Week 11 Story: A Happy Ending

There once lived a man who had six daughters. All daughters were incredibly beautiful, with hair as black as a raven and eyes as blue as the ocean. Men could not help but to flock to these girls, and they would often travel many miles in order to ask for their hand in marriage. These men were often very handsome, brave, and very skilled. It was not difficult for the five older daughters to accept these proposals.

After the five older daughters were wooed and married, there remained the youngest daughter. Her name was Grace. Although she was just as beautiful as her older sisters, her personality was much different. Her sisters were proud and talkative, while Grace spoke little and was shy. She was very kind with a loving heart, and would spend most of her time in the woods enjoying nature's beauty. Grace, with dreamy eyes, loved being alone with her thoughts. Yet Grace, modest though she was, had a spirit of her own.

It did not take long for men to see this, and she soon had many suitors. These men, most being conceited and confident that they could win her, were sent away after Grace would laugh in their faces. "Your hair is too dark," "you are too skinny," "you are too tall." she would say. She seemed hard to please. Her sisters started becoming impatient with her. Her father was puzzled.

"Grace, dear, do you wish to never marry?" he asked. "The most handsome and brave men have traveled far across both land and sea to ask four your hand, yet you send them away with silly excuses. Why?"

"Father, these men are handsome, yes. But, it is as if I can see their heart. And these men are not as beautiful on the inside as they appear on the outside."

(Inner Beauty)

Soon after, a strange thing happened. A man named Vincent came to the village. He was many years older than Grace, and was poor and ugly. This was the man she chose to marry.

Her sisters were embarrassed, and they questioned their little sister's state of mind. But they did not see what Grace saw. Beneath Vincent's outward ugliness was a beautiful and most generous heart. He was intelligent, and had the passion of a poet. This is why Grace loved him, and knowing that no one else loved him made her love him all the more.

But when they married, the most spectacular thing happened. For when they kissed for the first time, Vincent transformed into the most handsome man in the world. It just so happened that an evil spell had been cast on him many years ago out of pure jealousy.


Author's Note:
I did not change much of the original story. The original did have a lot more details, but I wanted to make it a little more short and to-the-point. This story was broken into 3 or 4 smaller stories in the unit, so we did not find out that a spell had been cast on the husband to make him poor and ugly until the second story. I wanted to add that into my story to give it that happy ending.

Story source: The Child of the Evening Star by W.T. Larned