Bella of the Enchanted Forest
by Sanjay Manchenella - grade 10

Far far away, in the forests of Altropia, lived a young girl called Bella. Bella was as short as the freshly cut trees,while her skin shimmered like the morning tree sap and a plumed aroma of rose petals trailed her where ever it was she went.

No one knew where it is she came from or how she came to be, but all the creatures of the wild, from the vultures to the lions, loved her and them by her as well.

For the many years she had lived in the enchanted forest, she has engaged herself in many rather unusual activities for her kind, including hunting with the wolves, catching fish with the outers and many other eccentric activities. Once, she had even tried to fly with the eagles and luckily made it out with only just a bruise.

Over the years, in which she had been thriving in the vat beauty of the wilderness, she had learnt the tongues of many animals, including the wolves, the monkey as well as the human, thanks to the old parakeet which lived near the lake reservoirs.

One bright, sunny, ordinary day the seemingly handsome prince of Altropia came along with his royal guards. His god given handsomeness had left Bella spell-bound .His broad muscular shoulders, his impeccable honey like skin, and his wavy, long black hair.

As he ventured deeper into the forest the darker and more lost it seemed to get .The very idea that a perfect being such as him who walked and talked the same way that she was inclined on doing.

Day after day the prince ventured into the forest, got lost and, by god’s grace, managed to find his way out of the enchanted forest. And day after day the girl secretly followed the prince and his royal guards from sunrise till twilight.

One day the drop-dead good looking gentleman and his seemingly young parents had come. The seemingly young king walked up to the fair young maiden. He was a plump, pot-bellied, stubby legged man who seemed well past the age of his looks and far too monstrous to have married in the first place.

With a proud smile as if he had conquered an entire nation, he had in an almost ear-splitting voice had rambunctiously professed ,“Oh fairest maiden of all, father Sir Alexander the Great had just last night described your beauty to me and even someone as noble as him has lost words when it came to describing your beauty. I have come to see for myself and I am poised by your beauty. Please accept me as your husband and I will look after you with such care that my other 31 wives shall envy you”.

Those words had shattered her heart, ruined her dreams, and made her lose all hope on the very species she was .That very instant, her gaze turned to the actual king , the man of her dreams.“How could he do this to me ?!?!?!!!??” ,she had been sobbing on the inside .

She had been broken on the inside and for the last time she stared at the king in the feeling of defeat. She then noticed, once she adjusted her self-made reverie of the king, and had seen the truth .The king had wrinkles all over, a bald spot and white hair shone on his skin like porcupine spikes .All those muscles all those complexities and attractive imperfections , all gone. His beauty began to fade away.

Out of the heart wrenching pain of that day, she had then disappeared into the forests never to be seen again by the beasts of her own and the beauty of the animals.