BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

There was once a rich merchant who made his fortune with a small fleet of ships trading goods from around the world. The merchant had three lovely daughters, but everyone agreed that the youngest was the smartest, the kindest, and the most beautiful. Her father and the townspeople called her Beauty.

Good fortune can turn to bad, and it did for the merchant. One ship was sunk in a storm; another was lost, probably to pirates. The merchant’s money was all gone. Forced to sell his city home, he moved to a farm in the country, much to the distress of his older daughters. But Beauty, devoted to her father, took up country life with spirit.

She rose with the rooster’s crow, tended the garden, and worked in the fields. She positively glowed from the country life, which only made her more attractive. Her sisters just grew lazier, grumbling to their father about their hard lives or mocking their younger sister. “She looks like a cow and acts like a cow,” they’d laugh.

Bad fortune can also turn to good, and one of the merchant’s ships finally sailed into port, not lost to pirates after all. The older sisters were delighted; they’d have their riches back. When the merchant left for the city to recover his losses, he asked Beauty what she wanted. “A rose,” she answered. “None grow here, and I miss the sweet roses that once grew outside my bedroom window.”

But in the city the merchant discovered it was too late for him to recover his losses! He was forced to head back home to the country, no wealthier. At least there he would have the comfort of a warm fire and good food, as well as the pleasure of seeing his children. He took the shorter mountain route to get home quickly.

But when snow began falling, he lost his way. He was cold and hungry, and he saw wolves following him. He had begun to fear his luck had run out, when he saw a glow in the distance. Approaching it, he discovered a castle there in the middle of the woods. No one seemed to be at home, so, tired and wet, he stabled his horse, warmed himself by the fire, partook of the castle’s food, and finally found a warm bed where he could sleep the night through.

In the morning, there before him was a new suit of clothes. An elegant breakfast had been set out for him. “Surely the house must be run by fairies!” he thought. Leaving to find his horse, he found the snow had disappeared. In its place was an arbor of sweet red roses, and he plucked one for Beauty.

Suddenly, the old man heard a great roar, and a hideous beast stormed toward him. “I save your life, welcome you to my home, and now you steal my rose, which I value above all else!”

“Oh, my lord, I only took a rose as a gift for my daughter,” the merchant said, trembling. “It was the one thing she asked me to bring her.”

“My name is Beast, not m’lord, but I will let you go on the condition that your daughter comes here to serve me. But she must come willingly!”

Never, thought the merchant, but saying yes would give him time.

“If she does not come, merchant, you yourself must return to serve me.”

When the merchant arrived home at the farm, he broke down in tears. He gave Beauty the rose and told her the Beast’s demand. But Beauty did not shed a tear. “Of course, Father. I shall give myself up to the Beast, happy knowing I saved your life.”

“No, no, no,” the merchant said. “I will not hear of it.” But the selfish sisters persuaded him.

And in the morning Beauty and her father set out, the horse remembering the way. They found the castle, where a table was set for two, with a hearty meal already on it! They were eating hungrily when the Beast appeared in the candlelight. “Have you come of your own free will?” he asked Beauty.

“Yes,” she answered.

The merchant cried bitter tears as he left, but that night in her chamber Beauty dreamed a beautiful dream. An angel came to her and said, “Your kindness and good deeds shall be rewarded.”

 

Next morning, Beauty gathered her courage and began to explore the castle. She found a door with a sign that said “Beauty’s Apartment.” In it she found books, a harp, music, a window that looked out on the garden, and beautiful gowns and finery of all kinds. She opened a large book and read: “Welcome, Beauty. Banish all fear. You are queen and mistress here. Speak your wishes and they will be granted.”

“I have only one wish: to see that my old father is well.” Suddenly, in a glass ball upon the table, she saw a view of her father arriving home.

That night at a lavish supper, the Beast came from the shadows. “May I join you, Beauty?” he asked in a growl. Beauty, who did not want to seem rude, said yes.

“Beauty, please be at home in the castle, for everything here is yours, and I shall be distressed if you are ever unhappy.”

“Oh, Beast, you are so kind,” said Beauty.

“Still I am terrible to look at.”

“When I consider your kindnesses, Beast, your appearance is forgotten.”

Time passed in idyllic pleasure for Beauty. She had wonderful books and lovely music, and each night the Beast would join her for a candlelit supper and they would talk and talk. She began to look forward eagerly to his visits. Then one night, the Beast asked her if she would marry him.

“I love you, Beast,” she told him, “but only as my friend.”

The Beast hung his head. “Then,” he said, “I will be content with that.”

One night when Beauty looked at the glass ball, she saw that her father was ill and dying. She asked the Beast if she might leave to visit her father. “Before he dies, Beast, I must let him know that I am well and you are treating me kindly. I promise to come back.”

 

The Beast sighed. “In the morning you will be at your father’s farm.” He put a ring on her finger. “Take this off when you wish to return.”

True to the Beast’s word, Beauty awoke in her own room at her family’s farm. With Beauty at his side, the merchant started to recover his health. But when the sisters heard of Beauty’s splendid life, they began to envy her, and so they taunted her. “If you leave, Father will certainly die.” So Beauty stayed longer than she had intended.

But one night, in a dream, she saw the Beast lying in the castle rose garden, crying her name. Then she knew! She loved the Beast and could not, would not, lose him. She took the ring from her finger and was transported back to the Beast’s castle.

Remembering the dream, she went to the garden and found the Beast lying on the ground, not breathing. She threw herself down next to him, crying his name. “Beast, Beast, you must not die. I swear to be yours forevermore. You must live and be my husband.”

As she said these words, the ground shook and a great bolt of lightning danced above them.

 

And when she looked at the Beast again, in his place was a handsome prince!

“What have you done to Beast?” she cried.

But the prince replied, “You see him before you. A warlock condemned me to be an ugly beast until the time when a fair maiden would consent of her free will to marry me. Beauty, in the entire world, only you are good enough and kind enough to have loved me despite what I seemed to be.”

Beauty was surprised but overjoyed, and she and the prince returned to the castle, where they soon married and lived happily ever after.