I have/had a story which has been powerful for me since childhood.
Not sure if I read it somewhere originally, or elaborated on a theme .
I lived in a fantasy world of knights and princess most of the time...(?past tense
As I remember,it's about one of King Arthurs' Knights..on a quest...
He meets an adversary ( bound to have been an old hag,I'm afraid)..and is cursed..
He must live as a dreadful ,bloodthirsty beast/wolf, and can return to his manly form only for the night of a full moon - changing back into the beast as dawn breaks.
Well,one moonlit night,he is wandering the dark forest,as the handsome,gentle knight he really is
when
of course
he meets ...a beautiful,sad maiden -
( in my memory,she is weeping because her cruel father, a magician,has sent her into the wilderness ,or she has run there,because she has refused to marry an old magician chosen by her father;but that may be my own childhood Freudian editing...)
They walk and talk, long into the night - (very important, spiritual connecting and identification part..)
He understands about her father - as a Knight ,he believes in magicians and understands their eccentricities .
The first man ever to get her - it's like coming home..
He is strong and handsome,his armour glistens and shines in the moonlight,how safe she feels...
They begin to fall deeply in love.
He tells her he must go,before dawn,but arranges to meet her again next full moon..
A glimpse of what she has always longed for..she can't wait for the month to pass...
When they meet again,it is even better...She begins to "live for the full moon" when they can be together..
This continues for a year.They are both heartbroken at being apart.
One night,the maiden follows him in secret ,as he leaves her.
She watches in horror as he takes his beastly shape and rampages about the woods,slavering at the mouth,growling,roaring terrifying all living creatures,gratuitously attacking anything warm blooded...
Then,blood dripping from his mouth,he savages and devours a beautiful fawn.
My poor,poor man...
Who has done this to him? it is clearly a curse...
Her gentle Knight,forced to commit such atrocities...
She tries to approach him, but he attacks her and she only just manages to escape with her life,suffering serious injury.
(bit like Jenny Agutter in American Werewolf in London)
When they next meet,he asks her about the scars and cuts covering her skin and when she tells her story,he reveals the curse he is under.
Sobbing at how she is hurt and how he can do nothing about it all,he begs her to leave him,he is not worthy of her...It could happen again,he may not realise...
She says there ,there,it's not your fault you have this curse,and after all,it was my choice to follow you..
It's not really you ,darling,is it? It's a nasty curse...I know the real you...that's who I love....
They pledge their devotion and she says she will gladly settle for one night a month with him, since the love they share is so deep,this will be better than not having him.
After all,it is only she who knows his secret.The real him.
They are bonded by the curse
She decides to stay near him in the forest while he is a beast, and to bring meat for him so that he doesn't have to savage the creatures (presumably she gets a butcher to slaughter the deer humanely and brings him cutlets)
She is distressed to find that she remains in danger from him and that he continues to kill innocent Bambi's.
Every living thing in the forest loathes and fears him....But she knows this is because they see only the beast...If they realised the beast was really the gentle Knight, they'd understand - even admire- her faith.
She goes on a quest to find out how to lift the curse.(A long process involving many significant adventures,but seemingly not much enlightenment)
She is told,initially, that if he kills and eats a young maiden,the curse will break.
She decides that she will sacrifice herself for him and goes to the forest and ties herself to a tree to await his savage attack....(!!)
As she waits, her magician father arrives,having been heartbroken by her disappearance, he has given up on the older magician idea and wants to make amends.
Overjoyed to find her, he is slightly concerned when she tells him about her boyfriend.
However,luckily ,he is is a wise and powerful sage, and remembers that ,in fact, there is another way,although it is dangerous.
The cursed knight can be changed from a beast back to a man...
On the night of the full moon,at the first light of dawn,just as the change from man back to beast begins,a maiden
who truly loves him,
must
hold on tight and hang on;
proclaiming her love aloud while the change occurs.She must not let go whatever happens,however fiercely the beast rages and tries to savage her...
If her love is true,he will not change, but will become her gentle knight, and will be her true love forever
If her love is not true ,or falters; if her fear causes her to let go,or her injuries overcome her....he will kill her and remain a beast and damned forever....
......LA LA LA NOT LISTENING....
THEY ALL LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER
it's true,I believed it since I was about seven.....
Do you think there could be a good novel there somewhere.Maybe I should copy write it..
Or perhaps the story's been told on these pages many, many times.....