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AN: This fanfic is based off a script me and my best friend RalphandSam55 wrote together on Deviant Art. Some of the chapters here will be written by him, starting with this one. Please check out his other work like his Scooby Doo stories and Sisters Forever. Enjoy!…
Once upon a time, in a faraway land, near a forest where the deer and rabbits foraged, a young prince lived in a shining castle. Although he had everything his heart desired and was surrounded by servants who loved him, the prince was spoiled, selfish and unkind.
But then, one winter's night, an old beggar woman came to the castle and offered him one of two books she had written in return for shelter from the bitter cold. One of them was a beautifully illustrated book about a mermaid who lived in a kingdom where her father forbade music after the death of his beloved wife. The other had terrible illustrations and was a spin on the story of Red Riding Hood, with a mystery theme.
The prince was repulsed by the Red Riding Hood book, as well as the beggar's haggard appearance. He grabbed the book about the Mermaids from her wrinkled hands and turned the old woman away. But she warned him not to be deceived by appearances, for beauty is found within. After he dismissed her again, the Prince sat by the fire. He read the gorgeously illustrated literature… only to find that the whole story was poorly written, mean-spirited, and unfunny. He couldn't imagine how something so beautiful could be so horrid!
No sooner had he finished reading, when the same beggar appeared out of nowhere in the room and showed him the ugly Red Riding Hood book. He reluctantly began to read it, and was shocked to find it was not only funny, smartly written, and filled with very likeable characters, but it could be considered an outright masterpiece, even, regardless of its poor illustrations. And to top it all off, the old woman's ugliness melted away to reveal a beautiful blue fairy. The prince tried to apologise, but it was too late, for she had seen from him turning her down in her haggard appearance, as well as his choosing the awful story over the great one, just in terms of illustrations, that there was no love in his heart. And as punishment, she transformed him into a hideous monster known as a Grinch, complete with a new voice and a much grosser personality to go with it.
Adding further punishment, the Blue Fairy placed a powerful spell on the castle and all who lived there. For you see, the serpents in the castle were the only people the Prince legitimately respected. And the Fairy thought extending the punishment to them would further show the Prince-turned Grinch the consequences of his actions, which affect more than just him.
Ashamed of his monstrous form, the Grinch concealed himself inside his castle with a magic mirror as his only window to the outside world. But before the Blue Fairy vanished, she left a single rose in the castle, which had now turned into more of a mountain that snowed all throughout the season. The rose she had left was truly an enchanted rose, which would bloom until the Prince's twenty-first year. If he could learn to love another and earn her love in return by the time the last petal fell, then the spell would be broken. If not, he would be doomed to remain a Grinch for all time, and the rest of the castle's spell would last for all eternity.
As the years passed, he forgot he was ever a human prince and thought he was always a Grinch.
The servants, however, remembered and hoped that someone would come to break the curse. But as the Grinch's behaviour got worse, they knew that only a monster with a heart two sizes too small, like himself, would learn to love him.
Who could have a heart that small and learn to love?…
FURTHER AN:
I came up with the idea of adding books as part of the prince’s secret test of character, basing them off of two animated movies with those respective descriptions; Great animation, awful writing, and vice versa for the other one. Can you guess what they are?