For this reading assignment, I think it's safe to say I saved the best for last! The Fairy Tales: Beauty and the Basilisk, was a variation of the famous fairytale, Beauty and the Beast. This is a story of both greed and selflessness, evil and good. The young daughter, the beauty, asks her mother for three roses from the market. After spending a long day at the market, and growing tired on her way home, the old mother gets lost. When she realizes she is lost, she comes across a beautiful bunch of roses growing. At this point, she realizes she forgot the one thing her daughter asked of her: the roses! This is where her greed begins. She begins to steal the roses that are growing and the Basilisk comes out of the castle, angry and ready to punish the old mother. The Basilisk decides the only punishment that will do is to send her daughter to the castle, forever. The mother tries to reason, but the Basilisk threatens to cut her to pieces unless she returns with her daughter. This where the selflessness comes in: the daughter goes to the castle with no complaints. After caring for the Basilisk for a few days, it requests that the daughter cut off it's head. Even though she refuses at first, she realizes she has no other choice and does the horrible deed. A serpent crawls out of the body, and she must cut that off as well. Then, a handsome young prince appears, and says he is the owner of the large castle. They get married, and obviously live happily ever after.
Story source: The Key of Gold by Josef Baudis (1922)
Image Information: Basilisk by Friedrich Johann Justin Bertuch (1747-1822)
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