Many of you probably wonder what a "hetatale" is. It is an invention of my own fancy, the combination of "Hetalia" and a classic "fairytale." this one is a variant of "Beauty and the Beast." Romano being the beauty, and you guessed it, Gilbert being the beast. I wrote this late at night (and some hours of morning), so the amount of mistakes on the original I posted on Tumblr is numberous. I managed to edit it later, and it was then I realised then that I probably should put some sort of notes for all the allusions and translations.

*The story Romano was telling Feliciano in the first paragraph was a genderbent variant of the Italian fairytale "Water and Salt."

*"Fratello" is an Italian word meaning brother.

*"Sticazzi" can literally be translated into "these dicks." However, it is just a colourful way for saying something is unbelievable, ridiculus or very shocking.

*"Che minchia" is an Italian dialect term for saying "what the fuck?" ("Minchia" meaning "fuck," and "che" "what.")

*"Nonno" is the Italian word for "grandfather."

*The idea of the rose came from the ones in the Red Queen's garden, so I would like to thank Lewis Carrol for that image in mind.

*The thing about Romano going by his middle name rather than his first is purely my own little headcanon.

*A vespa is an Italian sports vehicle. It has two wheels and sexy as hell.

*"Mannaggia alla miseria" can also be said as "mannaggia la miseria." It will still mean "my horrible luck."

*"Guten tag" is the way to say "hello" formally in German. Gilbert greets Romano formally because they are strangers in that instance.

*The statue I described in the story is that of an alven. They are wingless fairies in German lore, and take great delight in night blooming flowers.

*"Bella" is the Italian way of calling a feminine noun "beautiful."

*"Bellissimo" also means beautiful, but it refers to everything.

*"Nein" is no in German.

*"Si" is yes in Italian.

*Gilbert's story is my own little variant of "The Juniper Tree." It is amongst my favourite fairytale, but it is not well-known.

I imagine the stepbrother to be Ludwig, the father to be Fritz and the bird to be Gilbird.

*"Vas" is the German word for "what."

*"Tschüs" is an informal way of saying "goodbye" in Southern Germany.

*"Perche" is the Italian way of saying "why."

*"Nove" is the Italian way of saying "nine."

*"Madonne" is an Italian way for saying "Mother of God." It is also said as "Madonna" depending on where you are in Italy.

*Dhalias are warm coloured flowers with many petals. They mean "spicy." (As in "feisty," not something hot flavoured.) They fit Romano's hot-tempered nature.

*"E vissero felici e contenti" means (go ahead and guess it...) "and they lived happily ever after."

**... And that is all. Thank you for reading all that (if you did) and this story. I am not Italian nor do I speak the lovely language, so there may be mistakes here and there. If you find them (or any mistake), please let me know.

Once again, thank you. c: