Beauty and the Beast is a classic "beauty is on the inside" story. A woman overcomes the exterior looks of the beast, falls in love with him, and breaks the spell revealing he is a prince. It is a french love story, dating as far back as the 1700s.
Most versions have the same events:
A wealthy merchant, his three daughters, are forced to move to a farm house after their fortune is lost at sea. By chance a ship does return, and the Merchant goes to port to see if they can reclaim their fortune. The two elder daughters request gifts of value, dresses, and Belle (the youngest) requests a rose. The merchant goes to port to find out that he is still poor, and cannot buy the gifts for his daughters. During his trip home, he finds himself in a castle with seemingly no occupants, and yet he is anonymously feed, and sheltered for the night. Before he leaves he sees the castle garden he picks a rose for beauty.
Enraged, the castle owner (the beast) reveals himself only to kill the merchant for taking his most prized possession. When the merchant explains, the beast agrees to let him go home only to say goodbye. He should return to the castle prepared to die, or bring with him one of his daughters to live with the beast; by her own accord.
When Belle hears of this, to her father's dismay, she insists on going with him. Once settled in, she dines with the beast every night. At the end of dinner, he offers her a rose, and asks "Do you love me, and will you marry me?" Repeatedly she refuses, and retires to her room. While sleeping, Belle dreams of the same prince every night while staying at the castle.
Eventually, Belle is allowed to go home to visit her family. She is gifted a mirror: to use to look back at the castle, and a ring (to bring her back to the castle), and many riches to give to her family. She does not dream of the prince during her stay with her family, and forgets her promise to the beast to return in a month's time. Finally a dream reminds her, and she rushes back to the castle to find Beast dying near the rose bushes.
At this point, he asks her one last time if she loves him and if she will marry him, and she says yes. This breaks the spell, and Belle finds her prince is actually the beast. They are married and live happily ever after.
Please stay tuned as in future Fridays, I'll take you through some verisons I'm familiar with, Etsy inspired treasuries, and much more!!!!!
My granddaughter's favorite too. :)
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