I am no king, and I am no lord, And I am no soldier at-arms," said he. "I'm none but a harper, and a very poor harper, That am come hither to wed with ye." "If you were a lord, you should be my lord, And the same if you were a thief," said she. "And if you are a harper, you shall be my harper, For it makes no matter to me, to me, For it makes no matter to me." "But what if it prove that I am no harper? That I lied for your love most monstrously?" "Why, then I'll teach you to play and sing, For I dearly love a good harp," said she.

From 2003 through 2011 Beagle was involved in a financial dispute with Granada over nonpayment of contractually due profit and merchandising shares. Beagle's work as a screenwriter interrupted his early career direction as a novelist magazine nonfiction author and short-story writer. In the 1970s Beagle turned to screenwriting.

During the last twenty-five years he has won several literary awards including a World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2011. His best-known work is The Last Unicorn (1968) a fantasy novel he wrote in his twenties which Locus subscribers voted the number five "All-Time Best Fantasy Novel" in 1987.