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Today I want to share a story I found by accident. I was reading a book of Italian folktales when I found a French story inside!
The Story
A poor merchant moved to the countryside with his three daughters. The youngest daughter was named Bellinda. She was kind and did all the housework.
One day, the father went to town on business. The two older sisters asked him to bring back expensive clothes. But Bellinda only asked for a rose.
On his way home, the father got lost. He found a mysterious castle where only a beast lived. The beast gave him food and a place to sleep. But when the father took a rose from the garden, the beast got angry. The beast said, “Give me your youngest daughter, or I will hurt you.”
Bellinda said yes. Her sisters were shocked and angry.
Bellinda went to live in the castle. Slowly, she learned that the beast had a warm heart. But she did not want to marry him.
She visited her family many times. Each time she came back, the beast looked more and more sick. After visiting her dying father, she found the beast almost dead too.
She cried, “If only you could live, I would marry you right now!”
The moment she said this, the beast disappeared. A beautiful prince appeared instead. He said, “I was under a curse for many years. Only true love could break it.”
They lived happily ever after. The two mean sisters became stone statues.
About This Story
You probably know this story as “Beauty and the Beast.” Most people think a French woman wrote the first version.
I did some research. The French version is about 100 years older than the Italian book. So the story probably came from France first.
But the Italian version has some special parts. For example, there is a magical tree that tells you news about your family. The Italian writer, Italo Calvino, added this. He said, “I kept about 75% of the original stories. For the other 25%, I changed things and added new parts.”
What This Story Means
Many folktales talk about “curses.” In this story, the beast lived under a curse for a long time. Finally, love freed him.
But think about it. Everyone lives under some kind of “curse.” We all have things we cannot choose. Our family background, our education, where we were born, the time we live in. These things limit us in some ways.
We all try to be free from these limitations. This is why stories about curses touch our hearts. They are about all of us.
Keep Learning
Let’s keep learning foreign languages. Reading books from other countries helps us see the world in new ways. We can find stories that open our eyes and touch our hearts.
私立学校に英語教師として勤務中、40代半ばに差し掛かったころ、荒れたクラスを立て直す策として、生徒に公言して英検1級に挑戦することを思い立つ。同様の挑戦を繰り返し、退職までに英検一級（検定連合会長賞）、TOEIC満点、国連英検SA級、フランス語一級、スペイン語一級（文科大臣賞）、ドイツ語一級、放送大学大学院修士号などの成果を得る。
アメリカで生徒への対応法を学ぶ為に研修（地銀の助成金）。最新の心理学に触れた。4都県での全発表、勤務校での教員への研修を英語で行う。現在も特別選抜クラスの授業を全て英語で行っている。「どうやって単語を覚えればいいですか？」という良くある質問に答える為、印欧祖語からの派生に基づく「生徒には見せたくない語源英単語集」を執筆中。完成間近。常日頃洋書の読破で様々な思考にふれているが、そうして得た発想の一つを生かして書いた論文がコロナ対策論文として最近入賞。賞品の牛肉に舌鼓をうっている。元英検面接委員