Innocence

Once upon a time, in a land far away, lived a farmer and his three daughters. The farmer loved his daughters greatly and did everything he could to provide them with the best life possible. One Spring, he had great success with his milking cows and decided to take this milk to the nearby city to sell.

As he was preparing to go, he asked his daughters if there was anything that they would like him to bring back for them. The oldest and youngest daughters each asked for things like clothing, jewelry and beauty products, while the middle child only asked her father to bring her back something beautiful. When he asked what this entailed all she replied was that she wanted something beautiful reminding her of her mother who passed away when she was a child.

So the father set off for town to sell his milk. While in the city he found all kinds of things the oldest and youngest daughter would love but there was nothing beautiful to bring the middle child to remind her of her mother. He thought that nothing would do her justice and had given up his search.

However, on the way home, the road the farmer usually took had a bridge that was out due to the recent storms. On his detour through the country side, the farmer spotted the most magnificent winery he had ever seen in his life. At one end, a great estate overlooked the whole vineyard. While at the other end there was a small stone garden filled with hundreds of thousands of heart-shaped rocks. The father felt that this would be the perfect thing to bring back to his middle daughter.

As soon as he had collected the perfect stone, a beast of a man appeared enraged that the father was trespassing on his property and stealing his heart stones. In his anger the beast was ready to kill the father who began pleading with him and trying to explain what he was doing.

Finally, the beast lent an ear to the man and heard him out. The beast told the father to take the stone back to the daughter and in return she would be sent to be a maid in the beasts home.

The father was devastated but knew that there was no other option other than to send his daughter back to the beast. Once she arrived, it took a mere 3 weeks for the beast to realize she was no ordinary girl. She began to win over the beast and soften his heart.

The daughter was kind and caring. Despite the beast trying to make the girls life difficult and drive her away, she continued to be there for him. Time and time again, she was ready to wake up early and make him breakfast and serve him hand and foot.

Before long the beast fell head over heels for this girl and he asked her to be his wife. The couple had the most beautiful wedding ceremony overlooking the vineyard in the garden of heart-shaped stones.

The two then lived happily ever after overlooking the most beautiful winery in all the land.

Author's Note: This original story was based around a mother and her three daughters; however, I felt that a story would flow well as a father and his three daughters because it seemed fitting that the father was going out on a trip and bringing back his daughters a gift. I also chose to change up what the daughters were wanting from the city ever so slightly. The biggest change I made was taking the basilisk from the original story and turning him into a beast in my story. In the original story, the mother stole roses out of the basilik's garden because she had forgotten her youngest daughters request. I chose to change the rose into a rock because when I was a kid anytime my family went on a big road trip, my siblings and I would all bring back a little rock to remember it. One rock I found was in Seattle, Washington and it was shaped as a heart. Ever since then I have always been on the look for any little heart shaped stones to add to my collection and have been able to add quite a few. I hope that if readers learn one thing it is that little things are of value. Sometimes the little things can be more important than the monetary gifts.

Heart of Stone (Source: Wikimedia)

Bibliography. The Three Roses from The Key of Gold by Josef Baudis (1992). Web Source