Can Beauty and Beast be together? In one sentence? In one story? Of course; it's a universal tale.

Story Title: Beauty and the Beast

Original Novel: La Belle et la Bête
Author: Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve (published in 1740, later abridged and revised by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont in 1756)

Summary:
Beauty and the Beast is a classic French fairy tale that tells the story of a young woman named Beauty (Belle) who sacrifices herself to live in a mysterious castle with a cursed Beast. The Beast, once a prince, is trapped in his monstrous form due to a curse. Over time, Beauty learns to look beyond his frightening appearance and sees.

Reference:

Beauty and the Beast, Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont (1756).

Project Gutenberg's page for Beauty and the Beast

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What am I required to do. @joslud along with his teammate @solperez wants me to version this classical tale. Or more specifically:

Create three versions for said story, tale, or novel.
In version 1: you use narrative ellipsis.
In version 2: apply a metaphor.
In version 3: apply double meaning or ambiguity.

Task 1: I write versions of micro stories:

The title common to all these narratives could be:

Shallow Beauty

Version 1: Narrative Ellipsis

Beauty lived lavishly in the Beast’s castle, taking what she needed. She left one night, wordless, to marry a prince. The Beast sat by the empty halls, never transforming, never chasing. Some curses, it seemed, were self-imposed.

Version 2: Metaphor

Each night, Beauty dreamed of a prince. One day, she woke to chase her charming vision. She left gold for glitter. The Beast stayed behind, the treasure—his heart—hidden in the dream she abandoned.

Version 3: Double Meaning/Ambiguity

Beauty left with her prince, glancing back once. The Beast stood at the gates, unmoving. “I hope you found what you wanted,” he said. Years later, she wondered if he meant the gold… or love she never truly felt.

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Reflection:

Writing these versions of Beauty and the Beast has been an interesting experience. The process started with reflecting on the original story's themes—how appearances deceive, and how love can transform even the most cursed of souls. I wanted to take these elements and add layers of ambiguity, making the characters' choices and outcomes more open-ended, exploring the consequences of those decisions.

In adapting Beauty and the Beast, I explored the original theme of love transforming a cursed soul but left Beauty’s return open-ended. In the original, Beauty returns to the Beast after leaving, but in my room version, the outcome is uncertain—did she realize her mistake and come back, or did the Beast, still hurt, reject her? The metaphor of "gold for glitter" reflects how people often chase superficial desires, missing the deeper value. The ambiguity in their relationship mirrors real-life complexities, where mistakes and forgiveness are not always straightforward. Ultimately, I aimed to evoke questions about redemption, love, and the consequences of choices.

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Who hasn't heard about our girl with golden locks? Yes, you guessed it right!

The original Rapunzel tale, written by the Brothers Grimm and first published in Grimm's Fairy Tales in 1812, tells the story of a young girl named Rapunzel, who is imprisoned in a tall tower by a wicked witch. She has long, magical hair that the witch uses to climb up the tower. A prince discovers Rapunzel when he hears her singing and visits her. They fall in love, and eventually, the prince helps her escape. The witch finds out and punishes Rapunzel by cutting off her hair and banishing her. The prince later finds Rapunzel again, and they reunite, living happily ever after.

Grimm's Fairy Tales (1812), Brothers Grimm.

I choose this tale for task 2.

Task 2: I version another author's micro-story:

Version 1: Narrative Ellipsis

Rapunzel stared at the golden strands scattered across the floor. By dawn, they weren’t remnants—they were a rope. With the witch subdued, Rapunzel used her key to escape. The door sealed behind her, leaving the witch to climb her own walls.

Version 2: Metaphor

Rapunzel’s hair, once a golden cage, became a thread of liberation. By dawn, the strands twisted into a rope, pulling her toward freedom. But as she descended, another tower rose around her again—her escape only a new form of confinement.

Version 3: Double Meaning/Ambiguity

Rapunzel’s hair, once a prison, now a lifeline, became her escape. As she descended, the door opened. But as she stepped through, she realized the tower she’d left behind was still standing — her reflection staring back from the window.

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Reflection:

In adapting the original Rapunzel tale, I focused on the moment where the witch cuts Rapunzel's hair to prevent her escape, but I chose to explore the deeper psychological impact of captivity. Instead of simply emphasizing Rapunzel's immediate freedom, I highlighted how her years of imprisonment have shaped her perception of the world. The freedom she gains outside the tower becomes a new kind of prison for her, as she struggles to adjust to a life she’s never known. My version underscores that the real challenge isn’t just escaping captivity, but learning how to live freely when freedom itself feels foreign.

I thought about adding a title to my version of the story of Rapunzel, Invisible Prison, but since it was optional and not required, I decided to leave it out. The title might give away more information than I intend to, similar to what happened in Task 1 when I suggested the title Shallow Beauty. The title implied too much about the content of the version, so I chose to omit it in Task 2.

In these three narratives, I explore different aspects of Rapunzel’s escape.

In Version 1: Narrative Ellipsis, the story focuses on Rapunzel’s swift action and quiet escape, leaving the emotional consequences for the reader to fill in.

Version 2: Metaphor transforms her hair from a symbol of captivity to one of freedom, but it also suggests that her escape leads to a new form of confinement.

Version 3: Double Meaning/Ambiguity leaves the question of true freedom open, as Rapunzel’s escape may simply be a shift from one prison to another, highlighting the complexity of liberation. Each version reflects a different layer of the journey toward freedom.

_References:

_{- Rapunzel by the Brothers Grimm | Original Story & Summary}

_{- Rapunzel: myth or true story}

_{- One of the most popular fairy tales today, "Beauty and the Beast" comes from folkloric traditions, with literary origins in 1740 by Madame Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve in as a novella.}

_{- Beauty and the Beast" is a fairy-tale written by French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in La Jeune Américaine et les contes marins - The Young American and Marine Tales}

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