This story begins in Verona , a city in Italy , where the tranquil peace had been broken once again by a feud of old . In fact , this fight was so ancient , that no one could remember how it started !
The two families , the Montagues and the Capulets , hated each other and would literally fight to the death with the other family !
The Prince of Verona was quite unhappy about the regular squabbles in the streets , so he decided to end their fighting by announcing a death penalty for the man who was to be seen fighting or who had killed another man .
One young boy, Romeo , of the Montague family had not fought that day . For his beloved Rosaline had dumped him , and nothing could cheer him , even his dear friends Mercutio and Benvolio .
To make their not-so-jolly friend perk up a bit , they decided to sneak into a big party the Capulets were holding . But Romeo remained glum until he saw a beautiful girl looking at him .
It was instant love , but there was one problem . Juliet , the beautiful girl was a Capulet , and Romeo was a Montague . This meant that instead of loving each other , they were supposed to hate each other's guts !
That night , Romeo and Juliet made plans to marry at the Friar's monastery , which was just out of town .
So in a few short days , Romeo and Juliet had gone from not knowing each other at all to a secretly married couple .
Of course , no one besides the Friar , Juliet's nurse and the couple themselves knew about this marriage . Because Romeo and Juliet were supposed to hate each other , they did not tell their parents of this .
Juliet was told that she had to marry another man called Count Paris . In those days , girls did whatever their father said , so in order to escape this fate , Juliet went to the Friar and got a potion to make her seem to be dead . Then the Friar would go to Romeo and tell him that Juliet was alive and waiting for him in her tomb .
Unfortunately , the Friar could not reach Romeo in time , and the news of Juliet's death reached him ( Romeo ) instead .
Poor Romeo , thinking his Juliet dead , went to an apothecary and got a bottle of poison . Then he hurried to the Capulet tomb , so that he could die by his beloved's side .
Minutes later , Juliet awoke , seeing her Romeo dead beside her ! Juliet took the dagger and stabbed herself , ending her life before she had yet turned 15 .
Much to late , the parents of these unfortunate lovers came into the Capulet tomb , and wept to see their children dead . The families had learned their lesson , and statues of the lovers were put up , and the Capulets & Montagues became friends after years of feuding .
by Lisa
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