Lyrical Love

Lyrical Love is the fifth and sixth issue of the Marvel Comics serial for Beauty and the Beast, being of a two-part story arc.
==Summary==
Part 1: While Belle teaches the Beast how to read, Gaston schemes to get her to marry him (still failing to notice that Belle is absent from the village and has been for some time)!
Part 2: Arrogant Lumiere takes over Cogsworth's role as head of the household with Cogsworth's amused blessings. Meanwhile, Belle suspects that a romantic poem "written" especially for her by the Beast is actually the work of another. Can Belle teach Beast to read and write on his own? Will Cogsworth take his job back from the pleading Lumiere?
==Synopsis==
===Part 1===
Cogsworth and Lumiere watch from behind the study door as their master, The Beast, is having a reading lesson with Belle, optimistic as to how a romantic relationship might be blossoming between the two in the hopes that the curse might be broken. They are approached by Mrs. Potts, who, being too busy with the kitchen inventory to enjoy the scene, asks them if they've seen her youngest son, Chip.
When it is the Beast's turn to read a line from the book, his impatience gets the better of him, despite all of Belle's encouragement, and quits, citing that, as the Master of the Castle, all he has to do give commands and doesn't need to know how to read. At this comment, Belle replies that if that's the case, and how he really feels about reading, then she has no obligations to have to teach him, gets up and leaves the Beast and the room. Having watched the scene unfold as such, Cogsworth panics about what they should do, but a cocky Lumiere just starts criticizing him, how it wasn't what 'they' would do as Cogsworth was the head of the household, calling him "clumsy", and how none of this would have been allowed to get this bad if he, Lumiere, was the household head instead (giving an exaggerated, overly-complimentary description of himself). Seeing where Lumiere is going with his argument, Cogsworth hands the position (and responsibilities) over to Lumiere; and Lumiere brags how that under his leadership the curse will be broken by midnight that night or he would "eat [his] words". Lumiere's declares that the first act on his agenda is to settle the disagreement that has just come-up between their master and Belle, but is scared-off by a simple growl from the Beast, and moves it down the second thing on his agenda.
Meanwhile, down on the grand staircase, Chip and Footstool are racing down when Chip hears his mother calling for him, and distracted he lands into Bucket, who along with Mop, is cleaning the floor; and having caused a splash of now-dirty water, Chip is joined by Footstool, much to Mop and Bucket's dismay. Mrs. Potts, having finally found Chip, demands he get out of the dirty water (not buying his story claiming to have just been having a bath) and leads him back to the kitchens; stressing that, as he's only little, he must keep out of trouble, not wanting him to get any more chips on him.
Out in the gardens, Belle, while about to start on another book, is confused by the Beast's behaviour and attitude; how sometimes he can be so sweet to her, and at other times he behaves (for lack of a better word) like a beast, which just leaves her feeling angry at his mood swings. Her frustration at this also makes her miss her life back in the village, and she has a flashback to her last days back there before she came to the castle (with some different dialogue and sequence from the original 1991 film). At the same time, The Beast is spying on her from a window, dwelling on how Belle's beauty is such that she simply must have had hoards of suitors at dances (not knowing that she apparently didn't attend any dances down at the village), and again how it would be impossible that Belle could ever fall in love with him.
At this point, Cogsworth and Lumiere enter the room and Lumiere, interrupting the Beast's train of thought. Bragging that as an expert with affairs of the heart, he can offer advice to him on how to go about wooing a girl like Belle; Lumiere dismisses the Beast's first argument (that he doesn't have a chance with Belle, therefore it's futile), insisting that the Beast should try to tell Belle how he feels: The Beast's next argument is that, while he wants to confess his feeling to Belle, he is afraid that the words will all come out wrong if he tries. Lumiere points out to him that, in that case, he need not say the words, that he could write them instead, commenting that poetry has captivated many a ladys heart throughout history, citing Romeo and Juliet, Adam and Eve, and Mark Antony and Cleopatra, (completely missing the fact that all of those romances ended in tragedy, as Cogsworth muses). The Beast's next argument is that, in his current state, he cannot write very well, but Lumiere dismisses this as well as mere details, as all he would need to do is to dictate to Crowquill and Inkwell and they would put down onto paper what he wants to say to Belle beforehand.
At the Beast's poor first attempt ("Belle, oh Belle, you are so pretty, I like you very much"), Lumiere 'offers' the point that all poetry must rhyme, which only frustrates the Beast. Conceding with his Master, Lumiere offers-up a trial verse, expecting for the Beast to work up from it, but the Beast then just demands that Lumiere add 6 more verses and deliver the poem to Belle by noon, and when Lumiere tries to tell his master the difficulties, the Beast simply roars that it's no request but a command to do so.
Now feeling the strain, Lumiere is 'consoled' by Cogsworth about how a household head of Lumiere's 'caliber' should be more then up to the task. Cogsworth then decides that, since all of his own chores are done for the day, he'll go for a nap before lunch (basically he's going to leave Lumiere to stew for a while), when just then Bucket and Mop interrupt him, demanding that he do something about Footstool (who's still won't get out of Bucket and is splashing dirty water over the just-cleaned floors); Cogsworth refers them to Lumiere, the self-proclaimed 'genius' at settling household disputes, and leaves to let Lumiere squirm for a while longer.
Later, having finally finished the poem (but Footstool is still in the dirty water inside Bucket), Lumiere, seeing one of the maids pass by and give him the eye (Babette), reasons that he's entitled to a little respite from his duties and sneaks a make-out session with her behind a curtain (leaving the poem outside). While this is happening, Mop and Bucket finally manage to evict Footstool out of Bucket's water, after which then Footstool shakes himself dry, soaking the parchment with the poem on it through and smearing the ink. When Lumiere discovers this, he runs to find Cogsworth for help, and asks him to take back the position of household head; after bringing-up Lumiere's earlier arguments, and after Lumiere admits he was wrong and is in over his head, Cogsworth agrees to resume as the household head ... just as soon as Lumiere has literally 'eaten his words' (and Lumiere acquiesces by eating the now-ruined parchment).
===Part 2===
Down in the kitchens, inventory and maintenance is underway, presided over by Mrs. Potts. Bored into escaping, Chip makes off with Footstool (now out from under Mop and Bucket's proverbial feet).
Back with Cogsworth and Lumiere, Lumiere tries to recall as much of the poem as possible (and rewrite what he cannot remember); while which Cogsworth rubs-in the fact that Lumiere had been biting off more then he could chew thinking that the position of head of the household would be easy, and that Lumiere wasn't the 'Monsieur Charming' he thought he was. Not letting this get to him, Lumiere brags again how that their Master and Belle will fall in love thanks to his re-worked poem, that the spell will break and they'll all be human again, all before nightfall (a promise which is starting to sound old to Cogsworth).
Meanwhile, still out in the gardens, Belle is just finishing reading her current book. She marvels her luck at having access to such large library collection of books to read, and at the exciting places they can take her and the people she can meet (even if it's only in her imagination). She also feels sad for the Beast and his unwillingness to learn to read, and how he is essentially remaining walled-off within both the castle and his own mind by doing so. As she voices aloud that the Beast would be happier and better off being able to read if he'd just let her teach him, she is approached by Cogsworth and Lumiere with their 'message' from their master, and Lumiere starts reciting the poem.
Back in the kitchens, Mrs. Potts, in the middle of the inventory, counts her children the teacups and realizes that Chip is missing and sets out to find him.
Back in the gardens, Lumiere finishes reciting the poem to Belle, which earns applause from her. Revealing that she can see through the poem as Lumiere's work on the Beast's behalf, (and Lumiere panics that this might mean that she'll fall for him instead when Cogsworth confirms her guess), she thanks him for the effort and goes inside to find and thank the Beast for his thoughtfulness.
Meanwhile, Chip and Footstool continue with their gallivanting about when Chip hears his mother calling for him and, after knocking against a chest of draws, jumps inside to hide before she can find him. However he ends-up trapped inside, stuck in the dark.
Belle, finding the Beast in the Den, in his chair, she enters and thanks him for his thoughtful gesture. He asks if she liked the poem, and Belle replies that she was flattered, but doesn't say 'yes'; jumping to the wrong conclusion says he can another written and calls for Lumiere. Belle tries to clarify to him that while she thought that the poem was nice, it was just she just wished that he'd written it himself. The Beast objects by bringing back up the fact that he cannot read and write very well, and dwells on his belief that all poetry must rhyme, and have beautiful words. Belle points out that she'd help him to learn if he'd just let her; and that poetry need not necessarily rhyme and that he need only to speak from his heart he could easily be a poet. Becoming frustrated and defensive, the Beast snaps out again that he is the master of the castle and that no one can tell him what to do (just like in their earlier reading lesson); and again Belle leaves before an argument can ensue.
Realising that he has messed-up again, the Beast laments that he's going to be stuck as a beast forever. Lumiere interjects that that need not be the case, as Belle has just told her what she wanted, all he need do was to give her what she asked him to do for himself. But the Beast responds why should he even try when he looks the way he does... and then expresses just how in contrast to him, Belle is as "Fresh like the warm breeze on a summer day ... Like the spring flowers after the April showers". An impressed Lumiere, congratulating him, points out that that was, in fact, a good example of poetic simile, and a pleasantly surprised Beast admits that he does feel something in his heart for having said it. Lumiere points out that now he needs to keep practicing his ABC's so that he might soon be able to express his feeling for Belle himself; and so encouraged by this up-turn of events that the Beast rushes off to find Belle to take-up his lessons again before Lumiere can finish what he's saying.
Meanwhile back with Chip, still stuck in the chest of draws, tries to escape by rocking it about in the hopes of freeing himself. On the ground floor below, Mrs. Potts, having found Cogsworth, asks for his help finding Chip, having already looked high and low for him, and he tries to console her. Just then Chip manages to free himself, and the crash he causes doing so is heard by Cogsworth and Mrs. Potts downstairs and they race up towards the sound of the crash. They find him in the room with the now-damaged chest of draws and a valuable vase now broken. While Mrs. Potts sees that Chip is alright, Cogsworth fears that their Master, the Beast, won't be happy about the vase. Mrs. Potts starts telling Chip off for having been hiding when he knew he was supposed to be present at the kitchens inventory AND that he had already been warned to stay out of trouble as he's still too little to protect himself from being damaged; and citing that little boys must sometimes learn big lessons, she sends him to the cupboard early, so he can stay there for the rest of the day.
That evening, Cogsworth and Lumiere watch again from behind the study door as their master, the Beast, more enthusiastic, is having another reading lesson with Belle. Lumiere starts on again about how their master and Belle will fall in love and the spell will break and they'll all be human again, all before nightfall that night--when Cogsworth stops him, saying that everyone will be happy if he would only stop repeating himself now.
==Trivia==
* Despite what the press summary stated, Gaston does not actually appear in the first part, except in a flashback when Belle admits that it was times like Beast's savage nature that she missed the village, that referred to the beginning of the film.
** For unknown reasons, the flashback depicted the Bimbettes as being jealous of Belle being the object of Gaston's affections over them, despite the scene from the actual movie that the flashback was derived from, depicted them as genuinely shocked and angered that Belle refused Gaston's advances.
* Lumiere's examples of lovers using poetry to court them are Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, the Book of Genesis from the Bible, and Mark Antony and Cleopatra in Shakespeare's The Rise and Fall of Julius Caesar. Ironically, all three of these examples ended in utter disaster (Romeo and Juliet ended up committing suicide, Adam and Eve ended up evicted from the Garden of Eden by God for disobeying him by eating from the Forbidden Tree of Knowledge, and Cleopatra, after being betrayed by Antony, ended up committing suicide by letting herself be poisoned by a Cobra).
* According to part 2 of Lyrical Love, Chip is Mrs. Potts' twelfth child.
* During the flashback to the original film, one of the triplets says in regards to Belle "Why, she doesn't even go to dances!" while enviously wondering why Gaston's going for her when he could have them. This was a subtle reference to the original fairy tale, as Belle frequently stayed away from social gatherings and preferred to stay at home and read good books, to which her elder sisters frequently mocked her for this.
==Gallery==
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===Part 2===
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Category:Beauty and the Beast
Category:Comic stories
Category:Beauty and the Beast books