Who is Beauty and the Beast?

Answer 1

Beauty is Belle [Beautiful, in French], the youngest of three daughters of a rich merchant. Beast is the Prince who has been changed into a monster, for having refused help to a fairy seeking shelter from the rain. The two paths cross, because Belle's father seeks shelter from the Beast for the night. He then repays the hospitality by picking a rose, without permission, for his youngest daughter. The Beast imposes the punishment of lifelong imprisonment with him. The father talks the Beast into approving Belle's serving the sentence instead! Belle manages a visit back home. The Beast dies, at the thought of Belle never returning. But Belle returns, and turns the Beast into his own true princely self, through her tears and declaration of love. The story exists in many forms, and many languages. But the first known published version is La jeune americaine, et les contes marins [The Young American, and Seafaring Tales], by Madame Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, in 1740.