Congratulations to the winners of the Beauty & the Beast Fairy Tale Writing Contest, Ryleigh Staub and Cambria Goodenbery. The contest was open to every grade level in the district. Winning entries were distributed at all performances of the High School Drama Club’s presentation of "Beauty & the Beast".
Second grade student Ryleigh Staub’s entry, “The Fairy Bunnies and the Dragon”, tells the story of magical bunnies who work together to find a solution when a fierce-looking dragon arrives in the forest. Eighth grade student Cambia Goodenbery’s entry, “After the Happily Ever After” picks up the story of Beauty and the Beast after the enchantment is broken. The story follows Chip and Mrs. Potts, now human again, on their quest to find the rest of their family. Both entries are available to read below.
Congratulations to the winners and to everyone who submitted an entry.
The Fairy Bunnies and the Dragon
By: Ryleigh Staub, grade 2
Once upon a time there were fairy bunnies who lived in a village in a magical forest. It was beautiful because of the bright pink flowers and their wood homes decorated with vines which had pretty flowers. There was a palace with a bunny queen, king, prince and princess who watched over the bunnies of the village. Every once in a while, a predator would come by, so the bunnies would make themselves invisible so the predator wouldn't see them.
One day a dragon came to the village. The dragon was red with huge horns on his head. He was looking for food. When the bunnies tried to
disappear, the dragon could hear them disappearing! Zap! He looked around to find the noise. The bunnies ran inside the palace to tell the queen that the dragon could hear them disappear. The queen got the guards to try to catch the dragon, but the dragon was too fast for them.
The bunnies were very nervous. They decided that they were going to try to hide in some of the trees in hopes that the dragon was too busy to see them. The fairy bunnies used their wings to fly to the tops of the trees. All of the sudden, they heard a loud ROARRRRRR!!!
Most of the trees had holes in them, so the bunnies hid in the holes. When it seemed like the dragon was gone, they quickly came out and decided to talk about the problem. Some of the bunnies thought they should talk to the dragon, but others were too scared. The fairy bunnies took a vote and talking won. Instead of the queen or any other bunny going to talk to the dragon alone, they decided to go together. The fairy bunnies found the dragon in ci mountain close by. The dragon looked very lonely. When the bunnies came closer, they started talking to the dragon. The dragon said, "Oh, did I scare you? I was looking for food and friends!"
The bunnies said, "We could be your friends." After that, the dragon and foir8 bunnies became friends. The bunnies now knew not to doubt someone who looked scary. Instead, they now know to always try talking first. If you ever visit the magical forest village, you will see the dragon with his large wooden house living right next to the fairy bunnies. Every year they all work together to plant seeds to keep the forest beautiful.
After the Happily Ever After
by Cambria Goodenbery, grade 8
Once upon a time, there was a young boy named Chip. Chip worked in a castle for a prince and the prince was punished for his bad deeds. The prince turned into a beast and everyone else in the castle turned into a magical object. Then the prince fell in love with a beautiful girl named Belle and they had a true love's kiss. Everyone was turned back to normal and everything was perfect. Or so it was thought.
Chip and his mother Mrs. Potts decided to leave the castle after being trapped there for many years. “Mother, are we really going to finally go home?” Chip asked, excitedly. “Yes, Chip. We are finally free.” Chip and Mrs. Potts made it back after half an hour. They walked into their home to find a note from a dear friend of Mrs. Potts stuck to the counter with a blue piece of duct tape. The note read, “Dear Mrs. Potts, I am unsure when you will return, but I wanted you to know that this has happened while you were away. Your son Benny is missing. Your husband came home one day to find him missing. Your husband went on a journey to look for him and was found dead a few towns over. I am terribly sorry for your loss. I hope that by the time you’re reading this that Benny has returned and is safe and sound. -Merideth.” The letter was dated three years ago.
“Mother? What does that letter say? And where are Father and Benny?” Chip asked. “Chip… I must sit down.” Mrs. Potts said as she walked over to the couch. Chip grabbed the letter and tried to read it, but couldn’t figure out most of the words. “Chip. Your father has passed away, and your twin brother is missing.” Mrs. Potts informed. “What? Mother, what am I going to do without Benny and Father?” Chip cried. “It’s okay Chip. We’ll get through this together.”
After a day of mourning, the two of them woke up the next morning and decided they had to do something about Benny’s disappearance. “But Mother, what if we die on the journey like Father?” Chip asked. “Don’t worry Chip. I have a magical book that we will take with us. It was passed down through generations and has kept your whole family safe on countless journeys.” Mrs. Potts answered. Mrs. Potts grabbed the magical book she spoke of from the attic. The book read ‘Potts Family History’. Her and Chip then embarked on the journey.
“Mother, how do we know which way to go?” Chip asked. “Well this book we have helps us. It helps us know which way to go on our journey and it will help us fight.” Mrs. Potts replied. Chip and Mrs. Potts started to walk towards a huge lake near the end of their town. Mrs. Potts lowered her head and kneeled to the ground. “I don’t know how we’re going to get past this!” She said. “Can we go around it?” Chip asked. “No, it’s too large.” Mrs. Potts countered. Chip threw a pebble in the water in anger. As the pebble began to sink, he saw a bright purple flower arise. He walked out onto it and it was able to hold him! “Mother look! I threw a pebble in the water and a flower came up!” Chip yelled. He threw in another pebble and another purple flower appeared. “Follow me!” Chip said, as he kept hopping on the flowers. Mrs. Potts followed Chip and tried to not let him get too far.
Chip saw a large being stir in the water. The splashes became larger and larger as the beast arose from the water. A giant, pink sea monster came out of the lake. It had green spikes along its back and all three of its eyes narrowed in on Chip and Mrs. Potts. Chip screamed and ran back to the flower Mrs. Potts was on, five flowers away from where Chip was. “Mother, what do we do?” Chip yelled. “Grab the book! I left it on the edge of the lake!” Chip ran along all of the flowers as quickly as he could. He grabbed the book and opened it up. All of the spirits poured out of the book and floated over to the sea monster. Chip’s mouth gaped open as all of the spirits attacked the monster.
And as quickly as it had appeared, the sea monster was gone, thanks to all of the spirits. “What just happened?” Chip yelled. “Oh, have I forgotten to tell you what the book does? Well this book is filled with all of the spirits in our family from previous family journeys. When we open this book, the spirits come out and help us fight.” Mrs. Potts explained. “Goodness. That’s pretty impressive.” Chip said. Chip and Mrs. Potts continued hopping on the flowers until they finally made it to the end of the lake. “Now which way shall we go, Mother?” Chip asked. “The book is pointing us this way.” Mrs. Potts said, pointing at a series of tall mountains. Chip quivered, but was forced to move on for the sake of his brother.
Chip and Mrs. Potts trenched through the mountains for what seemed like ages. “Mother, are we there yet?” Chip whined. “I’m not sure, Chip. We have to keep going though.” Mrs. Potts said. The two of them continued walking until they could nearly see the end of the mountain terrain. They both noticed a deep hole in the side of the mountain. A cave. They walked towards the cave and suddenly, a group of goblins emerged from it. Chip screamed and slowly walked away from the goblins. “Mother, where is the book?” Chip whispered. “I’m not sure. I believe we must have dropped it.” Mrs. Potts replied. “Okay Chip, I’m going to look for the book. You’re going to stay here.” Mrs. Potts ran back towards the mountains in search of the book. Chip ran and hid behind a tall rock, hoping the goblins hadn’t seen him yet. Three of the goblins walked down the pathway Mrs. Potts was headed, but one headed towards the rock Chip was behind. It peeked over the rock and screamed to his friends about Chip. Chip ran away screaming for help from his mother.
Then, Mrs. Potts came back and opened the book in front of the goblins. Once again, the spirits poured out of the book and started to attack the goblins. Chip looked away, as he thought the goblins were coming to attack him, but when he looked up the goblins were gone. Chip looked around, confused. “What happened?” He asked. Mrs. Potts picked up the book and waved it to show Chip. Chip ran to hug his mother in happiness that she had just barely been able to save him.
Chip and Mrs. Potts made it out of the mountain terrain soon after the fight with the goblins. Chip grabbed the book from his mother and felt the book pull him towards the forest. “Next stop, the forest!” Chip screamed. Both of them walked into the forest, still searching for Chip’s long lost twin brother.
As Chip and Mrs. Potts were walking through the forest, they heard a twig break. They immediately turned their heads to the sound. The two of them saw something rustle through the trees. Mrs. Potts walked toward the noise and called out, “Hello? Who’s there?” A figure appeared from behind the trees. It was a lady dressed in a green dress made of leaves.
“Grace!” The lady exclaimed. “How nice of you to finally see me again!” “Mother, who is this? Do you know her?” Chip asked his mother. Mrs. Potts looked at Mary, ignoring the question from Chip. “Well, why are you out her dear sister?” Mary asked. “I have lost my dear son Benny. I have been on a quest to find him and I was led this way.” Mrs. Potts replied. “Oh, why what led you? Was it that stupid book that our parents gave to you instead of me?” Mary snapped. “Mary, can’t you please get over that? I am looking for Benny, that is all that's important to me right now. I’ve seen a letter from a dear friend telling me that he was missing and that my husband has also passed, can’t you help me?” Mrs. Potts asked. “Oh really? What did the note say? Something like ‘I am terribly sorry for your loss. I hope that by the time you’re reading this that Benny has returned and is safe and sound. -Merideth.’” Mary said.
Mrs. Potts looked at Mary in shock. Mrs. Potts began to think and thought about where Mary would have put Benny. She began roaming around the forest, looking for where he might be hidden. Chip dropped the book and ran to look with his mother. “Hey, that’s enough! Stop it!” Mary screamed, and began to grow larger. She grew larger and larger until she towered over Chip and Mrs. Potts completely. Mary reached down for the magic book and opened it up. The spirits began to pour out of the book once again and this time they went towards Chip and Mrs. Potts! They ran and hid behind bushes hoping the spirits wouldn’t notice them, but that was not the case. The spirits attacked and knocked Mrs. Potts out! But then, the spirits realized that Mary was fighting for an unjust reason, and turned back against her! They fought and fought until Mary was knocked down before flying back into the book.
Chip ran over to Mrs. Potts and shook her. “Mother? Mother, wake up!” Chip screamed. Mrs. Potts opened her eyes and looked up at Chip. “Did you win?” Mrs. Potts groaned. “Yes Mother! We defeated her, now let’s find Benny!” Chip helped Mrs. Potts rise to her feet and they continued to search the forest for Benny. “Mother, come here! I found a cave, Benny may be in here!” Chip screamed. Mrs. Potts came over and helped Chip look for Benny in the cave.
Chip could see a shadow against the wall. Benny came out from around the corner. “Benny!” Chip screamed. “Chip!” Benny yelled back. Chip and Benny ran out of the cave towards Mrs. Potts. They all joined in on a hug as they heard another noise from the cave. Mr. Potts came out from the cave! “Father!” Chip screamed. The four of them all hugged in joy of being reunited. And they all lived happily ever after.