Even as a child, only six years old, I was fascinated by Jean Cocteau’s film La Belle et la Bête (Beauty and the Beast). I watched it countless times with my grandfather in his cinema in Bilbao. Later, when I watched the cartoon, Beauty and the Beast, for the first time the story overwhelmed me again and still fascinates me to this day.”

When I heard the story of Pedro González I immediately had the vague feeling of having heard of him before. After some exhaustive research I indeed came across a story by the French writer Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, who is considered to the author of the first literary version of Beauty and the Beast. Apparently, she had already stumbled upon the legend of Pedro González in 1740 and had been considerably inspired by his life. Little by little I realised that the ‘beast’ in the stories must have been him. In my inquiries I learned that Pedro González was taken to the court of King Henry II at the age of ten for his amusement, as he was considered as a monkey.

I was boiling with rage when I heard that! Pedro González, who was now under the protection of Henry II and even spoke Latin, was a nobleman. He did not want to accept this disparagement and swore revenge. However, in the two-man fight with the prince, it was evident that he could handle only the feather, not the sword. Being heavily injured, his only option was to escape.”

At the court of Margaret of Parma, paintings from around this time emerged showing González in an array of noble costumes. He had indeed found a woman who recognized his good nature and married him despite his appearance! No anomaly is documented in the paintings. Her skin is delicate and soft and completely without beard. My heart hopped as the mosaic stones joined together more and more. The fairy tale, which as a child I loved so much, was actually based on a real life event. Pedro and his wife Catherine had even seven children together! I wanted to know all about him, not only where he had lived, but also where he had died.”

For days I had been running around tirelessly and my feet were aching as if I had walked for several centuries. I had wrestled innumerable books and folios with old trunk trees, rattled cemeteries, and found no new clues.”

As I looked through the view-finder of my camera I could hardly believe my eyes. In the middle of the forest between all the trees, the weathered outline of a stone crypt was revealed. As I approached I discovered that the crypt was empty. I was just about to leave when I saw the contours of a coat of arms exposed by wind and rain on a broken stone slab of an adjacent mound: the coat of arms of Pedro González! With all my strength I pushed the table aside and opened the secret entrance. Excitedly I turned on my flashlight and descended into the hiding place. In front of me a crypt revealed itself in the midst a nearly unharmed sarcophagus. A large, mossy stone tome was pinned to the wall. Trembling with tension, I scratched the moss and saw the words that had lasted for centuries:

‘Beloved father and faithful husband, Pedro González. In eternal gratitude, Catherine, Tognina, Alejandro, Anna, Francesco, Leonardo, Tia and Maria.’

I had tears in my eyes as I saw this love story finished right in front of me. It was by far one of the most striking moments of my entire life!”