Belle's father, whose name is not mentioned, goes off to salvage a ship that could bring him out of bankruptcy after he lost a whole fleet of ships and their merchandise. Believing that he will return a rich man, he offers to bring his three daughters any gifts they desire. Belle's two sisters ask for jewels and gowns, but Belle asks for a single rose because they do not grow where she lives.
The father becomes lost and finds himself at the Beast's castle. There is no talking furniture. There is, however, a feast set out seemingly for him and everything else he needed to be refreshed and continue on the road. As he left the castle, he found a beautiful rose bush and took a rose for Belle. The Beast saw this and appears in front of the man, enraged that Belle's father had taken advantage of the Beasts hospitality and then tried to steal from him.
The Beast says that he must kill Belle's father, but Belle's father begs for the Beast to at least let him go say good bye to his daughters. The Beast agrees and lets the man take the rose for Belle too and gives the father jewels and gowns for his other two daughters. However, once he gets home, Belle finds out what happened and runs away to beg the Beast to let her take his place. The Beast agrees, but lets her live in the castle rather than killing her.
The Beast and Belle get along swimmingly. In fact, the Beast proposes to Belle every night, but she always declines saying she only thinks of him as a friend. Eventually Belle becomes extremely homesick and begs the Beast for a chance to see her family again. The Beast, being in love with her, agrees and gives her a ring and a mirror. The ring has the power to take her back to the castle once she turns it around her finger three times. The mirror gives her the ability to see anything she desires. However, she must return within the week or else unspecified bad things will happen.
Belle visits her family and her sisters are enraged to see her so happy and healthy. They find out that Belle must return by a certain date and convince her to stay one more day by secretly cutting onions to make themselves cry. Belle agrees to stay another day, but feels guilty when she misses her deadline and looks through the mirror to the beast. The mirror shows the Beast lying dying by the rose bush. Belle immediately uses the ring to return to him and professes her love which, we all know, turns him human. Then they get married.
The part that throws me off here is that Belle rejected the Beast every time until he was either dead or no longer ugly. She may have been able to love him, but she was unable to see past all the bad parts. So, the moral I take from this story is: "If you love someone hard enough, they will become physically attractive."
Maybe Belle just didn't want to marry the Beast because, well, imagine the children that would result. Still, she didn't have to add the "we're just friends" part. Surely she could have explained any concerns instead of rejecting him?
There it is. The moral of Beauty and the Beast. Next time you are around someone that you are not physically attracted to, just love them and they will completely transform. It's almost like magic.
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