(no subject)

[toothycat]

Original here.

I'm huge, green, scaly, very pretty. Everyone's afraid of me. Except Sandra. Sandra is a princess, only an ordinary one, not bewitched.
She was scared of me the first time, of course, when we met. But then she got used to me. We often play together these days, in secret, when her parents can't see. And she still often drops the ball in the pond, and I have to fetch it. I think she does it specially, so she can kiss me afterwards. I refuse, of course.
We're happy as we are, without any kisses. I'm strong, I give her rides on my shoulders. And I can run even faster than a horse! Sandra likes that. Really, there's lots of things I can do - dive to the deepest parts of the lake, and climb trees, and dig burrows. And I can tell the cliff to open up, and it obeys me. It doesn't work for Sandra, even though she's a princess. But it listens to me, because I'm not an ordinary prince, I'm bewitched.
Sandra guessed by herself that I was a prince. She's always very quick. I didn't want to admit it at first, but she told me she'd asked her mother and monsters like me didn't exist naturally. You only get them from humans, when you curse them. So I told her then that I really was a human, but a sickly and poor one, and my father was a shoemaker, not a king. She asked her mother if shoemaker's children got bewitched, and her mother told her no. Only princes do. Then Sandra told me she can remove the curse, but I wouldn't let her. I like being a monster. I'm big and strong and I can do many things. On the other hand, I wouldn't make a great prince. What's a prince without a kingdom? And to get my kingdom back, I'd have to kill Sandra's parents. I think that would upset her.
It's not very clear, for that matter, that I could take on Sandra's mother if not even dad could beat her. Of course, he wasn't a magician, and she was. That's why I became the way I am now. I don't want to change anything. When I was a prince, I was ill a lot and had a runny nose. I never get ill now. And I had to study latin and greek every day, and I can't stand them! And also... I don't want to frighten Sandra. She's used to me now, and she knows that really I'm a very handsome monster.
But can a boy who's had half his face sliced off with a halberd be handsome...?