There was a lady named Mary. She was both kind and
beautiful, and adored by all. She lived with her two brothers, Mark and Luke. Lady
Mary had more suitors than she knew what to do with, but every time she would
agree to marry someone they would disappear. That is until Mr. Fox came along. Lady
Mary had met Mr. Fox at her father’s country house, so no one really knew much
about him. What they did know was that he was certainly brave, surely rich, and
that he was deeply loved by Lady Mary. So at last it was decided that they
should be married. Lady Mary asked Mr. Fox where he thought they should live
once they were married, he described to her his beautiful castle and where it
was located. But oddly enough, didn’t invite her or her brothers to come see
it.
A few days away from
the wedding Lady Mary decided she wanted to find the house that he described.
So when her brothers were gone, and Mr. Fox was away on business, she went out
to search for it. After quite a bit of searching she at last found it. And when
she came up to the gateway she saw written on it:
Be bold, be bold.
But as the gate was open, she went through it, and found no one there. So she went up to the doorway, and over it she found written:
Be bold, be bold, but not too bold.
She went on, till she came into the hall, and went up the stairs till she came to a door in the gallery, over which was written:
Be bold, be bold, but not too bold,
Lest that your heart's blood should run cold.
Be bold, be bold.
But as the gate was open, she went through it, and found no one there. So she went up to the doorway, and over it she found written:
Be bold, be bold, but not too bold.
She went on, till she came into the hall, and went up the stairs till she came to a door in the gallery, over which was written:
Be bold, be bold, but not too bold,
Lest that your heart's blood should run cold.
Lady Mary took a deep breath and thrust open the door and what do you
think she saw? Why, dead bodies and skeletons stained with blood. There were
children, women, and men all carved up and tortured to death. Lady Mary walked
around and examined the bodies. As she took a closer look she noticed something,
she recognized a lot of the male bodies. They were her suitors that had agreed
to marry her, but then “disappeared.” She realized that Mr. Fox must have
kidnapped them and killed them so that he could be the one to marry her.
Lady Mary thought it
was high time to get out of that horrid place, and she closed the door, went
through the gallery, and was just going down the stairs, and out of the hall,
when who should she see through the window but Mr. Fox dragging a beautiful
young lady along from the gateway to the door.
Lady Mary rushed downstairs, and hid herself behind a cask, as Mr. Fox came in with the poor unconscious young lady, Just as he got near Lady Mary, Mr. Fox saw a diamond ring glittering on the finger of the young lady he was dragging, and he tried to pull it off. But it would not come off, so Mr. Fox drew his sword, raised it, and brought it down upon the hand of the poor lady. The sword cut off the hand, which jumped up into the air, and fell right into Lady Mary's lap. Mr. Fox tried to look around for it, but gave up quickly, and continued to drag the lady’s body to the gallery. As soon as the coast was clear Lady Mary bolted out of the castle and ran home as fast as she could.
Lady Mary rushed downstairs, and hid herself behind a cask, as Mr. Fox came in with the poor unconscious young lady, Just as he got near Lady Mary, Mr. Fox saw a diamond ring glittering on the finger of the young lady he was dragging, and he tried to pull it off. But it would not come off, so Mr. Fox drew his sword, raised it, and brought it down upon the hand of the poor lady. The sword cut off the hand, which jumped up into the air, and fell right into Lady Mary's lap. Mr. Fox tried to look around for it, but gave up quickly, and continued to drag the lady’s body to the gallery. As soon as the coast was clear Lady Mary bolted out of the castle and ran home as fast as she could.
The next day happened to be the day
that the marriage contract was to be signed, so there was a celebratory
breakfast before it. Mr. Fox walked in and greeted Lady Mary and said, “My
dear, you look quite pale this morning. Is everything alright?”
“Just a had some bad dreams last night,”
Lady Mary replied. “Tell me about your dream my dear,” said Mr. Fox.
“Well I dreamed that I found your
castle in the woods. And on the gateway written was Be Bold, Be Bold,” said Lady Mary.
“But it is not so,
nor it was not so,” said Mr. Fox.
“And when I came to the doorway, over it was written: Be bold, be bold, but not too bold.”
“It is not so, nor it was not so, “said Mr. Fox.
“And then I went upstairs, and came to a gallery, at the end of which was a door, on which was written:”
Be bold, be bold, but not too bold,
Lest that your heart's blood should run cold.
“It is not so, nor it was not so,” said Mr. Fox.
“And the I opened the door, and the room was filled with bodies and skeletons of all my past suitors, all stained with their blood.”
“It is not so, nor it was not so. And God forbid it should be so,” said Mr. Fox.
“I then rushed down the gallery, and just as I was going down the stairs I saw you, Mr. Fox, coming up to the hall door, dragging a poor young lady.”
“It is not so, nor it was not so. And God forbid it should be so,” said Mr. Fox.
“I rushed downstairs, just in time to hide myself behind a cask, when you came in. And, as you passed me, I saw you try and get off her diamond ring. When you could not, that you got out with your sword and hacked off the poor lady's hand to get the ring.”
“It is not so, nor it was not so. And God forbid it should be so,” said Mr. Fox, and was going to say something else as he rose from his seat, when Lady Mary cried out:
“But it is so, and it was so. Here's hand and ring I have to show,” and pulled out the lady's hand from her dress, and pointed it straight at Mr. Fox.
At once her brothers and her friends drew their swords and cut Mr. Fox into a thousand pieces.
“And when I came to the doorway, over it was written: Be bold, be bold, but not too bold.”
“It is not so, nor it was not so, “said Mr. Fox.
“And then I went upstairs, and came to a gallery, at the end of which was a door, on which was written:”
Be bold, be bold, but not too bold,
Lest that your heart's blood should run cold.
“It is not so, nor it was not so,” said Mr. Fox.
“And the I opened the door, and the room was filled with bodies and skeletons of all my past suitors, all stained with their blood.”
“It is not so, nor it was not so. And God forbid it should be so,” said Mr. Fox.
“I then rushed down the gallery, and just as I was going down the stairs I saw you, Mr. Fox, coming up to the hall door, dragging a poor young lady.”
“It is not so, nor it was not so. And God forbid it should be so,” said Mr. Fox.
“I rushed downstairs, just in time to hide myself behind a cask, when you came in. And, as you passed me, I saw you try and get off her diamond ring. When you could not, that you got out with your sword and hacked off the poor lady's hand to get the ring.”
“It is not so, nor it was not so. And God forbid it should be so,” said Mr. Fox, and was going to say something else as he rose from his seat, when Lady Mary cried out:
“But it is so, and it was so. Here's hand and ring I have to show,” and pulled out the lady's hand from her dress, and pointed it straight at Mr. Fox.
At once her brothers and her friends drew their swords and cut Mr. Fox into a thousand pieces.
Authors Note: For
this story I kept a lot of it the same from the original. I really enjoyed the
original story and didn’t really want to change much. But as I was reading
through the one thing that I was curious about was why Mr. Fox was killing
these people. So in my version I made the main reason he killed people to be so
that he could be the one to marry Lady Mary.
Hey Ryan,
ReplyDeleteGreat story! I thought you did a really nice job at staying true to the original but still making it different enough to be your own. I love that you gave Mr. Fox a motive for his murders. I think that was a really nice touch. It's always good to try to answer your own questions with these retellings, because I think they're often questions that lots of people have. Nice job!