Beauty releases the prince from his beastly curse. Artwork fromEuropa's Fairy Book, byJohn Batten.
Folk tale
Name
"Beauty and the Beast"(La Belle et la Bête)
Also known as
French:La Belle et la BêteItalian:La Bella e la BestiaLatin:Bellă et Bēstia orFōrmōsa et BēstiaSpanish:La Bella y la BestiaPortuguese:A Bela e o Monstro(in Portugal),A Bela e a Fera(in Brazil), orA Bela e a Besta(in literal Portuguese)German:Die Schöne und das BiestDutch:Belle en het Beest orDe Schone en het Beest
"Beauty and the Beast" is a fairy tale written by the French novelistGabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published anonymously in 1740 inLa Jeune Américaine et les contes marins (The Young American and Marine Tales).[1][2]
Variants of the tale are known across Europe.[8] In France, for example,Zémire and Azor is an operatic version of the story, written byJean-François Marmontel and composed byAndré Grétry in 1771, which had enormous success into the 19th century.[9]Zémire and Azor is based on the second version of the tale.Amour pour amour (Love for Love) byPierre-Claude Nivelle de La Chaussée is a 1742 play based on de Villeneuve's version. According to researchers at a university inLisbon, the story originated about 4,000 years ago.[10][11]
A widowed merchant lives in a mansion in a city with his twelve children: six sons and six daughters. All his daughters are very beautiful, but theyoungest, Beauty, is the loveliest. Beauty is also kind and pure of heart; her elder sisters, in contrast, are cruel, selfish, and jealous of Beauty.
The merchant and his children become poor when their house burns down, and his ships are lost. The family of thirteen is forced to move to a small cottage in the countryside and work for a living. While Beauty makes a firm resolution to adjust to rural life with a cheerful disposition, her sisters do not and mistake her determination for stupidity.
Two years later, the merchant hears that one of his trade ships has returned. Before leaving to retrieve it, and possibly their fortune, he asks his children if they wish for him to bring any gifts back for them. His oldest daughters ask for clothing, jewels, and the finest dresses possible as they think that his wealth has returned. Beauty asks for nothing but her father to return home safely, but when he insists on buying her a present, she is satisfied with the promise of a rose.
When he arrives to the port to see his ship the merchant is dismayed to learn that his colleagues have already sold the cargo, thus leaving him penniless and unable to buy his daughters' presents. During his trip back home the merchant becomes lost in a vicious snowstorm. Seeking shelter, he comes upon a castle surrounded by lifelike statues. Seeing that no one is home, the merchant sneaks in and finds tables inside laden with food and drink, which seem to have been left for him by the castle's invisible owner. The merchant accepts this gift and spends the night there.
The next morning, he is about to leave when he sees a rose garden and recalls that Beauty had desired a rose. The merchant quickly plucks the loveliest rose he can find. He is then confronted by a hideous "Beast" who tries to kill him for stealing his most precious possession even after accepting his hospitality. The merchant begs to be let go, revealing that he had only picked the rose as a gift for his youngest daughter. The Beast agrees to let him go, but only if he brings one of his daughters back to live with the Beast instead. He makes it clear that she must agree while under no illusions about her predicament.
The merchant is upset, but accepts this condition for the sake of his own life. The Beast sends him on his way with wealth, jewels, and fine clothes for his sons and daughters, and stresses that he must not lie to his daughters.
Upon arriving home, the merchant hands Beauty the rose she requested and informs her that it had a terrible price, before relaying what had happened during his absence. Her brothers say that they will go to the castle and fight the Beast, while his older daughters refuse to leave and place blame on Beauty, urging her to right her own wrong. The merchant dissuades them, forbidding his children from ever going near the Beast. Beauty willingly decides to go to the Beast's castle, moving her father who remembers aRomani fortune-teller's prophecy about his youngest daughter making his household lucky.
Once they arrive at the castle, the Beast receives Beauty with great ceremony. The merchant is sent home with a reward. The Beast gives Beauty lavish clothing, food and entertainment along with animal servants. He visits her each evening to ask her how she is doing. Although they converse at length, he seems unable to express himself well, leading her to assume he is not intelligent.
Every night he asks Beauty to let him sleep with her:[12] and she refuses. After each proposal Beauty dreams of a handsome stranger who is imprisoned in the castle, along with an apparition of afairy who tells her not to be deceived by appearances.
For several months Beauty lives a life of luxury at the Beast's castle. Her feelings for the man in her dreams and her gratitude toward the Beast come into conflict. When the Beast asks her what is wrong, she pleads homesickness and he sadly allows her to leave, warning her that if she does not return within two months he will die of a broken heart.
Beauty agrees to this and is presented with an enchanted ring, which allows her to wake up in her family's new home in an instant. Her older sisters are surprised to find her well-fed and dressed in finery, and their old jealousy quickly flares when their suitors' gazes turn to Beauty, even though she bestows lavish gifts on them. Her brothers do all they can to prevent her from going back to his castle, and she reluctantly agrees to stay longer.
When the two months have passed, she envisions the Beast dying alone on the castle grounds and hastens to return despite her brothers' resolve to prevent her from doing so.
Once she is back in the castle, Beauty's fears are confirmed as she finds the Beast near death in a cave on the grounds. Seeing this, Beauty is distraught, realizing that she loves him. She fetches water from a nearby spring, which she uses to resuscitate him.
The next night when the Beast proposes, Beauty agrees to marry him. The sky is lit up by a magical fireworks show. That night he goes to bed with her, falling into an enchanted sleep as soon as he lies down.
When Beauty wakes up next to him the next morning she finds that the Beast hastransformed into the unknown man from her dreams. Beauty learns that the Beast is a prince. Just then, the Fairy who has been appearing to Beauty in her dreams arrives with the Prince's mother, the Queen. The Queen's joy falters when she learns that Beauty is a lowly merchant's daughter. The Fairy then chastises the Queen and reveals that Beauty is actually a princess and that they are each her aunts. Beauty's birth father was the Queen's brother, the King of Fortunate Island. He believed that Beauty died as a baby. Beauty's birth mother was the Fairy's sister.
When the matter of Beauty's background is resolved, she requests that the Prince tell his tale.
The Prince informs Beauty that his father diedbefore he was born, and his mother had to fight an enemy to defend the kingdom. The Queen left the Prince in the care of his EvilFairy Godmother, who tried to seduce him when he became an adult and helped his mother win the war.
When the war ended, the Evil Fairy accompanied the Queen and the Prince back to the castle and asked him to marry her. But the Prince refused. The Evil Fairy, in a rage, transformed him into an ugly Beast in front of his shocked mother. Before leaving mother and son, the Evil Fairy warned them that only a maiden's act of true love could break the spell and that if anyone else beside the Queen knew about it, the Prince would be a Beast forever.
After the Prince's godmother left, the Good Fairy arrived to help him byturning the castle's servants to stone to prevent them fromrevealing the curse to outsiders, and promising to protect his mother from the Evil Fairy. The Good Fairy also summoned hergenie servants to keep the Prince company while he waited for Beauty's arrival.At the end of his story, the Prince revealed to Beauty that the animals in the castle were those same servants, and that the Good Fairy had caused her to see the Prince's true self in dreams.
The Good Fairy then summons the King Of Fortunate Island to meet Beauty, and having reunited the family, brings the petrified servants back to life.
She tells them all how years ago the Evil Fairy, the Prince's godmother, had been plotting to marry the King of Fortunate Island but Beauty's mother had married him instead. As revenge the Evil Fairy revealed her crime of having a mortal husband and child to theFairy Queen, thus causing her imprisonment inFairyland shortly after Beauty's birth. She also convinced the other fairies to curse the infant Princess to marry a Beast as a further punishment.
Meanwhile, on Fortunate Island, the people hadfaked their imprisoned Queen's death after they were unable to find her. The Evil Fairy hired a greedy couple tokill the Princess. When the King of the Fortunate Island believed both his wife and daughter to be dead, he banished the Evil Fairy.
But the Good Fairy had secretly rescued her young niece. She had turned into a bear and killed the would-be murderers. The Good Fairy then brought the Princess to a cottage with three sleepingnursesmaids and a little girl the same age as her who was very ill and had been sent to the countryside by her father, the merchant, in hopes that thefresh air would cure her, but she died instead. The Good Fairy swapped the two children.
Unaware she was not their master's child, the three nursemaids soon returned to the city with the Princess. The Good Fairy followed the nurses to the merchant's mansion, disguised herself as a Romani fortune-teller and told the merchant the prophecy of "his" youngest child bringing luck to his household. She also decreed that the baby be named "Beauty."
She arranged for Beauty and the Prince to meet, the young couple's love both breaking the Evil Fairy's spell and fulfilling the Princess's destiny to marry a Beast. She also testified against the Evil Fairy inFairyland, who was now imprisoned there.
After the Good Fairy finishes her story, her sister arrives at the castle, having been freed by the Fairy Queen. With the entire Royal Family reunited, Beauty's aunt summons the merchant and his family. Beauty's surrogate family members are told the whole truth and are made members of her court.
Beauty marries the Prince and although they want to honeymoon indefinitely, the Fairy reminds them it is their destiny and duty to govern. They live happily for hundreds of years thanks to the powers of Beauty's fairy mother and aunt.[13] The Prince's mother commands that their tale be recorded in the imperial archives so everyone might know their story.
Beaumont greatly pared down the cast of characters and pruned the tale to an almost archetypal simplicity.[14] The story begins in much the same way as Villeneuve's version, although now the merchant has only six children: three sons and three daughters, including Beauty. Unlike Villeneuve's version, Beaumont's version treats the merchant as Beauty's biological father and there is no indication of her being royalty by birth. The circumstances leading to her arrival at the Beast's castle unfold in a similar manner, but on this arrival, Beauty is informed that she is a mistress and he will obey her. Beauty still dreams of the fairy, but not the handsome stranger, and there are no other inhabitants of the castle besides herself and the Beast. Beaumont strips most of the lavish descriptions present in Beauty's exploration of the palace and quickly jumps to her return home. She is given leave to remain there for a week, and when she arrives, her sisters feign fondness to entice her to remain another week in hopes that the Beast will devour her in anger. Again, she returns to him dying and restores his life. The two then marry and live happily ever after. The entire third act of Villeneuve's version detailing the backstories of both the Beast and Beauty is eliminated completely, with the Beast simply mentioning that he was cursed by a wicked fairy. The Fairy from Beauty's dream still appears, but in this version turns Beauty's sisters into statues as punishment for their wickedness.
A variant of Villeneuve's version appears inAndrew Lang'sThe Blue Fairy Book. The Merchant's mansion is burned in a fire, along with his belongings, forcing him and his family to move to their country home in the forest. His ships are lost at sea, captured by pirates, etc., except one, which returns later. Unlike the other two versions, the sisters in Lang's story are not jealous of Beauty. Also, Lang maintained the lavish descriptions of the Beast's palace. This version in particular is one of the most commonly told, along with those of Villeneuve and Beaumont.
This version was written between 1889 and 1913, some time after the original version, so it should be considered as a later version of the story.
In a study about the myth ofCupid and Psyche, Danish folkloristInger Margrethe Boberg argued that "Beauty and the Beast" was "an older form" of the animal husband narrative, and that subtypes 425A, "Animal as Bridegroom", and 425B, "The Disenchanted Husband: The Witch's Tasks", were secondary developments, with motifs incorporated into the narrative.[17][18]
Emmanuel Cosquin collected a version with a tragic ending fromLorraine titledThe White Wolf (Le Loup blanc), in which the youngest daughter asks her father to bring her a singing rose when he returns. The man cannot find a singing rose for his youngest daughter, and he refuses to return home until he finds one. When he finally finds singing roses, they are in the castle of the titularwhite wolf, who initially wants to kill him for daring to steal his roses, but, upon hearing about his daughters, changes his mind and agrees to spare him his life under the condition he must give him the first living being that greets him when he returns home (note story ofJephthah andhis daughter inJudges 11). This turns out to be his youngest daughter. In the castle, the girl discovers that the white wolf is enchanted and can turn into a human at night, but she must not tell anyone about it. Unfortunately, the girl is later visited by her two elder sisters who pressure her to tell them what is happening. When she finally does, the castle crumbles and the wolf dies.[19]
Henri Pourrat collected a version fromAuvergne in south-central France, titledBelle Rose (sometimes translated in English asLovely Rose). In this version, the heroine and her sisters are the daughters of a poor peasant and are named after flowers, the protagonist being Rose and her sisters Marguerite (Daisy) and Julianne, respectively. The Beast is described as having amastiff jaw, alizard's back legs, and asalamander's body. The ending is closer to Villeneuve's and Beaumont's versions with Rose rushing back to the castle and finding the Beast lying dying beside a fountain. When the Beast asks if she knows that he can't live without her, Rose answers yes, and the Beast turns into a human. He explains to Rose that he was a prince cursed for mocking a beggar and could only be disenchanted by a poor but kind-hearted maiden. Unlike in Beaumont's version, it is not mentioned that the protagonist's sisters are punished at the end.[20]
The tale is popular in the Italian oral tradition.[21]Christian Schneller [de] collected a variant fromTrentino titledThe Singing, Dancing and Music-making Leaf (German:Vom singenden, tanzenden und musicirenden Blatte; Italian:La foglia, che canta, che balla e che suona) in which the Beast takes the form of asnake. Instead of going to visit her family alone, the heroine can only go to her sister's wedding if she agrees to let the snake go with her. During the wedding, they dance together, and when the girl kicks the snake's tail, he turns into a beautiful youth, who is the son of acount.[22]
Sicilian folkloristGiuseppe Pitrè collected a variant fromPalermo titledRusina 'Mperatrici (The Empress Rosina).[23]Domenico Comparetti included a variant from Montale titledBellindia, in which Bellindia is the heroine's name, while her two eldest sisters are called Carolina and Assunta.[24]Vittorio Imbriani [it] included a version titledZelinda and the Monster (Zelinda e il Mostro), in which the heroine, called Zelinda, asks for a rose in January. Instead of going to visit her family, staying longer than she promised, and then returning to the Monster's castle to find him dying on the ground, here the Monster shows Zelinda her father dying on a magic mirror and says the only way she can save him is saying that she loves him. Zelinda does as asked, and the Monster turns into a human, who tells her he is the son of the King of the Oranges.[25] Both Comparetti's and Imbriani's versions were included inSessanta novelle popolari montalesi by Gherardo Nerucci.
British folkloristRachel Harriette Busk collected a version from Rome titledThe Enchanted Rose-Tree where the heroine does not have any sisters.[26] Antonio De Nino collected a variant fromAbruzzo, in eastern Italy, that he also titledBellindia, in which instead of a rose, the heroine asks for a golden carnation. Instead of a seeing it on a magic mirror, or knowing about it because the Beast tells her, here Bellinda knows what happens in her father's house because in the garden there is a tree called the Tree of Weeping and Laughter, whose leaves turn upwards when there is joy in her family, and they drop when there is sorrow.[27]
Francesco Mango collected aSardinian version titledThe Bear and the Three Sisters (S'urzu i is tres sorris), in which the Beast has the form of abear.[28]
Italo Calvino included a version onItalian Folktales titledBellinda and the Monster, inspired mostly from Comparetti's version, but adding some elements from De Nino's, like the Tree of Weeping and Laughter.
Manuel Milá y Fontanals collected a version titledThe King's Son, Disenchanted (El hijo del rey, desencantado). In this tale, when the father asks his three daughters what they want, the youngest asks for the hand of the king's son, and everybody thinks she is haughty for wanting such a thing. The father orders his servants to kill her, but they spare her and she hides in the woods. There, she meets a wolf that brings her to a castle and takes her in. The girl learns that in order to break his spell, she must kill the wolf and throw his body into the fire after opening it. From the body flies a pigeon, and from the pigeon an egg. When the girl breaks the egg, the king's son comes out.[29]Francisco Maspons y Labrós extended and translated the tale toCatalan, and included it in the second volume ofLo Rondallayre.[30]
Maspons y Labrós collected a variant fromCatalonia titledLo trist. In this version, instead of roses, the youngest daughter asks for a coral necklace. Whenever one of her family members is sick, the heroine is warned by the garden (a spring with muddy waters; a tree with withered leaves). When she visits her family, she is warned that she must return to the castle if she hears a bell ringing. After her third visit to her family, the heroine returns to the garden where she finds her favorite rosebush withered. When she plucks a rose, the beast appears and turns into a beautiful youth.[31]
A version fromExtremadura, titledThe Bear Prince (El príncipe oso), was collected by Sergio Hernández de Soto and shows a similar introduction as in Beaumont's and Villeneuve's versions: the heroine's father loses his fortune after a shipwreck. When the merchant has the chance to recover his wealth, he asks his daughters what gift they want from his travels. The heroine asks for a lily. When the merchant finds a lily, a bear appears, saying that his youngest daughter must come to the garden because only she can repair the damage the merchant has caused. His youngest daughter seeks the bear and finds him lying on the ground, wounded. The only way to heal him is by restoring the lily the father took, and when the girl restores it, the bear turns into a prince.[32] This tale was translated to English byElsie Spicer Eells and retitledThe Lily and the Bear.[33]
Aurelio Macedonio Espinosa Sr. collected a version fromAlmenar de Soria titledThe Beast of the Rose Bush (La fiera del rosal), in which the heroine is the daughter of a king instead of a merchant.[34]
Aurelio Macedonio Espinosa Jr. published a version fromSepúlveda, Segovia titledThe Beast of the Garden (La fiera del jardín). In this version, the heroine has a stepmother and two stepsisters and asks for an unspecified white flower.[35]
In aPortuguese version collected byZófimo Consiglieri Pedroso, the heroine asks for "a slice of roach off a green meadow". The father finally finds a slice of roach off a green meadow in a castle that appears to be uninhabited, but he hears a voice saying he must bring his youngest daughter to the palace. While the heroine is at the palace, the same unseen voice informs her of the goings-on at her father's house using birds as messengers. When the heroine visits her family, the master of the castle sends a horse to let her know it is time to return. The heroine must go after hearing him three times. The third time she goes to visit her family, her father dies. After the funeral, she's tired and oversleeps, missing the horse's neigh repeat three times before it leaves. When she finally returns to the castle, she finds the beast dying. With his last breath, he curses her and her entire family. The heroine dies a few days after, and her sisters spend the rest of their lives in poverty.[36]
Another Portuguese version from Ourilhe, collected by:Francisco Adolfo Coelho and titledA Bella-menina, is closer to Beaumont's tale in its happy ending – the beast is revived and disenchanted.[37]
Beauty and the Beast in theStandard Dutch language isDe Schone en het Beest (literally "The Beauty and the Beast"), but it is usually calledBelle en het Beest (literally "Belle and the Beast").[citation needed]
In aFlemish version fromVeurne titledRoosken zonder Doornen orRose without Thorns, the prince is disenchanted differently than in Beaumont's and Villeneuve's versions. The heroine and the monster attend each of the weddings of the heroine's elder sisters, and to break the spell, the heroine has to give a toast for the beast. In the first wedding, the heroine forgets, but in the second she remembers, and the beast becomes human.[38]
In a second Flemish variant collected by Amaat Joos, titledVan het Schoon Kind, the heroine's father is a king instead of a merchant, and when he asks his three daughters what they want him to bring them when he returns from a long journey, the king's youngest daughter asks for a bush of trembling roses while her two eldest sisters asks for robes with golden flowers and a silver skirt. During her stay at the monster's castle the princess has a nightmare where she sees the monster drowning in a pond, and after she wakes up and finds out the monster is not in the corner where he sleeps, she goes to the garden where she finds the monster in the same situation she saw him in her dream. The monster turns into a prince after the princess saves him.[39]
Another Flemish version fromWuustwezel, collected by Victor de Meyere, is closer to Beaumont's plot, the merchant's youngest daughter staying one day more at her family's home and soon returning to the Beast's palace. When she returns, she fears something bad has happened to him. This one is one of the few versions in which the merchant accompanies his daughter back to the Beast's castle.[40]
More similar Beaumont's plot is a Dutch version fromDriebergen titledRozina. In this version, it is Rozina's vow to marry the Beast that eventually breaks the spell.[41][42]
Beauty and the Beast (Albanian:E Bukura dhe Bisha,Bulgarian: Краса́вицата и Звя́ра,Krasávitsata i Zvyára,Macedonian: Убавицата и Ѕверот,Ubavitsata i Dzverot,Serbo-Croatian: Лепо̀тица и Звȇр,Lepòtica [Lepòtitsa]i Zvȇr,Slovenian:Lepotíca [Lepotítsa]in Zvȇr,Czech:Kráska a zvíře,Slovak:Kráska a zviera,Hungarian:A Szépség és a Szörnyeteg,Polish:Piękna i Bestia,Romanian:Frumoasa și Bestia,German:Die Schöne und das Biest) is known in several different variants in Central Europe.[citation needed]
TheBrothers Grimm originally collected a variant of the story, titledThe Summer and Winter Garden (Von dem Sommer- und Wintergarten).[43] Here, the youngest daughter asks for a rose in the winter, so the father only finds one in a garden that is half-eternal winter and half-eternal summer. After making a deal with the beast, the father does not tell his daughters anything. Eight days later, the beast appears in the merchant's house and takes his youngest daughter away. When the heroine returns home, her father is ill. She cannot save him, and he dies. The heroine stays longer for her father's funeral, and when she finally returns, she finds the beast lying beneath a heap of cabbages. After the daughter revives the beast by pouring water over him, he turns into a handsome prince.[44] The tale appeared in Brothers Grimm's collection's first edition, in 1812, but because the tale was too similar to its French counterpart, they omitted it in the next editions.
Despite the other folklorists collecting variants from German-speaking territories,Ludwig Bechstein published two versions of the story. In the first,Little Broomstick (Besenstielchen), the heroine, Nettchen, has a best friend called Little Broomstick because her father is a broommaker. Like inThe Summer and Winter Garden, Nettchen asks for roses in the dead of winter, which her father only finds in the Beast's garden. When a carriage comes to bring Nettchen to the Beast's castle, Nettchen's father sends Little Broomstick, who pretends to be Nettchen. The Beast discovers the scheme, sends Little Broomstick back home, and Nettchen is sent to the Beast's castle. The prince is disenchanted before Nettchen's visit to her family to cure her father using the sap of a plant from the prince's garden. Jealous of her fortune, Nettchen's sisters drown her in the bath, but Nettchen is revived by the same sorceress who cursed the prince. Nettchen's eldest sisters are too dangerous, but Nettchen doesn't want them dead, so the sorceress turns them into stone statues.[45]
InBechstein's second version,The Little Nut Twig (Das Nußzweiglein), the heroine asks for the titular twig. When the father finally finds it, he has to make a deal with a bear, promising him the first creature that he meets when he arrives at home. This turns out to be his youngest daughter. Like inLittle Broomstick, the merchant tries to deceive the bear by sending another girl, but the bear discovers his scheme and the merchant's daughter is sent to the bear. After she and the bear cross twelve rooms of disgusting creatures, the bear turns into a prince.[46][47]
Carl and Theodor Colshorn collected two versions fromHannover. In the first one,The Clinking Clanking Lowesleaf (Vom klinkesklanken Löwesblatt), the heroine is the daughter of a king. She asks for the titular leaf, which the king only gets after making a deal with a blackpoodle, promising to give him the first person that greets the king when he arrives home. This turns out to be his youngest daughter. The merchant tries to trick the poodle, giving him other girls pretending to be the princess, but the poodle sees through this. Finally, the princess is sent to the poodle, who brings her to a cabin in the middle of the woods, where the princess feels so alone. She wishes for company, even if it is an old beggar woman. In an instant, an old beggar woman appears, and she tells the princess how to break the spell in exchange for inviting her to the princess' wedding. The princess keeps her promise, and her mother and sisters, who expressed disgust at the sight of the old beggar woman, become crooked and lame.[48]
In Carl and Theodor Colshorn's second version,The Cursed Frog (Der verwunschene Frosch), the heroine is a merchant's daughter. The enchanted prince is afrog, and the daughter asks for a three-colored rose.[49][50]
Ernst Meier collected a version fromSwabia, in southwestern Germany, in which the heroine has only one sister instead of two.[51]
Ignaz and Josef Zingerle collected an Austrian variant fromTannheim titledThe Bear (Der Bär) in which the heroine is the eldest of the merchant's three daughters. Like inThe Summer and Winter Garden andLittle Broomstick, the protagonist asks for a rose in the middle of winter.[52] Like in Zingerle's version, the Beast is a bear.
In theSwiss variant,The Bear Prince (Der Bärenprinz), collected byOtto Sutermeister, the youngest daughter asks for grapes.[53]
In another Polish version fromKraków, the heroine is called Basia and has a stepmother and two stepsisters.[54] An apple also plays a relevant role when the heroine goes to visit her family in aPolish version fromMazovia, in this case to warn the heroine that she is staying longer than she promised.[55]
In aCzech variant, the heroine's mother plucks the flower and makes the deal with the Beast, who is a basilisk, who the heroine later will behead to break the spell.[56][57]
In aMoravian version, the youngest daughter asks for three white roses, and the Beast is a dog;[58] In anotherMoravian version, the heroine asks for a single red rose and the Beast is a bear.[59]
In aSlovenian version fromLivek titledThe Enchanted Bear and the Castle (Začaran grad in medved), the heroine breaks the spell reading about the fate of the enchanted castle in an old dusty book.[60]
In aHungarian version titledThe Speaking Grapes, the Smiling Apple and the Tinkling Apricot (Szóló szőlő, mosolygó alma, csengő barack), the princess asks her father for the titular fruits, and the Beast is a pig. The king agrees to give him his youngest daughter's hand in marriage if the pig is capable of moving the king's carriage, which is stuck in the mud.[61][a]
Evald Tang Kristensen collected aDanish version that follows Beaumont's version almost exactly. The most significant difference is that the enchanted prince is ahorse.[63]
In a version from theFaroe Islands, the youngest daughter asks for an apple instead of a rose.[64][65]
Beauty and the Beast (Russian: Краса́вица и Чудо́вище,Krasávitsa i Tchudóvishtche,Ukrainian: Красу́ня і Чудо́висько,Krasúnya i Tchudóvysʹko,Belarusian: Прыгажу́ня і Пачва́ра,Pryhazhúnya i Patchvára) is known in some different versions in Eastern Europe.[citation needed]
Alexander Afanasyev collected a Russian version,The Enchanted Tsarevich (Закля́тый царе́вич,Zaklyátyĭ tsarévitch), in which the youngest daughter draws the flower she wants her father to bring her. The beast is a three-headed winged snake. There is a more famous version,The Scarlet Flower, written bySergey Aksakov and published in 1858.
In aUkrainian version, both the heroine's parents are dead. The Beast, who has the form of a snake, gives her the ability to revive people.[66]
Beauty and the Beast inModern Greek is called "Η Πεντάμορφη και το Τέρας" (I Pentámorfi kai to Téras) or "Η Ωραία και το Τέρας" (I Oraía kai to Téras), andBelle's name in Modern Greek isΜπελ (Bel, lit.translit.Mpel, pronounced asBell).[67][68]
The prince is also turned into a snake in a version fromCyprus in which he is cursed by an orphan who was his lover. In the end, the heroine's elder sisters are turned into stone pillars.[70][71]
Beauty and the Beast (Hebrew:הַיָפָה וְהַחַיָּה,Ha-Yafáh ve-Ha-Chayyáh,Arabic:الجميلة والوحش,Al-Jamīla wa-Al-Waḥsh,Persian:دیو و دلبر,Delbar o Div,Kurdish:Bedew û Cinawir orCiwanê û Cinawir,Turkish:Güzel ve Çirkin,Chinese: 美女 與 野獸(traditional) or 美女 与 野兽(simplified),Měinǚ yǔ Yěshòu,Japanese: 美女 ト 野獣(Katakana),Bíjò to̞ Yàjū, orびじょ と やじゅう(Hiragana),Bídyò to̞ Yàdyū,Korean:미녀 와 야수,Minyeo wa Yasu,Indonesian:Si Cantik dan Si Buruk Rupa,Tagalog:Si Maganda at ang Halimaw) is known in some different variants in Asia.[citation needed]
North American missionaryAdele M. Fielde collected a tale fromSwatow, China,[72] titledThe Fairy Serpent. In this tale, the heroine's family is visited by wasps until she follows the beast, who is a serpent. One day, the well she usually fetches water from is dry, so she walks to a spring. When the heroine returns, she finds the snake dying and revives him plunging him in the water. This turns him into a human.[73]
In a second Chinese variant,Pearl of the Sea, the youngest daughter of rich merchant Pekoe asks for a chip ofThe Great Wall of China because of a dream that she had. Her father steals a chip and is threatened by an army of Tatars who work for their master. In reality, the Tatar master is her uncle Chang, who has been enchanted prior to the story, and could only be released from his curse until a woman consented to live with him in the Great Wall.[74]
Marie Campbell collected a version from theAppalachian Mountains, titledA Bunch of Laurela Blooms for a Present, in which the prince was turned into a frog.[76]
Joseph Médard Carrière collected a version in which the Beast is described having a lion's head, a horse's back legs, abull's body, and a snake's tail. Like the end of Beaumont's version, Beauty's sisters are turned into stone statues.[77]
In a variant fromSchoharie, New York, collected by Emelyn Elizabeth Gardner with the titleThe Rosy Story, the heroine is named Ellen. The character that demands the youngest daughter is a headless man, but the Beast-like figure is a large toad.[78]
FolkloristFanny Dickerson Bergen published a fragmentary variant from Ohio, with the titleThe Golden Bird, which is the object the youngest daughter asks for.[79]
Mexican linguist Pablo González Casanova collected a version from theNahuatl titledCizuanton huan yolcatl (Spanish:La doncella y la fiera), in which after returning to her family's home, the heroine finds the beast dead on the ground. The girl falls asleep by his side, and she dreams of the beast, who tells her to cut a specific flower and spray its water on his face. The heroine does so, and the beast turns into a beautiful young man.[80][81]
Lindolfo Gomes collected a Brazilian version titledA Bela e a Fera in which the deal consists of the father promising to give the Beast the first living creature that greets him at home. The heroine later visits her family because her eldest sister is getting married.[82]
Harries identifies the two most popular strands of fairy-tale in the 18th century as the fantastical romance for adults and the didactic tale for children.[83] Beauty and the Beast is interesting as it bridges this gap, withVilleneuve's version being written as a salon tale for adults andBeaumont's being written as a didactic tale for children.
Tatar (2017) compares the tale to the theme of "animal brides and grooms" found in folklore throughout the world,[84]pointing out that the French tale was specifically intended for the preparation of young girls in 18th century France forarranged marriages.[85] The urban opening is unusual in fairy-tales, as is the social class of the characters, neither royal nor peasants; it may reflect the social changes occurring at the time of its first writing.[86]
Hamburger (2015) points out that the design of the Beast in the1946 film adaptation byJean Cocteau was inspired by the portrait ofPetrus Gonsalvus, a native ofTenerife who suffered fromhypertrichosis, causing an abnormal growth of hair on his face and other parts, and who came under the protection of the French king and married a beautiful Parisian woman named Catherine.[87]
"The Courtship of Mr. Lyon" (1979), fromAngela Carter'sThe Bloody Chamber, based on Madame Le Prince de Beaumont's version.[88] "The Tiger's Bride" in the same book is a variant of the tale.
Beauty and the Beast, a planned animated film that was to be directed byDon Bluth and distributed byColumbia Pictures. It was announced in 1984 and subsequently cancelled in 1989.[99][100]
Beauty and the Beast (1992), a direct-to-video animated feature film unrelated to the preceding year's Disney release but containing similar packaging, featuringIrene Cara as the voice of Beauty,Jan Rabson as Beauty's father, andSusan Silo as Beauty's sister Alicia, Clara the Fairy Housekeeper, and the evil fairy that was Clara's sister.
Belle (2021), a Japanese animated science fantasy film written and directed byMamoru Hosoda and produced byStudio Chizu.
Beauty and the Beast (1987), a television series which centers around the relationship between Catherine (played byLinda Hamilton), an attorney who lives in New York City, and Vincent (played byRon Perlman), a gentle but lion-faced "beast" who dwells in the tunnels beneath the city.
The Princess and the Werewolf[102] (2023) is a Chinese television series, starringChen Zheyuan andWu Xuanyi in a comedic spin on the tale, where the wolf king wants to marry a sassy princess who accidentally swallowed the pearl that holds his power. 30 episodes airing 20 July – 18 August 2023.
Grimm's Fairy-Tale Classics episode "Beauty and the Beast (The Story of the Summer Garden and the Winter Garden)" (1988). The Beast is depicted with an ogre-like appearance.
Happily Ever After: Fairy-Tales for Every Child had an episode featuring an African adaption of "Beauty and the Beast" which starred the voices ofVanessa L. Williams as Beauty,Gregory Hines as the Beast, andPaul Winfield as Beauty's Father. The Beast is depicted as having a rhinoceros head, a lion-like mane and tail, a humanoid body, and a camel-like hump where he is served by gargoyle-like servants
The Triplets (Les tres bessones/Las tres mellizas) (1997-2003), Catalan animated series, has a spoof of the fairy-tale in episode 22 from the third season.
Sofia the First episode "Beauty is the Beast" (2016), in which Princess Charlotte of Isleworth (voiced byMegan Hilty) is turned into a beast (a cross between a human and a wild boar with a wolf-like tail) by a powerful enchantress for how she treated a local goblin (voiced byAndrew Rannells).
La Belle et la Bête (1994), an opera byPhilip Glass based on Cocteau's film. Glass's composition follows the film scene by scene, effectively providing a new original soundtrack for the movie.[103]
The narrative of theSierra Entertainment adventure gameKing's Quest VI follows several fairy-tales, andBeauty and the Beast is the focus of one multiple part quest.[107]
Disco producerAlec R. Costandinos released a twelve inch by his side project Love & Kisses with the theme of the fairy-tale set to a disco melody in 1978.
^Sedgwick, Marcus (5 February 2020)."Wolves and lies: a writer's perspective". In Bill Hughes, Bill; George, Sam (eds.).In the Company of Wolves: Werewolves, Wolves and Wild Children. Manchester University Press.ISBN9781526129055. Retrieved12 July 2020.
^Villeneuve, Gabrielle-Suzanne de (1765)."Page:Contes de Madame de Villeneuve, Vol. 1".fr.wikisource.org (in French). Mérigot, père. p. 181. Retrieved6 February 2025.rien ne s'opposa alors à sa puissance, elle la leur témoigna pendant plusieurs siécles par toutes les marques de bonne volonté qu'ils purent désirer. Son pouvoir, joint à l'amitié de la Reine des Fées, conserva la vie, la santé & la jeunesse au Roi son époux. Ils cesserent de vivre l'un & l'autre, parce que l'homme ne peut pas toujours durer. Elle & la Fée sa sœur eurent la même intention pour la Belle, pour son époux, la Reine sa mere, le Vieillard & sa famille, en sorte qu'on n'a jamais vû tant vivre. (Nothing then opposed her might which she demonstrated over several centuries by all the marks of goodwill they could desire. Her powers, combined with the friendship of the Fairy Queen, conserved the life, health and youth of her husband the King. They did cease to live, one and the other, because man cannot last forever. She and her sister the Fairy willed the same for Beauty, for her husband, his mother the Queen and the old [Merchant] and his family, and so it was that never had anyone seen so much living.)
^Betsy Hearne,Beauty and the Beast: Visions and Revisions of An Old Tale, p 25ISBN0-226-32239-4
^Aarne, Antti; Thompson, Stith.The types of the folktale: a classification and bibliography. Folklore Fellows Communications FFC no. 184. Helsinki: Academia Scientiarum Fennica, 1961. p. 143.
^Uther, Hans-Jörg (2004).The Types of International Folktales: A Classification and Bibliography, Based on the System of Antti Aarne and Stith Thompson. Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, Academia Scientiarum Fennica. p. 252.ISBN978-951-41-0963-8.
^Cosquin, EmmanuelContes populaires de Lorraine Tome II. Deuxiéme Tirage. Paris: Vieweg 1887 pp. 215-217
^Pourrat, HenriFrench Folktales New York: Pantheon Books 1989 pp. 447-456
^Aprile, Renato (2000).Indice delle fiabe popolari italiane di magia (in Italian). Vol. 2. Leo S. Olschki. pp. 709–725.ISBN9788822248558.
^Schneller, ChristianMärchen und Sagen aus Wälschtirol Innsbruck: Wagner 1867 pp. 63-65.
^Pitrè, GiuseppeFiabe, novelle e racconti popolari siciliane Volume Primo. Palermo: Luigi Pedone Lauriel 1875 pp. 350-356
^Comparetti, DomenicoNovelline popolari italiane Roma: Ermanno Loescher. 1875. pp. 274-280.
^Imbriani, VittorioLa Novellaja Fiorentina Livorno: Coi tipi di F. Vigo 1877 pp. 319-327
^Busk, Rachel HarrietteThe Folk-lore of Rome: collected by Worth of Mouth from People London: Longmans, Green & Co. 1874 pp. 115-118
^De Nino, AntonioUsi e costumi abruzzesi Volume Terzo. Firenze: Tipografia di G. Barbèra 1883 pp. 161-166
^Mango, FrancescoNovelline popolari sarde Palermo: Carlo Clausen 1885 pp. 39-41
^Milá y FontanalsObservaciones sobre la poesía popular Barcelona: Imprenta de Narciso Ramirez 1853 pp. 185-186
^Maspons y Labrós, FranciscoLo Rondallayre: Quentos Populars Catalans Vol. II Barcelona: Llibrería de Álvar Verdaguer 1871 pp. 104-110
^Maspons y Labrós, FranciscoLo Rondallayre: Quentos Populars Catalans Vol. I Barcelona: Llibrería de Álvar Verdaguer. 1871. pp. 103-106
^Hernández de Soto, Sergio.Biblioteca de las Tradiciones Populares Españolas. Madrid: Librería de Fernando Fé. 1886. pp. 118-121.
^Eells, Elsie SpicerTales of Enchantment from Spain. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company. 1920. p. 109.
^Espinosa, Aurelio MacedonioCuentos Populares Españoles Stanford University Press. 1924. pp. 271-273
^Espinosa, Aurelio MacedonioCuentos populares de Castilla y León Volumen 1 Madrid: CSIC 1987 pp. 240-243
^Pedroso, Consiglieri.Portuguese Folk-Tales. New York: Folklore Society Publications. 1882. pp. 41-45.
^Coelho, Adolfo.Contos Populares Portuguezes. Lisboa: P. Plantier. 1879. pp. 69-71.
^Wolf, Johann Wilhelm.Grootmoederken, Archiven voor Nederduitsche Sagen, Sprookjes, Volksliederen, Volksfeesten en Volksgebruiken Gent: Boek en Steendrukkery van C. Annoot-Braeckman. 1842. pp. 61-66.
^Joos, AmaatVertelsels van her Vlaamsche Volk Deel 3 Gent: Drukkerij A. Siffer 1891 nº 54 pp. 169-176
^De Meyere, VictorDe Vlaamsche vertelselschat Deel 2 Antwerpen: De Sikkel 1927 pp. 139.147
^Meder, TheoDe magische Vlucht Amsterdam: Bert Bakker 2000 pp. 54-65
^Meder, TheoThe Flying Dutchman and Other Folktales from the Netherlands Westport and London: Libraries Unlimited. 2008. pp. 29-37.
^Grimm, Jacob and WilhelmKinder- und Hausmärchen Berlin: Realschulbuchhandlung 1812 pp. 323-328
^Bechstein, LudwigDeutsches Märchenbuch Leipzig: Verlag von Georg Wigand 1847 pp. 228-232
^Bechstein, LudwigDeutsches Märchenbuch Leipzig: Verlag von Georg Wigand 1847 pp. 81-85
^Bechstein, LudwigThe Old Story-teller: Popular German Tales London: Addey & Co. 1854 pp. 17-22
^Colshorn, Carl and TheodorMärchen und Sagen aus Hannover Hannover: Verlag von Carl Ruempler 1854 pp. 64-69
^Colshorn, Carl and TheodorMärchen und Sagen aus Hannover Hannover: Verlag von Carl Ruempler 1854 pp. 139-141
^Zipes, JackThe Golden Age of Folk and Fairy Tales: From the Brothers Grimm to Andrew Lang Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company 2013 pp. 215-217
^Meier, ErnstDeutsche Volksmärchen aus Schwaben Stuttgart: C.P. Scheitlin 1852 pp. 202-204
^Zingerle, Ignaz und JosefKinder- und Hausmärchen aus Süddeutschland Regensburg 1854 pp. 310-313
^Sutermeister, OttoKinder- und Hausmärchen aus der Schweiz Aarau: H.R. Sauerländer 1869 pp. 75-78
^Kolberg, OskarLud: Jego zwyczaje, sposób życia, mowa, podania, przysłowia, obrzędy, gusła, zabawy, pieśni, muzyka i tańce Serya VIII Kraków: Ludwika Gumplowicza 1875 pp. 47-48
^Zmorski, RomanPodania i baśni ludu w Mazowszu Wrocław: Zygmunta Schlettera 1852 pp. 58-74
^Kubín, Josef ŠtefanPovídky kladské Prague: Společnost Národopisného musea českoslovanského 1908 pp. 130-135
^Baudiš, JosefThe Key of Gold: 23 Czech Folk Tales London: George Allen & Unwind Ltd. 1917 pp. 123-128
^Kulda, Beneš MetodMoravské národní pohádky a pověsti z okolí rožnovského Svazek první Prague: I.L. Kober 1874 pp. 148-151
^Mikšíček, MatějNárodní báchorky moravské a slezské Prague: I.L. Kober 1888 pp. 214-220
^Gabršček, AndrejNarodne pripovedke v Soških planinah Vol. II 1894 pp. 33-38
^Jones, W. Henry & Kropf, Lewis L.The Folk-Tales of the Magyars London: Elliot Stock 1889 pp. 131-136
^Tang Kristensen, EvaldÆventyr fra Jylland Vol. I. Kjobehavn: Trykt hos Konrad Jorgensen i Kolding 1884 pp. 335-340
^Jakobsen, JakobFærøske folkesagn og æventyr København: S. L. Møllers Bogtrykkeri 1898 pp. 430-438
^Bolte, Johannes; Polívka, Jiri.Anmerkungen zu den Kinder- u. hausmärchen der brüder Grimm Zweiter Band Leipzig: Dieterich'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung 1913 p. 242
^Chubynsky, PavloТруды этнографическо-статистической экспедиции в Западно-Русский Край TOM 2 St. Petersburg 1878 pp. 444-445
^Campbell, MarieTales from the Cloud Walking Country Indiana University Press 1958 pp. 228-230
^Carrière, Joseph MédardContes du Detroit Sudbury: Prise de parole 2005 pp. 68-981
^Garner, Emelyn Elizabeth.Folklore From the Schoharie Hills, New York. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan press, 1937. pp. 118-121.
^Bergen, Fanny D. (July 1900). "The Golden Bird".The Journal of American Folklore.13 (50):231–232.doi:10.2307/533895.JSTOR533895.
^González Casanova, Pablo.Cuentos indígenas. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 2001. pp. 95-99.
^Baudot, Georges (1976). "La Belle et la Bête dans le folklore náhuatl du Mexique central".Cahiers du monde hispanique et luso-brésilien.27 (1):53–61.doi:10.3406/carav.1976.2049.
^Gomes, LindolfoContos Populaires Brasileiros São Paulo: Melhoramentos 1931 pp. 185-188
^Harries, Elizabeth (2003).Twice upon a time: Women Writers and the History of the Fairy Tale. Princeton University Press. p. 80.
^Tatar, Maria (7 March 2017).Beauty and the Beast: Classic Tales of Animal Brides and Grooms from Around the World. Random House Penguin.ISBN9780143111696.
^Gilbert, Sophie (31 March 2017)."The Dark Morality of Fairy-Tale Animal Brides". The Atlantic. Retrieved31 March 2017. "Maria Tatar points [...] the story of Beauty and the Beast was meant for girls who would likely have their marriages arranged".
^Crunelle-Vanrigh, Anny. "The Logic of the Same andDifférance: 'The Courtship of Mr. Lyon'". In Roemer, Danielle Marie, and Bacchilega, Cristina, eds. (2001).Angela Carter and the Fairy Tale, p. 128. Wayne State University Press.
^However, despite the proximity of the Hungarian tale with others ofTheAnimal as Bridegroom cycle, Hungarian scholarship separates this tale under its own classification in the Hungarian Folktale Catalogue: MNK 425X*, "Gorgeous Grapes, Smiling Apple, Bloomy Peach".[62]
Notes: "Literary" indicates tale whose origin is traceable to a literary source with a known author;p indicates a previous tale type extant until 2004. "AaTh" refers to theAarne–Thompson–Uther Index pre-2004; "ATU" refers to the system post-2004.
