunts and scavenges.
The next morning, the bear-man made a deal with the king: to take him back to his castle if he would give to the bear-man the first thing that greeted him. He would come for whatever it was a year and a day later to retrieve his reward.
Of course, the king readily agreed and soon he was returned to his palace safely. In the distance, he could see his daughter and his faithful hound running towards him, and he was sure that his hound would make it to him first. Instead, the first thing to greet him was his beautiful and only daughter.
A year and a day would pass all too quickly and the bear-man was due to return.
Now it is your turn to take up the quill and ink and finish the story.
(Can also be found here.)
There was once an old farmer that desired a child so badly that he swore to the heavens that he would even take a bear as his child. When he returned to his home, his wife announced that she was pregnant and they both believed that they were blessed by some divine being from above. Instead, the farmer had ended up cursing himself and his soon-to-be son. When the child was born, the farmer was appalled when he saw that the child resembled a grizzly bear from the waist up.
For many years, he hid his son from the rest of the world before the son pleaded that he would be allowed to go out into the world. The father grudgingly gave his son his blessing, a fiddle, and a horse before the bear-man left to travel deep into the forest.
About a year later, a king got lost in the woods and knew that he would surely perish if he did not find his way out, and was soon drawn to the cottage in the middle of the woods by a passionate song played on a violin. The bear-man opened his door and allowed the king to stay the night and feast upon the great bounties that the bear-man had acquired over many hunts and scavenges.
The next morning, the bear-man made a deal with the king: to take him back to his castle if he would give to the bear-man the first thing that greeted him. He would come for whatever it was a year and a day later to retrieve his reward.
Of course, the king readily agreed and soon he was returned to his palace safely. In the distance, he could see his daughter and his faithful hound running towards him, and he was sure that his hound would make it to him first. Instead, the first thing to greet him was his beautiful and only daughter.
A year and a day would pass all too quickly and the bear-man was due to return.
Now it is your turn to take up the quill and ink and finish the story.
