Beauty and the Beast

    I

    Once there was an old man. He had three young and beautiful children: they were girls. The youngest girl was the most beautiful. She was called 'Beauty', because she was so beautiful. Beauty was a very nice girl: she was kind to everyone; she worked very hard. Whenever there was hard work to do in the house Beauty did it, for her sisters did not like hard work. Everyone liked Beauty, because she was so good and so kind; they did not like her sisters, because they were hard and unkind.

    Now, the old man was very rich: he had many ships. He sent all his ships to sea. They were going to take cloth and many nice things to other countries to sell them there and bring back much money. But all the ships were lost at sea. The old man waited and waited, but none of his ships came back. He waited for one year and still no ships came. Then he said, "Now I know that I have lost my ships. I am not a rich man any more. All my riches have been lost on those ships."

    Then the old man called his three children and said, "My ships are lost, and all my riches have been lost on the ships. We cannot live in this big house any more. We must go and live in a small hut in the country. We shall not have servants any more, but we must do our own work."

    The sisters said, " It will be very hard for us to lose our nice house, and to live in a little hut." But Beauty said, "It will be nice to live in the country. I will do all the hard work, and we shall all be very happy."

    So they went and lived in a small hut in the country. Beauty did all the hard work, for she loved her father and wanted to make him happy. Her sisters did no work: they did not love their father; they did not love anyone. They did not like hard work. They were angry because they could not live in a big house and have servants.

    After about a year a man came and told the old man about one of his ships. He said, "You did not lose all your ships: one of your ships was not lost. The ship has come back." The old man said, "I will go to the city and see about it."

    Then the old father called his children and said to each of the three sisters, "What shall I bring to you when I come back from the city?"

    One sister answered, "Please bring me some jewels."

    The other sister said, " Please bring me some beautiful clothes."

    Then he said to Beauty, "What shall I bring to you?"

    She answered, "Please bring me a rose."

    "But that is a very small thing," said her father.

    "A rose will please me most," she answered.

    So he went to the city.

    The ship was his smallest ship, and it had brought very little; so he had little money to buy things for his children; but he said, "I must get them what they asked." He bought jewels for one sister, and he bought beautiful clothes for the other. Then he went to a man who had a garden: he said to the man, " I want to buy some roses." The man said, "You cannot buy roses in this month. There are no roses in my garden now. Wait about three months, and the garden will be full of roses." But the old man said, "I want a rose now." "You cannot get roses this month," said the other man.

    Then the old man set out on his way home. The road went through a big forest. After about two hours rain began to fall, and it was hard to find the way. Then night came, and he lost his way in the forest. He did not know where he was going.

    After some time he saw a light very far away; and he thought, "If I go to the light, I shall come to some house where I can get food and a bed." He went on for some time, and then he saw a big house. He went to the door of the house, and called. He called many times, but there was no answer. Then he opened the door and went in.

    Inside the house he saw a great hall. In the hall there was a great table, and on the table food was set ready for one person. He thought, "This must be the house of some great person. In a little time he will come.

    He waited for some time, but no one came. He walked about the house from one room to another. He saw no one: there was not a person in the house. He called, but no one came.

    Then he said, "I will not wait any more." He sat down and ate the food. Then he found a room with a bed in it all ready. He got into the bed and fell asleep.

    He awoke in the morning, and got out of bed. He looked for his clothes. Some person had taken away his clothes in the night. Where his old clothes had been, there were very nice new clothes set ready for him. He put on the clothes: then he went into the hall. Food was set ready for him; he ate it. Then he went out, and walked about in the garden.

    Now, as he walked about the garden, he saw a tree covered with roses. He thought, "Here are some roses for Beauty: she asked me to bring her a rose." So he took a rose in his hand. Just as he took the rose, a great beast jumped out of the trees and stood before him.

    The Beast said, "I have given you food to eat; I have given you a bed to sleep on; I have given you new clothes to put on. What have you done for me? You have taken a rose from my rose-tree! You shall die for this."

    "Please give me time!" cried the poor man. "I took it to give to Beauty."

    "Who is 'Beauty'?" said the Beast.

    " She is my youngest child," said the old man 'She loves me very much. If you kill me, she will be so sad that she will die too."

    " The girl may die in place of you," said the Beast. "You may go away now for one month; after one month you must come back to this place, or Beauty may come in your place."

    "You could not kill her!" said the old man; 'she is too good and too beautiful!"

    "Bring her to this place after one month," said the Beast. "Go now ―― and you may take your rose." The Beast went back into the trees. Beauty's father went sadly home.

    Ⅱ

    At last the old man came home. He gave to the three girls the things which he had brought. He gave the jewels to one; the beautiful clothes to the other; and, last, he gave Beauty her rose.

    The two sisters were very pleased; but Beauty saw that her father was not happy. Every day he looked more and more sad. At last she went to him and said, "Father, for a long time you have looked sad, and you look sadder every day. Why do you look so sad?"

    For a long time he did not tell her. But she asked him again, and at last he said, "This is the last month I have to live." He told her about the great house and the Beast, and what the Beast had said――'After one month you must come, or Beauty must come in place of you."

    Beauty said, "I will go with you. If you do not take me with you, I shall go alone."

    At last the time came. The old man made ready his horse.

    He got up on the horse, and Beauty got up with him; and they set out.

    They rode through the forest. The way was long. It was night when at last they came to the great house. There were little lights set in the trees of the garden, and all the house was full of lights. In the hall beautiful food was set ready for them, and flowers were on the table. They sat down and ate. No one came to them.

    They went to bed.

    In the morning Beauty awoke and found that some person had set many beautiful dresses at the side of her bed for her. She did not know which dress to take, for all the dresses were so beautiful. After some time she dressed herself. Then they went into the garden. The old man took Beauty and showed her the rose-tree where he had seen the Beast.

    As they waited there, they heard a great noise, and the Beast stood before them. Beauty was afraid: then she looked into the Beast's eyes, and she saw that they were very kind eyes. She thought, "He must be a kind Beast: he will not kill me."

    The Beast said, "I am very pleased to see you, Beauty. " Then he said to her father, "Please go away, Beauty shall stay in this place with me alone." The old man looked at Beauty. " Shall I go?" he asked. "Yes," said Beauty. "Yes, go away, for I have seen his eyes, and I think he is a kind Beast."

    So her father went away. The Beast went back into the trees. Beauty was there alone.

    Beauty went into the house. She went from one place to another, and looked into all the rooms. The doors opened for her as she came, but she could not see who had opened them. Each room was full of beautiful things all set ready for her.

    When she had seen all the rooms, she went into the hall and sat down. "I want a book to read," she said. "Can I have a book?" She could not see anyone near her, but someone answered, " Yes." At once someone placed a book on the table at her side. Her name was written in the book:

    Beauty

    with love from

    The Beast

    When night came she sat in the hall. She was reading her book. Just then she heard a great noise, and she saw that Beast standing before her.

    The Beast said, "Is this a nice place?"

    "Yes," she said.

    "Did you like the dresses?"

    "Yes, thank you," She said.

    "Is that a nice book?"

    "Yes, thank you," she said.

    "Do you like living here?"

    "Yes, thank you," she said.

    Then, after a little time, he said, "Will you marry me?"

    She cried and ran away.

    He said, "Do not run away. Say 'Yes' or 'No." …Will you marry me?"

    "No, thank you," she said.

    The Beast looked sad; and went away.

    Each night, as she sat in the hall, the Beast came to her and said the same things. Each time he asked her to marry him, and she said, " No," Then he looked sad and went away. It made her sad too.

    Beauty stayed in the place for a month. Then she thought, "My father will think that I am dead. I must go and see him."

    So she said to the Beast that night, "I want to go and see my father."

    "Yes, you may go," said the Beast, "but please come back after one month."

    "Thank you," she said. "I will come back after one month."

    On the next morning she found a horse. ready for her at the door. She got on the horse and rode to her father's house. He was very pleased to see her. She stayed there many days and she was very happy.

    One month went by, but she did not remember the Beast. Two months went by, and still she did not remember him. At last, when three months had gone by, she remembered, and said, "I must go back to the Beast. I said that I would go back after one month, but I did not remember. I must go now, quickly." She took the horse and rode away.

    She rode all night. "Poor Beast," she said, as she went through the forest, "he will think that I have not remembered him. He was so nice to me. Poor Beast!"

    As morning came into the sky she saw the great house. The door was open. She ran quickly into the hall; she went into one room after another, but she could not find the Beast. She called, but no one answered. She went into the garden and looked for him: she came to the rose-tree and there she found him. He was at the foot of the tree. She thought he was dead: his eyes were shut. She went to his side: "Poor Beast!" she said, and kissed him. He opened his eyes: "I thought that you would never come back, and I knew that you would never marry me."

    But Beauty knew that she would always love the poor Beast. She said, "I will marry you, Beast. You are ugly, but you are a very kind Beast."

    There was a great noise, and in the place where the Beast had been there stood a beautiful Prince. He said, "A bad fairy changed me into a Beast. The fairy said, " You may change back into a man when a beautiful girl says that she will marry you." I changed back into a man."

    The Prince married Beauty, and they were very happy. Beauty's father came and lived near the great house. But the two sisters went away and lived in another country.

    Beauty sometimes said, "You are very beautiful, my Prince; but I did like my nice ugly Beast!"

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