And as he gazed in horror,
the fairy's voice whispered, "Your soul
has become more ugly than your shape is;
you yourself have deformed it."
The poor beast rushed away from the
sound of her words, but in a moment he
stumbled into a trap, set by bear-catchers.
When the trappers found him they were
delighted to have caught a curiosity, and
they immediately dragged him to the palace
courtyard. There he heard the whole
court buzzing with gossip. Prince Cherry
had been struck by lightning and killed,
was the news, and the five favorite courtiers
had struggled to make themselves
rulers, but the people had refused them,
and offered the crown to Suliman, the
good old tutor.
Even as he heard this, the prince saw
Suliman on the steps of the palace, speaking
to the people. "I will take the crown
to keep in trust," he said. "Perhaps the
prince is not dead."
"He was a bad king; we do not want
him back," said the people.
"I know his heart," said Suliman, "it
is not all bad; it is tainted, but not corrupt;
perhaps he will repent and come back to
us a good king."
When the beast heard this, it touched
him so much that he stopped tearing at
his chains, and became gentle. He let his
keepers lead him away to the royal
menagerie without hurting them.
Life was very terrible to the prince, now,
but he began to see that he had brought
all his sorrow on himself, and he tried to
bear it patiently.
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