The Ogre Within

Used to be, when a witch put a spell on a princess, she’d make it so the princess stayed her normal, beautiful self during the day but turned into a terrible ogre when the sun set. The spell was always broken in the same way- true love’s first kiss. The princesses, now queens and quite unlikely to transform into ogres, began to wonder why it was that such a thing as a kiss from one’s true love broke the spells. After many years the discovery was made that in the moment that their future husbands had first kissed them, each of the queens had felt and thought the same thing; that they were truly loved and truly beautiful and that, at least to their prince, they would always be so. With this discovery came the discovery that curses were given power by the thoughts and feelings of the cursed. That day, the witches lost the power they’d had over the princesses of the lands.

The witches were angry that their secret had been uncovered and they resented their loss of power. For the first time in history, all the witches gathered and together they began plotting their revenge. It is widely known that witches are intelligent and cunning creatures, and together it did not take them long at all to plan how they would punish those who had denied them their power. The witches began to weave the greatest enchantment ever wrought. It would not affect the princesses appearance, oh no, for they knew that wouldn’t work anymore. Instead, the wicked hags planned to attack and change even more crucial parts of the princess’s beings- their hearts and minds. If being ugly wouldn’t hurt the princesses anymore, then they would make each and every daughter of man, no matter how beautiful, feel that they were ugly and that any praise they received was merely a kind lie. This curse would go farther than any curse before it had ever gone. It would pass from mother to daughter, and as the girls grew older they would feel more and more that they were without any beauty at all. 

This was how the womanly vices of the present were born. Makeup, high heels, elaborate and flattering clothing. Hair salons, stockings, and even surgical treatment to change the way you look. The idea that youth is beauty. All a mask, an elaborate disguise. An attempt to hide who we truly are, what we fear cannot be beautiful or worthy. Sometimes, we feel a bit of the queens’ relief- in the kiss or embrace from one we love or in the eyes of a very small child, not yet marred by the curse of the witches. Even worse, the curse spread to the men and boys. They too feel unworthy, or will have fleeting thoughts that the most beautiful of people are surely those who wear The Disguise. 

But there is a way to break the spell. It is not as simple a fix as a kiss. No, not anymore. Now the way to rid yourself, and others, of the spell is to accept and to love and to truly see the beauty in each of us. For when we love and are loved we begin to feel beautiful, and in the moment we begin to love ourselves, well, we are more beautiful than any princess could hope to be. 

Thanks  for reading! Please leave a comment to let me know what you think!