Beauty and the Beast Read online

  Hasan is a worthless boy who falls under the influence of a Magian, who professes to be an alchemist, and who at length kidnaps him. Having used him with great cruelty the Magian takes him fifteen days’ journey on dromedaries into the desert to a high mountain, at the foot whereof the old rascal sews him up in a skin, together with a knife and a small provision of three cakes and a leathern bottle of water, afterward retiring to a distance. One of the vultures which infest the mountain then pounces on Hasan and carries him to the top. In accordance with the Magian’s instructions, the hero, on arriving there, slits the skin, and jumping out, to the bird’s affright, picks up and casts down to the Magian bundles of the wood which he finds around him. This wood is the means by which the alchemy is performed; and having gathered up the bundles the Magian leaves Hasan to his fate. The youth, after despairing of life, finds his way to a palace where dwell seven maidens, with whom he remains for awhile in Platonic friendship. When they are summoned away by their father for a two months’ absence, they leave him their keys, straitly charging him not to open a certain door. He disregards their wishes, and finds within a magnificent pavilion enclosing a basin brimful of water, at which ten birds come to bathe and play. The birds for this purpose cast their feathers; and Hasan is favored with the sight of “ten virgins, maids whose beauty shamed the brilliancy of the moon.” He fell madly in love with the chief damsel, who turns out to be a daughter of a King of the Jinn. On the return of the maidens of the palace he is advised by them to watch the next time the birds come, and to take possession of the feather-suit belonging to the damsel of his choice, for without this she cannot return home with her attendants. He succeeds in doing so, and thus compels her to remain with him and become his wife. With her he departs to his own country and settles in Baghdad, where his wife bears him two sons. During his temporary absence, however, she persuades her mother-in-law—who, unfortunately for the happiness of the household, lives with the young couple—to let her have the feather-suit which her husband has left under her charge. Clad with this she takes her two boys in her arms and sails away through the air to the islands of Wák, leaving a message for the hapless Hasan that if he loves her he may come and seek her there. Now the islands of Wák were seven islands, wherein was a mighty host, all virgin girls, and the inner isles were peopled by satans and marids and warlocks and various tribesmen of the Jinn, and whosoever entered their land never returned thence; and Hasan’s wife was one of the king’s daughters. To reach her he would have to cross seven wadys and seven seas and seven mighty mountains. Undaunted, however, by the difficulties wherewith he is threatened, he determines to find her, swearing by Allah never to turn back till he regain his beloved, or till death overtake him. By the help of sundry potentates of more or less forbidding aspect and supernatural power, to whom he gets letters of introduction, and who live in gorgeous palaces amid deserts, and are served by demons only uglier and less mighty than themselves, he succeeds in traversing the Land of Birds, the Land of Wild Beasts, the country of the Warlocks and the Enchanters, and the Land of the Jinn, and enters the islands of Wák—there to fall into the hands of that masterful virago, his wife’s eldest sister. After a preliminary outburst against Hasan, this amiable creature pours, as is the wont of women, the full torrent of her wrath against her erring sister. From the tortures she inflicts, Hasan at length rescues his wife, with their two sons, by means of a cap of invisibility and a rod conferring authority over seven tribes of the Jinn, which he has stolen from two boys who are quarrelling over them. When his sister-in-law with an army of Jinn pursues the fugitives, the subjects of the rod overcome her. His wife begs for her sister’s life and reconciles her husband to her, and then returns with her husband to his home in Baghdad, to quit him no more.

  CHARISMATIC COUPLES IN THE POPULAR IMAGINATION

  BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

  France

  With one swift literary stroke, an entire oral storytelling culture, with its investment in grotesque, ribald humor and surges of violence, goes down for the count when Madame de Beaumont publishes her Beauty and the Beast tale about a marriage “founded on virtue.” Inspired by Madame Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve’s novel-length story of Beauty and the Beast, Madame de Beaumont’s more compact narrative came to dominate the literary landscape even as it shifted the audience for the story from adults to the young.

  Once upon a time there was a very wealthy merchant who lived with his six children, three boys and three girls. Since he was a man of intelligence and good sense, he spared no expense in educating his children and hiring all kinds of tutors for them. His daughters were very beautiful, but everyone admired the youngest more than the others. When she was little, people used to refer to her as “the beautiful child.” The name “Beauty” stuck, and, as a result, her two sisters were always very jealous. The youngest daughter was not only more beautiful than her sisters but also better behaved. The two older sisters were vain and proud because the family had money. They tried to act like ladies of the court and paid no attention at all to girls from merchant families. They chose to spend time only with people of rank. Every day they went to balls, to the theater, to the park, and they made fun of their younger sister, who spent most of her time reading good books.

  Since the girls were known to be very wealthy, many prominent merchants were interested in marrying them. But the two older sisters always insisted that they would never marry unless they found a duke or, at the very least, a count. Beauty (as noted, this was the name of the youngest daughter) very politely thanked all those who proposed to her, but she told them that she was still too young for marriage and that she planned to keep her father company for some years to come.

  Out of the blue, the merchant lost his fortune, and he had nothing left but a small country house quite far from town. With tears in his eyes, he told his children that they would have to live in that house from now on and that, by working there like peasants, they could manage to make ends meet. The two elder daughters said that they did not want to leave town and that they had many admirers who would be more than happy to marry them, even though they no longer had money. But the fine young ladies were wrong. Their admirers lost all interest in them now that they were poor. And since they were disliked because of their pride, people said: “Those two girls don’t deserve our sympathy. It’s quite satisfying to see pride take a fall. Let them play the ladies while tending their sheep.”

  At the same time, people were saying: “As for Beauty, we are very upset by her misfortune. She’s such a good girl! She speaks so kindly to the poor. She’s so sweet and sincere.”

  There were a number of gentlemen who would have been happy to marry Beauty, even though she didn’t have a penny. She told them that she could not bring herself to abandon her poor father in his distress and that she was planning to go with him to the country in order to comfort him and help him with his work. Poor Beauty had been upset at first by the loss of the family fortune, but she said to herself: “No matter how much I cry, my tears won’t bring our fortune back. I must try to be happy without it.”

  When they arrived at the country house, the merchant and his three sons began working the land. Beauty got up every day at four in the morning and started cleaning the house and preparing breakfast for everyone. It was hard for her at first, because she was not used to working like a servant. At the end of two months, however, she became stronger, and the hard work made her very healthy. After finishing her housework, she would read for a while or sing while spinning. Her two sisters, by contrast, were bored to tears. They got up at ten in the morning, took walks all day long, and talked endlessly about the beautiful clothes they had once worn.

  “Look at our sister,” they said to each other. “She is so stupid and such a simpleton that she is perfectly satisfied with her miserable lot.”

  The good merchant did not agree with his daughters. He knew that Beauty stood out in company in a way that her sisters could not. He admired t
he virtue of his daughter, above all her patience. The sisters not only made her do all the housework, they also insulted her whenever they could.

  The family had lived an entire year in seclusion when the merchant received a letter informing him that a ship containing his merchandise had just arrived safely in its home port. The news made the two elder sisters giddy with excitement, for they thought they would finally be able to leave the countryside where they were so bored. When they saw that their father was ready to leave, they begged him to bring back dresses, furs, laces, and all kinds of baubles. Beauty did not ask for anything, because she thought that all the money from the merchandise would not be enough to buy everything her sisters wanted.

  “Don’t you want me to buy anything for you?” asked her father.

  “You are so kind to think of me,” Beauty answered. “There are no roses growing here. Can you bring me one?”

  It was not that Beauty was anxious to have a rose, but she did not want to do something that would make her sisters look bad. Her sisters would have said that she was asking for nothing to make herself look good.

  The good man left home, but when he arrived at the port he found that there was a dispute going on about his merchandise. After much unpleasantness, he set off for home as impoverished as he had been on his departure. He had only thirty miles left to go and was already overjoyed at the prospect of seeing his children again when he had to cross a dense forest. He had no idea where he was. There was a fierce snowstorm, and the wind was so strong that it knocked him off his horse twice. When night fell, he felt sure that he was going to die of hunger or of the cold, or that he would be eaten by the wolves that he could hear howling all around. All of a sudden he saw a bright light at the end of a long row of trees. The bright light seemed very far away. He walked in its direction and realized that it was coming from an immense castle that was completely lit up. The merchant thanked God for sending help, and he hurried toward the castle. He was surprised that no one was in the courtyard. His horse went inside a large, open stable, where he found some hay and oats. The poor animal had nearly died of hunger and began eating voraciously. The merchant tied the horse up in the stable and walked toward the house, where not a soul was in sight. Once he entered the great hall, however, he found a warm fire and a table laden with food, with just a single place setting. Since the rain and snow had soaked him to the bone, he went over to the fire to dry off. He thought to himself: “The master of the house, or his servants, will not be offended by the liberties I am taking. No doubt someone will be back soon.”

  He waited a long time. Once the clock struck eleven and there was still no one in sight, he gave in to the pangs of hunger and, trembling with fear, he took a chicken and ate it all up in a few big bites. He also drank several glasses of wine and, feeling more daring, he left the great hall and crossed many large, magnificently furnished apartments. Finally he found a room with a good bed. Since it was past midnight and he was exhausted, he took it upon himself to close the door and go to bed.

  When he awoke the next day, it was already ten in the morning. He was greatly surprised to find clean clothes in the place of the ones that had been completely soaked. “Surely,” he thought to himself, “this palace belongs to some good fairy who has taken pity on me.”

  He looked out the window and saw that it was no longer snowing. Before his eyes a magnificent vista of gardens and flowers unfolded. He returned to the great hall where he had dined the night before and found a small table with a cup of hot chocolate on it. “Thank you, Madame Fairy,” he said out loud, “for being so kind as to remember my breakfast.”

  After finishing his hot chocolate, the good man left to go find his horse. Passing beneath a magnificent arbor of roses, he remembered that Beauty had asked him for a rose, and he plucked one from a branch with many blossoms on it. At that very moment, he heard a loud noise and saw a beast coming toward him. It looked so dreadful that he nearly fainted.

  “You are very ungrateful,” said the beast in a terrible voice. “I saved your life by sheltering you in my castle, and now you repay me by stealing my roses, which I love more than anything else in the world. You will have to pay for your offense. I’m going to give you exactly a quarter of an hour to beg God’s forgiveness.”

  The merchant fell to his knees and, hands clasped, pleaded with the beast: “My Liege, pardon me. I did not think I would be offending you by plucking a rose for my daughter, who asked me to bring her a flower or two.”

  “I am not called ‘My Liege,’” said the monster. “My name is Beast. I don’t like flattery, and I prefer that people say what they think. So don’t try to move me with your compliments. But you said that you have some daughters. I am prepared to forgive you if one of your daughters consents to die in your place. Don’t argue with me. Just go. If your daughters refuse to die for you, swear that you will return in three days.”

  The good man was not about to sacrifice one of his daughters to this hideous monster, but he thought: “At least I will have the pleasure of embracing them one last time.”

  He swore that he would return, and Beast told him that he could leave whenever he wanted. “But I don’t want you to go empty-handed,” he added. “Return to the room in which you slept. There you will find a large empty chest. You can fill it up with whatever you like, and I will have it delivered to your door.”

  The beast withdrew, and the good man thought to himself: “If I must die, at least I can console myself with the thought of leaving something for my poor children to live on.”

  The merchant returned to the room in which he had slept. He filled the great chest that Beast had described with the many gold pieces he found there. After he found his horse in the stable, he left the palace with sadness equal to the joy he had felt on entering it. His horse instinctively set out on one of the forest paths, and in just a few hours, the good man arrived at his cottage. His children rushed out to greet him, but instead of responding to their caresses, the merchant burst into tears as he gazed on them. In his hand, he was holding the branch of roses he had brought for Beauty. He gave it to her and said: “Beauty, take these flowers. They have cost your poor father dearly.”

  The merchant then told his children about the terrible events that had befallen him. Upon hearing his story, the two sisters uttered loud cries and said hurtful things to Beauty, who did not cry. “See what the pride of this little creature has brought down on us!” they said. “Why didn’t she ask for fine clothes the way we did? No, she wanted to get all the attention. She’s responsible for Father’s death, and she’s not even shedding a tear!”

  “That would be quite pointless,” Beauty replied. “Why should I shed tears about Father when he is not going to die? Since the monster is willing to accept one of his daughters, I am prepared to risk all his fury. I feel fortunate to be able to sacrifice myself for him, since I will have the pleasure of saving my father and proving my feelings of tenderness for him.”

  “No, sister,” said her three brothers. “You won’t die. We will find this monster, and we are prepared to die under his blows if we cannot slay him.”

  “Don’t count on that, children,” said the merchant. “The beast’s power is so great that I don’t have the least hope of killing him. I am moved by the goodness of Beauty’s heart, but I refuse to risk her life. I’m old and don’t have many years left. I will only lose a few years of my life, and I don’t regret losing them for your sake, my dear children.”

  “Rest assured, Father,” said Beauty, “that you will not go to that palace without me. You can’t keep me from following you. I may be young, but I am not all that attached to life, and I would rather be devoured by that monster than die of the grief that your loss would cause me.”

  It was no use arguing with Beauty. She was determined to go to the palace. Her sisters were delighted, for the virtues of their younger sister had filled them with a good deal of envy. The merchant
was so preoccupied by the sad prospect of losing his daughter that he forgot all about the chest he had filled with gold. But as soon as he repaired to his room to get some sleep, he was astonished to find it beside his bed. He decided not to tell his children that he had become rich, for his daughters would then want to return to town, and he was determined to die in the country. He did confide his secret to Beauty, who told him that several gentlemen had come during his absence and that two of them wanted to marry her sisters. Beauty begged her father to let them marry. She was so kind that she still loved her sisters with all her heart and forgave them for the cruel things they had done.

  When Beauty left with her father, the two mean sisters rubbed their eyes with an onion in order to draw tears. But the brothers cried real tears, as did the merchant. Only Beauty did not cry at all, because she did not want to make everyone even sadder.

  The horse took the road to the palace, and, when night fell, they could see that it was all lit up. The horse went on its own into the stable, and the good man walked with his daughter into the hall, where there was a magnificently set table with two place settings. The merchant did not have the stomach to eat, but Beauty, forcing herself to appear calm, sat down and served her father. “You see, Father,” she said while forcing a laugh, “the beast wants to fatten me up before eating me, since he paid so dearly for me.”