Enchanted Tales

New Millennium Audio presents

Audrey Hepburn's Enchanted tales

I'm an old woman now

So old that all these past gets mixed up in my mind with what is now.

When I remember my childhood, what I remember most is him.

No memory is without Maurice Ravel, that small

And elegant man who was to me the greatest composer who ever lived.

In those years between 1906 and 1908,

He would've come often to la Grand Gate, our country house near Paris, to visit my parents.

One day he came, very excited.

"I had written a piano piece, and I think you would like to meet me", he said..

"It's called Ma mère l'Oye. My Mother Goose"

It was old stories I love best told in music.

And then he showed me the front page, it was dedicated to my brother and to me.

And now I sit, an old woman, outside in the orange late summer morning.

The music in my mind is starting to play.

I think of my wonderful Monsieur Ravel.

I've heard her live in a castle. It was covered with roses”; Monsieur Ravel says to me.

"Ah! The gasp of the sleeping princess", I cried.

"It is perhaps my favorite story of all! Oh, tell it to me please!"

He smiles, draws me onto his lap and begins the story of the Sleeping Princess.

Once upon a time, a magic time, in a fair far green country, lived the King and Queen.

They've longed to have a child.

And finally on one bright morning in June, a daughter was born to them.

"We must give her the grandest christening that ever was", the Queen said,

"We must even use the golden plates."

And the King, who did not agree to much she suggested, agreed to this.

Everyone in the land, all the town's people were invited to the christening.

But the most special guest of all were the six good fairies of the kingdom,

The godmothers of the little Princess.

One by one, these fairies passed by the royal cradle

And gave the baby a blessing and a gift.

One promised the princess beauty; One a bright mind;

One an even brighter spirit; One a voice of charm; One a loving heart.

But just as the last fairy was about to present her gift,

A quick angry draft suddenly blew the door open.

"Why? It's just the wind"，laughed the king.

But it wasn't wind. It was a little old woman, thin as wind perhaps.

But (she was) so powerful the door the guest shrank back in fear of her.????

"Melusine", someone whispered:" Melusine!"

The chocked cry went around.

Melusine was an evil fairy.

She had disappeared from the kingdom many years before.

And no one knew what had become of her.

The King, hiding his surprise and fear,

Invited her in and hastily made a place for her at the high table.

But he couldn't give her one of the golden plates.

But it was simply not enough.

Melusine looked at the china plate given her instead,

And she smiled, a very thin and awful smile.

Hobbling up to the baby's cradle,

She touched the child's cheek with her papery hand.

"I too have a gift for you, my precious" the fairy whispered:" And here it is:

One day you will prick your finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and died!"

The guests shrank back screaming.

The Queen fainted.

Only the last of the six fairies had come.

She came forward slowly and faced Melusine.

"I have not yet given my blessing to the princess", she said softly.

"Alas. I cannot undo the fairy curse, but I can surely soften it.

The princess will indeed prick her finger on a spindle, but she will not die.

She will only sleep for a hundred years until a prince shall come and wake her."

17 years pasted, and the Princess was now a young woman.

She was beautiful, with little golden hair and flecked green eyes.

She was honest and courageous, curious, tender, marry, and a little clumsy.

Her favorite game was to explore the huge castle

And make up stories with the queer things she found there.

One morning in May, the Princess was exploring a wing she had not been in before,

And she came up on a funny little room,

Inside sat an old woman spinning.

The Princess was enchanted by the strange site.

"What are you doing? Oh do let me try!"

She cried and rush forward.

In an instant her finger pricked the spindle.

She gave a scream and saint lifeless on the floor.

The old woman smiled, the cold thin smile of the fairy Mellusine, and melted into icy wind.

The moment the Princess touched the spindle and fell into a sleep,

A strange thing began to happen-the whole palace began to sleep as well.

The king was in the throne room making a new law,

Nodded off, still holding his quill pen;

The Queen, having her hair brushed by her lady in waiting,

Fell asleep at the dressing table;

The lady in waiting fell asleep in mid brush stroke;

And on and on, until finally the whole palace was still, heavy, and filled with dreamers.

And then darkness came to those who dreamed.

For up, up. Back away of green grew the brambles, climbing and folding huge thorns raised.

Up the vines grew, protectively fiercely,

Until finally the whole castle was suckled in her arms.

And then, even the brambles slept too.

They slept for a hundred years,

Slept through wars, and warm harvests, and marriages, and new fashions,

Slept through the crown of the kingdom passing to a new family,

Slept through the birth of a new little prince.

The prince's name is not important.

What is important about him is his curiosity.

From the time the Prince was tiny,

He has wondered and wondered about the huge castle in the kingdom,

The one that was all covered with brambles.

"Who lives there?" he asked.

And when he was told the legend of the Sleeping Princess, he had smiled.

"Ah", he said: “I should be the one to awaken her."

But everyone laughed at him because he was only a tiny child,

And his thumb wasn't even as big as one of the brambles that guarded the castle.

But time passed, and one day the Prince was no longer a child,

He had grown into a man, well-favored, and well-liked,

But with a certain sadness always about him.

The sadness was the strongest when he rode into the woods,

And stood at the gates of that mysterious castle,

Thinking of the Princess who lay inside.

Many ladies in the kingdom were in love with the Prince,

But he could not return their love,

For he had a strange image always before his eyes,

The image of a bright-face child,

Whose hair was tangled yellow, and whose eyes were flecked with green.

On his 21st birthday, the prince left the celebration,

And rode as usual to the bramble covered castle.

As he stood looking, the longing filled him so much, he began to weep.

"Let the bramble tear me apart", he thought.

"If I must die, let me die trying to find the princess."

The Prince climbed the gate, rusted by years of disuse,

And as he took his first step into the garden, something wonderful happened-

The thorns, would have been so angry and sharp only a moment before,

melted into piles of rose petals at his feet.

And the Prince rushed into the palace, thus he saw everywhere-

Gloomy spider webs and piles of sleeping people.

He run upstairs and searched the whole castle,

And there, in the little backroom,

He found his princess, still lying beside the spinning wheel.

He smiled when he saw her,

For this was the girl who had lived in his mind all these years.

He bend forward and kissed her.

And when he draw back, a pair of marry tender flecked green eyes were looking at him.

"I was just dreaming about you", the Princess said.

Down in the hallway bellow, the king yawned and stretched,

"Huh...I must have dozed off", he said: “I have a law to finish."

"Ouch!" the Queen said, as the hair maid combing her hair pulled to sharply on a curl.

The whole palace was stirring now, all wondering: amazed!

"Are you ready, Princess?" the Prince asked.

"Yes" she said.

And hand in hand, they slowly and started down the long curving staircase.

[music]

I'm remembering a winter day.

I gazed into the fire,

And there, the pictures of the past are dancing.

It is December, right before Christmas.

Monsieur Ravel comes to visit us.

He has dressed in a new dark green topcoat.

And his arms are full of gifts.

There're something dull in adult for my parents,

New music for my brother,

And for me, the most wonderful little man made out of tin.

When he's wound up, he can walk all around the table.

Monsieur Ravel loves these mechanical marvels.

He laughs at the little tin man as loud as my own.

"I know a story about a boy who was this tiny", he says to me.

"Oh he was not made out of tin, he was as real as you or I!"

So I jump onto his lap and beg him to tell me the story of Tom Thumb.

Once upon a time, deep in a forest, there lived a woodcutter and his wife.

They had seven children, all red-hair boys.

When business was going well,

The wood cutter was delighted with his large family.

But when things were going poorly, he was not so happy.

"There're too many bellies to feed", he would complain.

"Too many feet to keep shod;

Too many backs to covered with clothing;

And not enough money to do it."

One cold winter, things became unbearable.

Meals got plainer and leaner,

Clothes got smaller and more patched,

And the wood cutter got more and more miserable.

"Wife", he said one night: “I cannot sit by and watch my sons starve.

Tomorrow, when I take them out into the forest,

I would leave them there.

Perhaps a wealthy merchant will find them

And provide a better home."

"Huh!" the wife wept and refused to go along the plan at first,

But finally she too gave in.

The woodcutter went to sleep,

Not feeling at all happy with himself,

But believing that he was doing the only thing he could.

What he did not know

Was that one of the sons had overheard every word he said.

This was the youngest son-Tom.

Now everyone, including the woodcutter, thought Tom was foolish,

Simply because he never spoke.

And everyone also thought Tom was a weakling,

Simply because he was small.

When he was born, in fact

Tom had been no bigger than a man's thumb,

And so everyone called him Tom Thumb.

When Tom heard his father's plans,

He realized he had to save his brothers and himself.

He sneaked out of the house,

And went to the stream that lays beside it.

In the moonlight,

The white stones on the bank

Glittered like a treasure chest full of undersea jewels.

Tom filled his pockets with stones and returned to bed.

The next morning, the woodcutter took his seven sons deep into the forest.

Every few feet, Tom took a pebble out of his pocket,

In the daytime they look like ordinary brown rocks,

And dropped it on the ground.

At noon, the woodcutter gave each boy a piece of bread and left them.

"For a while", he said.

None of the brothers except Tom noticed him weeping as he said it.

The little while turned into hours,

And soon it was night.

The brothers came to realize that their father was not coming back,

And they began to weep.

Tom waited politely until they were finished,

and then he said: “Don’t cry, I will save you."

His brothers had never heard Tom speak before,

And they were amazed!

Tom pointed proudly to the stones he had dropped.

In the moonlight, they shone like a path of fallen stars.

He and his brothers followed the path and soon they were back home!

The woodcutter, who had feel terribly guilty at what he had done, was glad to see them.

And his wife nearly fainted with joy.

"No matter how poor we become", the woodcutter said,

"We will all stay together. I had learned my lesson."

But unfortunately, he forget again soon afterwards.

February came,

The iciest, hungriest, most wolf-like February that had ever been.

There was no work, no money, no food.

"I can't stand seeing the children go hungry", the woodcutter roared.

"Tomorrow I'm taking the children out and leaving them in the forest."

Again his wife pleaded and wept;

Again he was stubborn;

And Again, little Tom heard every word.

Tom went outside in the freezing night,

Looking for more stones,

But the snow had fall so heavily that stoned were buried beneath it,

And he could not find even one.

So he creeped back to the house, not knowing what he was going to do.

The next morning, the mother gave the children each a slice of bread for breakfast.

Tom put his in his pocket.

When the father took the boys out into the forest,

Tom crushed his bread in his hands,

And every few feet, he threw down a few crumbs.

Again the father let the children deep into the woods;

Again he said he would return in a little while;

And again he brushed away tears as he said it.

When night fell, and no father came,

The boys all began to cry.

Except Tom.

"Don't be frightened", he said.

"I will show you the way back."

He looked for the trail of bread crumbs,

But it was no longer there!

The birds in the forest had pounced on the crumbs, and had eaten them, everyone!

So the seven children had to find their own way home.

They walked and they walked, through the heavy freezing night.

Suddenly Tom cried: “I see a light!"

Yes, it was a small flickering light through the trees!

The boys rushed forward and found themselves with the door of a huge dark house.

They knocked, and the door was open by a woman.

She had once been pretty,

But fear had chased all her good-looks away.

"Oh! Children! You must go!" she said.

"You've come to the house of a terrible ogre!

A monster who eats little boys!"

Tom sighed:" Madam, we have just come from a forest,

Which is full of wolves who also eats little boys.

I would rather take my chances with the ogre."

The ogre's wife, for that was who she was, sighed.

"My husband is out for a little while", she said,

"Come inside and at least warm yourselves before the fire."

The seven boys ran inside.

And what a joy it was to rest exhausted legs in the huge castle,

And warm the chilly back to the big fire.

The ogre's wife warned them to stay awake,

But they're tired of spoke in a louder voice, and soon they were fast asleep.

Suddenly, there was a huge wind and a huge earthquake,

And each little boy found themselves caught up in a giant's fist,

And gazing into a giant glaring eye.

The ogre had returned.

"What is this!" the ogre roared, “human boys?

What a good woman you are, wife!

You have caught me a fine supper."

The wife was very frightened, but she pretended to go along with the ogre's idea.

"Thank you, husband", she said, “but I meant these boys to be for your breakfast.

As you can see, they are too thin and frozen for you to enjoy now.

I thought that if they were given a good dinner and a good night sleep,

They will be delicious with your pancakes tomorrow.

The giant was disappointed, but he agreed,

Because his wife was really an excellent cook,

And she knew best about these things.

The ogre's wife winked at Tom, and he winked back.

She gave the boys an excellent dinner and Put them to bed.

After a sleep of several hours, Tom woke and nudged his brothers.

"Let's go", he said.

And the seven children escaped.

The ogre was light sleeper, however.

And he felt in his giant bones that something was wrong.

In the middle of the night, he tiptoed in and found that his breakfast had escaped.

Furious, he put on his boots and ran out of the house to search for them.

Tom and his brothers had been running as fast as they could.

But when Tow saw the ogre coming up so quickly behind them,

He knew it was useless to keep on.

He pushed his brothers and himself inside an old hollow log and waited.

The ogre was getting tired from all his chasing.

And as a log came ahead him,

He sat down to rest on the same hollow log where the boys were hiding.

He felt so good to sit down that he took of his boots,

Lay them beside him,

And had a little nap.

Tom crept out of the hollow log,

And stepped into the boots himself.

Now don't ask me how his feet fit the same boot that the ogre's feet has also fit.

These boots were very magic, I suppose.

But in a few moments, Tom was striding away,

Across the fields, and was back at the ogre's castle.

"Oh, Mrs. Ogre", he said to the wife,

"your husband has sent me with a terrible message.

He has been attacked by robbers.

And he says, that the less you give me all your jewels and plate and gold coins to give to them,

He will be killed."

The wife was terrified, and she gave him all that he asked for.

Tom returned to his brothers,

Got them out of the wood,

And they all returned home with the ogre's treasure.

Their parents were overjoyed to see them.

The family was rich now,

And there was no more talk about leaving the children to be raised by others.

And as for the ogre, he may still be napping on the hollow log.

So watch out next time you go into the woods.

[music]

The afternoon is getting quite windy,

Perhaps I should get a little walk later on.

I love to walk in the wind.

Monsieur Ravel used to love to walk as well.

He did not enjoyed the wind as I did.

I remember one day in particular.

I had been reading a book about pythoness.

I was a walking along, and a twig snapped by my foot.

I screamed, imagining it was a dread python come to devour me.

Monsieur Ravel tried to reassure me,

But I was still terrified.

Finally he said he knew a story about a very wonderful green snake.

And if I would only please stop carrying on,

He could tell it to me.

My crying stopped instantly.

We sat down together on a bank full of wild flours,

And he began to tell me the story

Of...Laideronette, Empress of the Pagodas

Once upon a time, there lived a good hearted King and Queen,

Who had twin baby girls.

When it was time for them to be christened,

All the important people and fairies in the kingdom were invited.

But, as so often happen when people plan a big event,

Something gets forgotten.

And what got forgotten in this case,

Was the fairy Magotine

Magotine was the most black-hearted and sour fairy in the world.

And even though she was not invited to the christening,

She came anyway,

In a black sour puff of smoke.

All the fairies but one have already offer their wished to the baby princesses.

When Magotine appeared,

She hobbled up to the cradle,

Touched one of the babies on the cheek and cried:

"My wish for you is perfect ugliness."

And then she disappeared.

The queen cried and screamed

Until the last fairy,

The one who has not to give her wish said:

"Your Majesty, maybe I can help.

Here is my gift to the Princess:

Although she will be ugly, she will still find great happiness."

And the Queen had to be happy with that.

Time passed, and the two little Princesses grow up.

The pretty one, Bellet, was as ??? and freshly-colored as her rose;

But the other one, Laideronnette,

Grow up to be so hideous that no one could bear to look at her.

Finally, when she was 18 years old, she said to her parents:

" I love you so much, but I cannot stand living here anymore.

Please let me live as mistress of the castle by the sea.

I should be all by myself there.

And there will be nobody's eyes to remind me how ugly I am."

The King and Queen grieved,

But they love their daughter,

But they let her go.

[music]

Laideronnette was happy at the castle.

She was not lonely,

For she had books to read,

Walks to take,

Her harps to go to play,

And her pet kitten to giggle at.

One day she was taking her favorite walk through a leafy forest,

When suddenly a huge green squirmy serpent rear up in front of her.

She screamed in terror and ran shuddering back to the castle.

She never took the leafy forest walk again.

The following week, Laideronnette decided to take a swim at the seashore.

Suddenly, as she was swimming, a wicked storm struck.

The waves grew larger and larger,

And Laideronnette was afraid she was going to drown!

Luckily, she saw a green log floating there.

She reached the log, threw herself up,

And to a horror, felt the log move under her!

It was none other than a green serpent!

Laidernnette fainted.

The next thing she knew,

She was lying on a couch,

In a splendid white bedroom she had never seen before.

And around her, smiling, were dozens of tiny creatures.

They looked like Chinese idles.

When she sat up they bowed and curtsied to her.

The bells on the little hats chimed most adorably.

"We are the Pagodas", they said.

"We are here to make you happy."

And they danced and sang for Laideronnette,

And she was enchanted.

They led her to an even more beautiful apartment,

Which they said it was for her.

And they told her to call them anytime she needed anything.

Laideronnette remained in Pagoda, for that was the name of the country.

For several months, she was very happy there.

But the longer she stayed, the more curious she became.

"Who is your ruler?" she asked one day.

"The King!" the Pagoda said,

"It is he who told us to take such good care of you!"

"I would like to meet him and thank him", Laideronnette said.

The next day, she was taken to the throne room of the Palace.

The room was very grand, but the great throne was empty.

"I hear you wish to see me", said a beautiful voice.

"But it cannot be, because the fairy Magotine had put a curse on me.

For seven years, no one can see me.

Five of the years have already past,

And there are two to go.

I have been watching you these weeks, Laideronnette", he went on,

"And I have grown to love you.

Will you be my wife?"

Laideronnette was very pleased by his offer,

And said that if she was given a chance to know him better,

She might agree to it.

For the next few weeks, she spent a lot of time with the King.

Laideronnette never saw him,

But his voice was so beautiful and kind,

His word so intelligent,

That she finds herself falling in love.

The night before the wedding,

The King said to her: “Remember the curse, my dear,

For two more years I must stay invisible.

If you try to see me before then,

A terrible thing would happen.

Do you understand?"

"Oh, yes", she said: “I promise not to be curious."

It was an easy promise to make,

But it was not an easy promise to keep.

For as the months ??? on,

And Laideronnette grew to love her husband more and more,

More and more she wishes to see him.

One day, she was in the garden gathering roses,

And the King was behind a trellis.

Laideronnette slipped quietly up and peeped through at him.

And then she shrieked with terror and fell back,

For there was her husband, the green serpent.

"You have betrayed me!" he cried in a sad terrible voice.

And then he disappeared

Miserable and ashamed of herself, Laideronnette left the castle.

For two years, she wondered around at Pagoda.

One winter night, exhausted, she came to a small stream.

A Tiny fairy stood beside it.

"This is the stream of discretion" the fairy said,

"If you drink from it, you will one second be beautiful."

But Laideronnette was no longer interested in being beautiful.

"The steam of discretion" she said.

"If I had had discretion 2 years ago, I would have never broken my promise;

I would never had looked at my husband;

I would never have brought this tragedy upon us.

Discretion is something I need.

Perhaps the stream can give it to me."

So she thanked and drank.

And the fairy smiled:

"I'm very pleased with you, Laideronnette", she said,

"Instead of caring about being beautiful,

Your only thought was to be a better person.

And so you shall be rewarded."

Laideronnette was given two wonderful rewards.

The first was when she saw her reflection in the water,

She gasped at the sight:

She was absolutely beautiful now!

Golden and pink and perfect.

And the second reward was the young man who came up and kneed beside her,

As he spoke through happy tears,

Laideronnette recognized him by his voice.

He was her lost and loved husband.

The two of them embraced and cried and kissed.

And they are happy together until the end of their time.

[music]

It is nearly evening now,

My servant has brought in tea,

And my cat Sido has snuggled up by my side.

Sido is old too,

She loves warms and peace and memories as I do.

When I was a child,

I had another cat, Heras.

Heras was small and slick and he kept himself very dapper.

"He is like me", Monsieur Havel used to say.

It was he who gave this cat to me.

One summer, he was planning to go away on a trip,

And we would not be seeing him for several months.

One the day he left,

I was in tears.

"Cheer up, little Mimi", he said,

"What present would you like me to bring back to you from travels?"

"A cat!", I answered.

And sure enough, the day Monsieur Ravel Returned,

Heras was with him.

We sat, that afternoon, the three of us, in the nursery room,

The cat curling on my lap,

And Ravel stretched out alongside as on a rock.

"I know a story about another girl who was asked to choose her own present." he said.

"But she chooses something very different from a cat."

"What did she choose?" I asked him eagerly.

And, propping himself on one elbow,

He began the tale of Beauty and the Beast.

Once upon a time,

In the days when France was covered with dark woods and darker mysteries,

There lived a merchant with his three daughters.

He has once been a wealthy man,

And his daughters had worn the finest dresses in the kingdom.

But recently, several of the ships have been lost at sea,

And now all the money was gone.

The two oldest daughters could not bear to be poor,

And they did nothing but whine and complain.

But the youngest daughter, Beauty,

Simply hung up her fine dresses and went to work.

She scrubbed, she cleansed, she prepared the meals,

And she comforted her poor father and his sadness.

Then one day, he came to her with wonderful news.

"Beauty", he said, “A miracle has happened.

One of my ships has returned to port.

A fortune has been restored.

We will be rich again!"

He set off for the town at once.

As he was leaving, he hugged his daughters to him.

"What would you like for a present?" he asked.

"A fine dress", said the first.

"A rich jewel", said the second.

But Beauty only smiled.

"a rose", she said, “only a rose."

The merchant rode to the city

And found that the miracle had not happen after all.

Yes, one of his ships had come into port,

But the spices and fabrics on board had been ruined by the salt water.

So he started home again, even poorer then when he had set out.

On the way home, he had to ride through a thorny black wood.

A huge thunderstorm suddenly struck.

And the merchant, already lost, became terrified.

"I'll never find the way out", he thought. “I’ll never see my daughters again"

At that moment, a golden lightening shuddered through the sky.

And the merchant could clearly see what lay in front of him.

It was a castle, enormous and black.

With his last bit of strength, he rode towards it.

When the merchant reached the castle,

He know he had entered a strange fairy land indeed.

He was welcomed into the great hall;

His dripping cloak was taken away;

His horse was stapled;

He's given an elegant dinner.

And he was put to bed in a soft sheet.

But in all the deed, he did not see a single soul.

All the works were done by ghostly unseen hands.

And he felt the breath of spirit all about him.

In the morning, the merchant woke early.

Afraid of the magic around him, he wanted to get back home as soon as possible.

He dressed quickly, left the castle,

And found his horse, beautifully groomed, waiting for him.

But as the merchant was riding away through the garden,

His eyes fell upon a wonderful rose tree.

He thought of Beauty and her wish for a rose.

So he bent and picked one.

There was a sudden roar, a roar terribly loud as last night's thunderstorm.

The merchant looked up and screamed.

For there, in the path,

Dressed in velvet and silks like a couture,

Was the most hideous beast he had ever seen.

The great monster came closer,

"This is how you repay my hospitality?" the animal roared.

"I give you shelter, dinner, a bed, and you steal my rose.

For that, you will die."

"Oh, spare me!" the merchant cried.

"I only wanted the rose for one of my daughters."

A cunning look came into the beast's face.

"You have daughters?

Well then, I will give you a choice.

If one of your daughters is willing to come back here in your place,

I will spare your life.

If they refuse,

Then you will return here to die.

And do not think you can escape,

For I have enchanted your horse.

You will return here in three days,

With either your daughter, or yourself."

The miserable merchant got on his horse and rode home.

When he told his daughters the story of what had happened,

The two oldest cried and run and screamed.

But Beauty was very calm.

"The matter's very simply", she said.

"The whole thing is my fault.

And so I will go back into the Beast's castle in your place."

The merchant would not hear of the idea.

But on the third morning,

before he was even awake,

Beauty stole out of the house and jumped on the back of the horse.

And by late afternoon, she was at the castle of the beast.

She found herself as the same strange fairytale as her father had.

She was taken inside the castle by unseen hands,

And led to a beautiful bedroom.

The closet was full of lovely dresses,

The shelves full of delicate treasures and interesting books.

Beauty spend the day wondering around the grand castle and ??????grounds.

But still she saw nobody.

That evening, when the clock struck seven,

She was led by unseen hands into the dining hall.

She sat down and waited.

"Welcome, Beauty", said a low voice,

And in walked the Beast.

Beauty was too kind to show the beast how much his ugliness frightened her,

So she neither screamed nor ran away.

She only thanked him politely for his kindness in making her so comfortable.

He jointed her at the table, and they talked through the meal.

She was surprised to see what an interesting and amusing companion he was!

At the end of dinner, he turned to her and said,

"With a look of great lonely sadness, Beauty, will you marry me?"

As kind as Beauty was, there was still only one answer.

"No, Beast, I could never marry you."

In silence, he walked away.

The months had passed in the same way.

Beauty's days were filled with loveliness,

But also with loneliness.

So, more and more, she began to look forward to her evening with the Beast.

How kind he was.

How they laugh together.

How interesting he was to talk to.

But every night he asked the same question,

"Beauty, will you marry me?"

And his voice seems to grow sadder and more hopeless every time he said it.

And she hated to hurt him.

But still her answer was always the same,

"No, my Beast, I could never marry you."

As time went on, Beauty began to miss her family.

One day, she asked the Beast if she could go home for a visit.

The Beast grew very sad,

But he gave his permission.

"You must promise to come back in a month though, Beauty."

He told her with a strange smile,

"Or I shall die of a broken heart."

Beauty promised and went home.

Her family were thought her dead long ago.

What an over joy to see her.

And she, in turn, was thrilled to find them in happy circumstances.

Since she had been gone,

Two of her father's ships had come in and the family was rich again.

Beauty had a wonderful visit.

It was so busy and so marry that never once she think of the Beast.

And then one night, a month the day that Beauty had left the castle,

She had a dream.

She dreamed she saw the Beast,

He was lying by the fountain in front of the castle,

And he was dying.

She heard him whisper, “Beauty..."

And she knew that his heart has broken,

Because she had not returned to him.

Beauty woke from the dream, sprang out of bed, and dressed quickly.

"Where are you going", her sisters demanded.

"I'm going to my Beast!"

Within minutes, she said Goodbye to her father and got on her horse

And was riding through the dark forest towards the castle.

By day which she founded, chilly and damp as in her dream,

And there, lying by the fountain, was the still form of the Beast.

"Beast!" she screamed.

But it was too late.

He didn't answer.

She ran to him and held his heavy hairy head in her arms.

She looked at his face,

The face that when she first seen it,

She had thought it was the ugliest in the world.

But now all she could see in it,

Was his kindness and his gentleness and his love for herself.

"Beast", she wept.

And her tears fell on his fur.

"Beast, you mustn’t die.

You must live, live, so we can be married,

For I love you and I want to be with you always."

With those words, the Beast's eyes opened.

And still weeping, Beauty lean forward and kissed him.

And when she did, something wonderful happened.

For suddenly, the Beast began to change!

The furry body dissolved away,

And there, lying in Beauty's arms, was not a hideous monster,

But a radiant young prince.

The Prince gazed in the Beauty's face

With eyes that were long-last, no longer lonely and sad.

"Thank you, my Beauty", he said,

"You have released me from a terrible spell."

"Not I", she whispered, “it was love. And it released us both."

[music]

I fell asleep just now, before the fire, and had a strange dream.

I found myself in a beautiful garden.

The most beautiful garden I had ever seen.

I had the left the coming from in front of me,

So I walked forward until I came to a large lounge.

It was full of people.

I felt very shy, so I quickly stepped backwards and hide behind a tree.

What a wonderful sight it was.

All the fairy folks were there.

I saw Tom Thumb and his brothers sitting comfortably by the Ogre and his wife!

They were all laughing at some joke.

I saw Beauty, one arm around her father, one arm around her Beast Prince,

Never to be separated from each other again.

I saw the Sleeping Princess coming down the castle steps, hand in hand with her prince.

And I saw Laideronnette and her King, laughing at the dances of a hundred tiny Pagodas.

And then suddenly, one Pagoda looked over right at me and pointed.

All the faces turned toward me, smiling, curious.

Shy and ashamed, I came out from my hiding place.

Two of the Pagodas took me by the hands and led me across the lounge to a large tree.

And there, sitting on a chair beneath the tree, was my dear Maurice Ravel.

"Hallo, little Mimi", he said without surprise.

"I have a story to tell you."

I got on his lap, and he began.

"Once upon a time..."