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CINDERELLA BIBLIOGRAPHY
by
Russell A. Peck |
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BEAUTY AND THE BEAST |
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[Beauty and the Beast narratives have much in common with Cinderella narratives, particularly as defined by
Madame Jean-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont and Madame Gabrielle-Susanne Barbot de Gallon de Villeneuve: a
hard-working girl, the youngest of three, does all the scullery work and household chores without complaint; her
spoiled siblings are lazy and cruel and treat her like a stepsister; the mother is deceased and the father
somewhat inept; the girl is beautiful and virtuous, but the sisters do what they can to obliterate
acknowledgement of her good qualities; the girl has remarkable ingenuity and is capable of venturing outside the
ordinary boundaries of her childhood life and servitude; her struggle bears strong similarities with the Cupid
and Psyche story in which she learns to see differently and performs labors to save or recover her lost loved
ones; the denouement reveals the redemptive power of love, which ends in marriage and the reestablishment of
domestic fruition. Both Madame Le Prince and Madame de Villeneuve incorporate within Beauty’s narrative a
counterpart, namely, a Beast imported from tales of people transformed into subhuman animal form, who search,
often as male Cinderellas, for some way to be returned to their human form. The learning of compassion and empathy
are crucial for both sides of the paradigm. Compare Cinderella versions such as “Donkey Skin” and “Allerleirauh,”
where the animal form is only a disguise and is worn by the woman. These kinds of narratives tend to be strongly
gendered in their exploration of compatible opposites, but they also are alert to tensions between the spiritual
and physical within individual psyches. Like Cinderella stories, Beauty and the Beast stories are studies in
acknowledgement as well as endurance.] |
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BASIC TEXTS: |
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- Madame Gabrielle-Susanne Barbot de Gallon de Villeneuve. “La belle et la bête.” In
- La jeune amériquaine, et les contes marins. 1740.
[A wealthy merchant, with six sons and six daughters, is caught in
a disastrous reversal of fortune: his house burns, his ships are lost at sea, his foreign agents are treacherous,
and he is left bankrupt. The family is forced to move to an isolated spot in the country. The children, having
grown up as socialites, are unable to adjust to rustication — all except the youngest, a sixteen year old
daughter, Belle, who decides that it is better to be cheerful and meet misfortune with perseverance and
resolution. She is scorned by her siblings for such low notions. News comes that one last ship of the merchant’s
fleet has survived and come into port. The father goes to see if their fortune has been restored but discovers
that the goods have been ruined and the rest impounded by his creditors. He had promised to return home with
gifts for the children, who demanded rich clothing, etc., all except Belle, who asked only for her father’s good
health and a rose. On his return, empty-handed, the father is caught in a blizzard and takes refuge in a castle
filled with lifelike statues but no people. Nonetheless, the hearth fire burns and a meal appears on a table. The
father eats, then sleeps. When he awakens he seeks the genius of the place and in the garden picks a rose to give
to Belle. At that moment a beast appears, roaring and placing its elephant trunk on the merchant’s neck,
pronouncing a sentence of death on the man. The sentence can be modified if the merchant gives the beast one of
his daughters in his place. She must come willingly, moreover. Belle accepts blame for the incident and insists
on going to the Beast. Recalling an ancient prediction, the merchant permits Belle to return with him. Beast
rewards the father handsomely, though Belle advises him on what to take (gold and diamonds rather than fancy
clothing). She sleeps well at the castle and has wonderful dreams of a youth — a fair unknown — who talks with
her reassuringly. She is surprised to find in the castle a picture of a youth identical to the one she saw in her
dream. At Beast’s palace she is entertained with art, birds, monkeys, theater, etc., and time passes. The dream
continues, warning her not to be deceived by appearances. Beauty begins defending Beast in her dreams. A lady
also appears in her dreams to advise her. Belle begins to distrust Beast and the fair unknown, who seem at odds
with each other, yet similar. Beast permits Belle to return to her father, who is ill. The money has run out.
Belle learns of other kindnesses to her father but overstays her time because of enticements by the sisters.
Though the dream of the fair unknown vanishes, the lady reappears in her dreams and tells of Beast’s illness. She
returns to find him dying in a cave. She expresses her love for him and Beast rallies. Now, instead of being
dumb, he speaks eloquently. She agrees to marry him and the sky bursts into a fireworks display. Beast is
transformed into the state he enjoyed before he was cursed, and Belle recognizes him as the man of her dreams and
the one pictured in the palace. Two women visit, one the lady of Belle’s dreams and the other the queen, who
blesses the marriage. But then Belle acknowledges her common origins: the queen is shocked. She offers Belle
other husbands. The prince says he would rather be a beast again than lose Belle. Belle asks for one reward of
the queen — that her father be restored to her. At this point the Fairy intervenes and favors the lovers. She
says that the queen is in error, for Belle is not in truth the child of the merchant. Rather she was born of the
fairy’s sister and is of higher rank than the prince. As a baby they hid her with the merchant so that another
jealous fairy might not harm her. The queen asks forgiveness for the prejudices of her rank. Belle then asks for
the prince’s story: His father died before he was born. His mother became a warrior queen and defended the
kingdom well, even defeating other aggressive provinces. The prince, put in the care of an elder fairy of high
rank, studied hard, and he too became a warrior. His mother worries about his desire for battle. But the ugly old
fairy wants him for a husband, even though she has the power to be beautiful only one day a year. The queen
mother is shocked and speaks against the impropriety of such a marriage. The prince stands by his mother and
refuses. In a rage the old fairy transforms him into a creature even more ugly than she is. Moreover he will be
stupid, unable to think or speak clearly. The curse may be broken only if someone, of her own volition, loves him
so utterly that she will marry him. The good fairy comforts the prince. He must forget who he is. She will help
him break the spell. The queen mother must keep the secret too. As a comfort to the prince she provides him with
theater and art. She then comes up with her plan to rescue Belle at the same time that she is rescuing the
prince. The prince recapitulates how difficult it was for him as he to be with Belle yet to maintain silence. To
see Belle was to love her. An impulse of self-love hidden under the horrible outward form kept alive the hope
that she might someday love him despite the hideous circumstance. He explains how he would approach her at night
in his true form and in her dreams, and how the portrait in the house might also speak to her. The fairy protects
him by threatening him with a dagger if he were to attempt to explain the story too soon. She snatched him from
the grave, so to speak. Belle’s real father arrives, thrilled to learn that his daughter, whom he thought he had
lost, still lives. All express their debt to Belle. The story of Belle’s mother, a shepherdess, is next
explained. Her marriage to the fairy king had to be hidden on the Fortunate Island. But she was apparently lost
while the king defended his borders. Then the good fairy tells her story. The shepherdess was in truth her sister
who had assumed a disguise to get beyond the laws of faerie. But she was exposed by a jealous fairy who wanted to
marry the king. She put a curse on the child (Belle) that she would become the bride of a monster. The old fairy
hoped to destroy the child by degrading her as a scullion. The good fairy gets control of Belle and searches for
a means of protecting her. At one point an abductor attempts to steal her when she was a wee baby, but the good
fairy, in the form of a bear, destroys the abductor. Nearby shepherds affirm the story. She then learns of a
merchant’s wife, who has given birth to a sick and dying infant, and Belle is substituted. She does grow up in
adversity, working as a scullion. But the fairy gives the merchant a prophecy that the child will bring him great
wealth. Meanwhile, the bad old fairy would marry the fairy king who is grieving over the apparent loss of his
wife and daughter. But the good fairy, having lived now a thousand years, gains greater power and is able to
contrive a means so that the harmful curses of the old fairy will become blessings. She tells how her sister, the
onetime shepherdess, had to endure great hardships, passing part of her life as a serpent, learning of
devastating misery until she were able to reappear and regain her husband. But now they are all reunited and the
bad fairy imprisoned. Belle asks to see the merchant, who is invited to the feast. He is surprised to learn of
the changeling: he is both sad and glad. All in the family celebrate her story. Then she and the prince are
married and fly away on an enchanted horse. The prince’s mother has the events recorded in the archives of her
kingdom so that people will never cease talking about the wonderful adventures of Beauty and the Beast. See
Zipes (Beauties, Beasts, and Enchantments, pp. 151–229) for a modern translation of Mlle de Villeneuve’s story.]
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- -----. “La belle et la bête.” In Le cabinet des fées, ou collection des fées, et autres contes
- merveilleux, ornés de figures. Amsterdam, 1786.
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- Madame Jean-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont. Le magasin des enfans, ou dialogues
- entre une sage gouvernant et plusiers de ses élèves de la première distinction. Par Mme. Le Prince de Beaumont. London: J. Haberkorn, 1756.
[Based on the first part of Mme. de Villeneuve’s La Bele et la Bête, this is the most famous and influential of the
Beauty and the Beast stories. A widower merchant had three daughters and three sons. All the daughters were
pretty but the youngest most of all. The older girls loved the social life of the rich; the youngest loved to
read and was mocked by the others. By a turn of fortune the father lost his wealth and they were forced to live
in a small country house. Beauty took the disaster in stride, working, reading, playing the harpsichord, and
spinning. She kept the household together. Years pass and the father learns that one of his ships has at last
come into port. The spoiled girls want expensive presents; Beauty asks only for a rose. But the father discovers
that the ship has been impounded, the cargo ruined, and the ship worthless. On his return he is caught in a
raging snowstorm and takes refuge in a strangely peaceful estate in the wilderness. There seem to be no people
evident but there is hay in the stable for his horse and food on the table for him. He eats and thanks “madam
fairy” for being so kind to him. He sleeps and after breakfast starts to return home, picking a rose for Beauty
as he leaves. Suddenly he is seized by a hideous monster who will kill him unless one of his daughters will
return in his place by own volition. The merchant returns home, grief stricken. When the children find out the
cause only Beauty does not weep. “Why should I lament my father’s death when he is not going to perish?” She will
gladly go in his place. Her brothers object but she insists. The horse takes her to the place, and she places herself
at the Beast’s mercy. He sees that she is good and treats her well. At night she envisions a lady who tells her
that her goodness will not go unrewarded. She has her own room and considerable luxury. The Beast only asks that
they eat together at the end of the day. Gradually she learns to like his innate courtesy. She acknowledges his
kindness but when he asks her to marry him she always says no. Then she learns of her father’s illness and asks
to return home for a week. Beast agrees, providing she return when the week is over. If she does not, he will
die. She returns home, taking with her a ring that grants her wish to return. Her sisters, jealous of Beauty’s
happiness, decide to spoil it by keeping her past the promised return date. They weep and call her ungrateful for
not staying with them longer. On the tenth night she dreams of the dying Beast, puts on the ring and in an
instant is back in the Beast’s palace. She dons on her best dress and goes in search of him. Finding him near
death she throws herself on his body, finds that he is still alive, and brings him water. He comes to long enough
to say that she forgot her promise and that he about to die. But she says, “No, my dear Beast, you shall not die.
You will live to become my husband.” She scarcely uttered the words when fireworks and music announce a feast,
and Beast is transformed into a young man more handsome than Eros himself. At first Beauty does not recognize him
but the beautiful lady of her dreams appears and explains the transformation. She preferred virtue over beauty
and wit and has won a great throne with her prince. The two sisters are turned into statues who must perpetually
witness the perfect happiness that Beauty and her prince enjoy, perfect because their relationship was founded on
virtue. See Zipes (Beauties, Beasts, and Enchantment, pp. 231–45) for a modern edition of the tale.]
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- -----. The Young Ladies Magazine, or Dialogues between a Discreet Governess and
- Several Young Ladies of the First Rank under her Education. 4 vols. in 2. London: J. Nourse, 1760.
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- -----. The Young Misses Magazine, containing Dialogues between a Governess and
- Several Young Ladies of Quality her Scolars. Vol. 1. 4th edn. London: C. Nourse, 1783.
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- -----. Letters from Emerance to Lucy. 2 vols. London: J. Nourse, 1766.
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- Beauty and the Beast. Book of the Words of Peter Davey’s Pantomime. London:
- Guildford & Hart, Ltd, 1901–1902. P. 30. Royal County Theatre, Kingston-on-Thames. Libretto by Ashton Shere. With
additional lines and Lyrics by Hugh B. Pinnock. Music selected and arranged by J. H. Russell and J. C. Shepherd. Scenery by
T. E. Ryan, Walter Hann, Nicholas Hinchey, T. F. Dunn, S. Schuter, and George Miller. Costumes by Comelli and Mrs. Peter
Davey and carried out by Alias. Directed by Harry Denvil.
Cast: Immortals: Reptilio — Spirit of the Snake (Mr. Roy Lennard), The Good Fairy (Miss Rita Rhylle). Mortals: Prince Roseate
(Miss Esmé Gordon), Benedict his fidus Achates (Miss Blanche Garford); His Friends: Ferninand (Miss Violet Carrington), Max
(Miss Emily Westcroft), Fritz (Miss Gertrude Westcroft), Karl (Miss Adeline Weldon), Rupert (Miss Muriel Grey). Alderman
Horatio Fitzturtle, J.P. (Mr. Allan Dale). His daughters: Beauty (Miss Cecily Gray), Gwendolen (Miss Gertie Morde),
Penelope (Miss Harrie Morde). Montmorency, his Butler (Mr. Norman Clarke), Sairey Jane, his Lady Help (Miss Lucy
Coventry), The Widow Binns (Mr. Arthur Laceby), Buttons, her staff (Mr .Fred Lake), The Beast (Mr. Lionel Webber), Mr.
Growler (Mr. Harry Garnham). Two Ancient Mariners: Tom Bowlin (Mr. B. McNellie), Ben Barnacle (Mr. W. McNellie); Dorothy
(Miss Beatrice Hone), Margery (Miss Nellie Reece), Audrey (Miss Margaret Marshall), Celia (Miss Philippa Gumple),
Prudence (Miss Vera Dominy), Phyllis (Miss Isabel Bishop), Madame Velocité (Miss Ina Rozant). Supported by a full Chorus
and Dancers.
[Sc. 1. The Port and Harbour of Nowerinperticler (Painted by George Miller): On the left is the residence of
Alderman Horatio Fitz-Turtle, J.P.; on right is the scholastic establishment of Widow Binns. Dinnerbell rings and the
children troop out singing nursery rhymes. The Widow scolds them and they ridicule her. The fashionable daughters of the
Alderman return from shopping. Montmorency, the butler, has managed to get wrapped up in the packages. Duet by Widow Binns
and Buttons. Sairey Jane stands up for Buttons, for they are engaged. Concerted piece. Beauty tells of her hardships. Song.
Sairey Jane gets scolded by Gwendolyn and Penelope. Beauty defends her. Concerted Piece. Beauty’s little school fellows
have respect for her but play tricks on Alderman Fitz-Turtle. Song. A yacht arrives in the harbour, bearing Prince Roseate
and his companions. Chorus. The companions meet the girls. Song. Boy/girl Duet. The mariners want a grog shop and are
assisted in finding one by the servants. Concerted Piece. School has resumed. Widow Binns puts Beauty outside, because
her father hasn’t paid for her schooling. Her friends pity her. Prince Roseate meets her and learns of her father’s
business disasters. He feels love and compassion for Beauty. Duet. Penelope and Gwendoline meet Benedict and Ferdinand.
Quartette and Dance. The Prince, hoping to win Beauty, tells the Merchant of a place across the sea that’s overflowing with
loveliness and wealth. They set out. Concerted Piece. Sc. 2: The Alderman’s Kitchen.]
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- Lamb, Charles. Beauty and the Beast: or a Rough Outside with a Gentle Heart, a
- Poetical Version of an Ancient Tale
. London: M.J. Godwin. 1811; rpt. London: The Rodale Press, 1955.
[Godwin first approached William Wordsworth
to put Madame Le Prince de Beaumont’s tale into English verse, but Wordsworth refused. Lamb’s version is in
octosyllabic couplets and was printed with a “series of elegant engravings” to sell for 5s. 6d (colored) and 3s.
6d (plain). The engravings include: “Beauty in her Prosperous State” (frontispiece); “Beauty in a State of
Adversity” at her spinning wheel; “The Rose Gather’d” as a bear-like beast leaps into the picture at the turbaned
merchant with striped pants is startled; “Beauty in the Enchanted Palace,” as the beast first looks in and her
father supports her; “Beauty Visits her Library”; “Beauty Entertained with Invisible Music” (three angel
musicians, two with harps and one a singer hover overhead); “The Absence of Beauty Lamented” as Beauty returns to
the ailing bear; “The Enchantment Dissolved” (Beast, now transformed into Orasmyn, the Prince of Persia, kneels
before the startled Beauty.]
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COLLECTIONS THAT INCLUDE BEAUTY AND BEAST TALES AND ADAPTATIONS: |
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- Best-Loved Folk-Tales of the World. Ed. Joanna Cole. Illustrated by Jill Karla Schwarz.
- New York: Doubleday, 1982.
[Includes Madame de Beaumont’s Beauty and the Beast (France), Grimms’ Frog Prince (Germany), Eros and
Psyche (Greece), Prince Hedgehog (Russia).]
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- The Blue Fairy Book. Ed. Andrew Lang. New York: Dover, 1965. See “Beauty and the
- Beast.” Pp. 100–119.
[First published in 1889; perhaps the most popular of the English translations. Based on Madame de Villeneuve’s version.
Five illustrations by H. J. Ford, some based on Walter Crane’s depictions.]
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- Sleeping Beauty & Other Favourite Fairy Tales, trans. Angela Carter; illustrated Michael
- Foreman. Boston: Otter Books, 1991.
[Includes Beauty & the Beast, Cinderella, and Donkey-Skin.]
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- Beauties, Beasts and Enchantment: Classic French Fairy Tales, translated with
- introduction by Jack Zipes. New York: New American Library, 1989.
[Includes the two earliest B&B narratives by Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve and
Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont, along with several other beast-transformation analogues such as “Riquet with
the Tuft” by Perrault and a version by Catherine Bernard and Marie Catherine d’Aulnoy’s “The Ram” and “The
Beneficent Frog.” Each tale is introduced with a brief sketch of the author.]
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- Spells of Enchantment: The Wondrous Fairy Tales of Western Culture, ed. Jack Zipes.
- New York: Viking Penguin, 1991.
[An anthology of literary fairy tales written explicitly for adults, that includes several Beauty and the
Beast narratives, n.b., Apuleius, “Cupid and Psyche (2d century)” (pp. 1–27), Giovanni Straparola, “The Pig
Prince (1553)” (pp. 32-38), Marie-Jeanne L’Héritier, “Ricdin-Ricdon (1696)” (pp. 48-84), Charles Perrault,
“Riquet with the Tuft (1797)” (pp. 85-90), Marie-Catherine D’Aulnoy, “Green Serpent (1797)” (pp. 91-114),
Janosch’s “Hans My Hedgehog (1972)” (pp. 702-703), Angela Carter’s “The Tiger’s Bride (1979)” (pp. 729-744), and
Robin McKinley’s “The Princess and the Frog (1981)” (pp. 745-757).]
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- Beauties and Beasts. Collected and Edited by Betsy Gould Hearne. Illustrated by Joanne
- Caroselli. The Oryx Multicultural Folktale Series. Phoenix, Arizona: Oryx Press, 1993.
[Includes eight tales from various countries
of Rescued Beasts, thirteen tales of Questing Beauties, six tales of Homely Women and Homemade Men, and a rather
snooty essay (pp. 159-160) on Disney’s Beauty and the Beast entitled “In the Dark with Disney,” which objects to
the alterations of plot to create a Gaston who is destroyed by violence by Beast while Beauty watches from the
sidelines. The monsters inside you “have to be tamed slowly, with acceptance and love, as the Beast was. They
can’t just be killed off in one climactic fight like Gaston, hurled to his death. We are all beautiful and we are
all beastly. That is an important focus of a Beauty and Beast story, and teacups distract from that focus
considerably. None of us is made of china. As an image, teacups just aren’t in the same league with a
love-or-death struggle. Dancing forks and spoons make the story cute instead of powerful. At a more elemental
level, the addition of a vicious movie villain such as Gaston keeps us from realizing that in the fairy tale,
Beauty becomes the real villain by abandoning the Beast, then turns into a hero who saves him from loneliness ….
In a dark movie theater, teacups may seem like fun, but they’re not much company on a dark journey. There
you need the power to make your own way” (p. 160). Hearne suggests activities students of the story might wish to
engage in and includes an excellent bibliography (pp. 170-175).]
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ELEMENTARY READERS: |
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- Beauty and the Beast. Classics Illustrated Junior. Number 509. New York: Gilberton
- Company, 1964.
[“Only 15c each. Endorsed by
Educators, on sale at newsstands everywhere.” Beauty is
brunette; Beast, as handsome Mr. Lion with yellow cummerbund.
He is blonde after the transformation. The rose is red.]
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- Beauty and the Beast. Retold by Vera Southgate. Illustrations by Eric Winter.
- Loughborough: Ladybird Books Ltd (formerly Wills & Hepworth, Ltd), 1968.
[Beauty and the Beast is number 12 in the series (Cinderella is number 1) and is listed as grade 3.
Having lost his fortune, the father moves to the country with his three daughters. Two are resentful, but Beauty does the
housework and helps her father keep his garden, which produces enough fruit and vegetables for them to live on. The father
goes to town on business. The girls request gifts – diamonds, pearls; Beauty asks only for a bunch of white roses. The
father conducts his business but gets lost on the way home. He comes upon Beast’s palace where he eats, spends the night, and
dresses in Beast’s clothes. When he leaves he picks a bunch of roses and is confronted by his mysterious host: “You
ungrateful man! Whose bed did you sleep in? Whose food have you eaten? And whose clothes are you wearing? Mine, mine,
mine. And you repay my kindness by stealing my roses. You shall die!” The father returns home. He must either return to
die or give Beast one of his daughters. Beauty insists on going with her father. Beast tells the father not to worry.
“You need not be sorry, for everything in the palace is for her use …. No harm will come to her. Her room is ready now.
Good-night.” Beauty is well cared for. She reads, paints, and enjoys the gardens. Beast kindly talks with her. He asks if
she could love him. “Yes, I do love you, Beast, for you are so kind,” but she refuses marriage. She learns of her father’s
illness and returns. Beast asks that she come back a week hence or he will die. After a week she misses him and returns
to find the palace empty. In the darkness she finds him dying under the white rose. She says she loves him and will marry
him for his kind heart. He is made well and transformed into a prince. They marry. The illustrations are lovely full-page
color drawings in 18th century settings and dress. Beast is a solemn monkey.]
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- Beauty and the Beast. Oxford Graded Readers. Color Illustrations. 750 Headwords. Junior
- Level. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1972.
[The chapters include: 1) “Bring Me a Rose”; 2) “Why Have You Stolen My Rose?”; 3) “The
Beast’s Going to Eat Me”; 4) “Don’t Leave Me. I Love You.” There are study materials at the end.]
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- Beauty and the Beast. Retold by Sue Arengo. Illustrated by Claire Pound. Classic Tales.
- Elementary 3. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.
[The story is nicely told using a vocabulary of 400 headwords. Includes exercizes
at the end, such as “Who is speaking?” (i.e., identify the quotations); “Find the opposites”; “Make sentences
about the story”; “What is it?” (fill in the blanks to define a picture, the first letter of the word being
given). There is a glossary of about forty words, using definitions and pictures to help identify the word.]
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- Beauty and the Beast. Ed. Kelly Park. Cartoon illustrations by Michael Hunter. Seoul, South
- Korea: Gana Press, 1995. 151 pages.
[This splendidly illustrated cartoon adaptation of Disney’s film tells the story in English on
left-hand pages, with Korean glossary, vocabulary builders, and explanatory notes for children in the right-hand
pages. In this version the Beast is named Vincent (as in the TV series). He has been cursed by a wicked witch.
His shaggy head looks something like a cross between a lion and a buffalo. Beauty looks to be about 12, with long
blonde hair. Her father is a tailor rather than an inventor. Also, she has two older sisters who are jealous,
mean, deceitful, and lazy. The Gaston figure from Disney is named Mr. Clauser, a smooth egotist who meets Beauty
after he has slain a deer. He instantly decides he will marry her, much to the outrage of the other two sisters.
She refuses him. Mr. Morgan, Beauty’s father, is invited to do tailoring at a strange palace, which turns out to
be Vincent’s estate. Morgan works late finishing up the mending. In the morning he finds a rose under glass which
he attempts to take to Beauty, thereby outraging Beast, whose life is bound up with the rose. Vincent’s servants
have been turned into talking pictures who help Vincent with the courtship, once Beauty rescues her father and
stays as prisoner in his place. As in Disney, Beauty returns to care for her father. Clauser makes a play for
her, but the sisters tell him about the Beast, to whom Beauty is evidently attracted. She returns but Clauser
follows and shoots Beast in the back. Beast kills Clauser but seems doomed himself, until Beauty declares her
love. Then he is transformed back into a lovely blonde youth, and the two are married, with the family all about
them. This book is one of a couple dozen readers for Korean children that Kelly has created.]
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Illustrated Children’s Editions based on Jean-Marie LePrince de Beaumont: |
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- Beauty and the Beast. Retold by Deborah Apy. Illustrated by Michael Hague. New York:
- Green Tiger Press, 1980. Reissued New York: Henry Holt and Co., 1983. Owlet paperback edition, 1988.
[A 64 page retelling of the story,
with 19 handsome full-page color plates by Hague. Adelle and Jeanette are proud and vain sisters who are impatient
with their father for becoming poor. Beauty is kind and does the cottage chores for all of them now that they
have been forced to move to the country. No suitors now call on the older daughters. News of one last ship comes
in. The father sets out with lavish orders of riches for the two older girls. Beauty asks only for a rose, etc.
On his return, impoverished, the merchant stumbles upon the Beast’s enchanted castle, where he picks a rose.
Hague’s illustrations present a Beast with lion-like mane, claws, and ram horns. He walks upright and dresses
elegantly, though rage is evident in him. His palace is ancient with some delapidation, but beautiful with
classical statuary and overgrown gardens. When the father returns knowing that either he must die or send one of
his daughters to the Beast he is amazed to receive a trunk full of riches. The room is filled with gorgeous
butterflies as the trunk is opened. Beauty insists on going in her father’s place, and the father accompanies her
back to the castle. They are greeted with hot baths and magical surroundings. The father leaves at Beauty’s
insistance, taking more wealth with him. Beast is kind and enriches her life with enchantments — music, a
splendid room, a library, an enormous salon of exotic birds. All features of the place exceed Beauty’s ideas of
loveliness. And it is peaceful. On her bed is the carved head of a unicorn. In the evening, Beast joins her for
dinner. He acknowledges that he is a stupid, horrible creature, but he is sensitive to her fears and happiness.
She comes to feel compassion for the poor creature. At night she hears sharp cries from the wood. It is Beast
hunting. She finds him dripping with blood. But a lady attends her at night, reassuring her that she is destined
for a better fate, that she should not be confused by appearances. In her dream a handsome man appears, leaving
her more confused. She grows fond of Beast, preferring him to men with cruel hearts. They dance on the balcony.
The air is sweet and Beast proposes. She declines, preferring friendship. She learns of her father’s illness and
must leave. He gives her a magic ring that can help her to return. That night a unicorn appears in Pan’s garden;
it lays its head with sweet sadness in her lap. She awakens to find herself at home. Her father recovers, but the
jealous sisters plot to destroy Beauty’s happiness by enticing her to stay. On the tenth day the fairy appears to
her and she learns that Beast is dying. She plucks a rose and places it in a vase to help her father understand
why she is leaving, then the ring transports her back to the palace. All is as it was, except that Beast is not
there. She finds him by the pond, apparently dead. She weeps and declares her love. She hears a voice behind her.
Beast has disappeared and a prince stands by her. He explains the enchantment that had been placed on him by a
wicked fairy. They kiss and return to the hall and find her family there. The good fairy stands with the young
couple and the unicorn appears as well. The fairy waves her wand and all are transported to the Pince’s palace.
Only the unicorn remains on the magical grounds of Beast’s castle where for countless years, all who stumble upon
that place are changed upon their departure, their hearts filled with goodness and beauty.]
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- Beauty and the Beast. Retold by Kay Brown. Illustrated by Gerry Embleton. New York:
- Derrydale, 1978. Also issued, n.b., with different cover, end papers, and title page by Award Publications Ltd., London.
[The merchant sets out
to meet his returning ship, promising to return with a silk gown and a fur bonnet for his two older daughters,
and a rose for beauty. The ship sank in a storm so he sets out in a blizzard for home. He takes refuge at Beast’s
castle and picks a rose. The Beast demands that he give him the first living thing that greets him when he
returns home. The merchant hopes it might be a chicken or dog, but it’s Beauty. She goes to the castle where she
is alone, but aware that she is being watched from the shadows. Finally Beast reveals himself, but is kind. He
places a rose each evening on her plate. Months past and she becomes fond of him, but will not marry him. He lets
her return to her father, promising to return at an appointed day, lest he die. Beauty forgets but after the ring
Beast gave her flashes, reminding her of her promise. She finds him dying, heartbroken. She says she loves him
and the transformation occurs. They are married and the father and sisters join them to live happily in the
palace ever after.]
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- Beauty and the Beast. Retold by Robyn Bryant. Graphic design and Illustrations by Zapp.
- My Storytime Classics Library. Montreal: Tormont Publications, 1995.
[The narrative follows Mme Le Prince de Beaumont, but with a
reassuring dream-fairy from Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve. After living for a time with the generous Beast in
his art-filled palace with its music and library, Beauty returns to help her sick father. In this narrative no
sisters interfere with her return to Beast; she simply “did not notice the days” and overstays her week. But she
remembers at the last minute, quickly kisses her father goodbye, and slips on the ring the Beast gave her, and is
back. She finds him in the garden, lying beside a fountain. When she declares her love and willingness to marry,
the transformation takes place and, as if by magic, the lovely lady of Beauty’s dreams comes to them. She is
really the Prince’s mother and she bring with her Beauty’s father and sisters. The marriage takes place and
Beauty and the Prince are happy all the days of their lives. See Cinderella 1995 under Perrault,
Recently Illustrated Editions, for a description of the My Storytime Classics Library.]
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- Beauty and the Beast. Retold by Anne Carter. Illustrated by Binette Schroeder. London:
- Walker Books, 1986.
[A faithful retelling from Mme LePrince de Beaumont. Binette Schroeder is given equal billing on the title page. The
frontispiece is a full-page color picture of Mme LePrince de Beaumont 1741-1780, in 18th century dress walking
her beast (a leopard like creature with a wolfish face) on a leash. In the tale itself Schroeder’s beast is an
enlarged and wilder version of Mme Le Prince’s “pet,” but he proves himself to be gentle, even so. In a
postscript, pp. 38-39, Carter suggests that the story, whose history she traces, is a primal symbol of
“ourselves: our strengths, our weaknesses, our painful progress towards self-knolwedge and, at last, redemption.”]
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- Beauty and the Beast. Retold and Illustrated by Fred Crump, Jr. Nashville, Tennessee:
- Winston-Derek Publishers, 1992.
[Retold from Mme LePrince de Beaumont, but with African American people in European dress. The merchant has
three daughters: Griselda and Grushenka are vain and arrogant, but Beauty loves her father even in hardship. When
the lost ship is found the two Gr- daughters ask for trunks of finery and jewels while beauty asks for a rose.
The father recovers the ship and sends the trunks of finery but is unable to find a rose until he comes to a grim
castle. There he picks a large pink one and encounters Beast, who demands his life. The merchant asks if he might
say goodbye to his daughters before he dies and Beast agrees. The mean daughters blame Beauty, who asks to return
with her father to plead his case to Beast. Beast offers to release the father if Beauty will stay with him.
Though the father objects, Beauty says she wishes to try it, hoping that father might visit someday. Beauty is
led by invisible servants. Beast at first is tyrannical, insisting that Beauty will never be allowed to leave and
that she must dine with him each evening at nine. Beauty comes to admire the beauty of the enchanted place. Beast
tells her stories which amuse her, and she tells stories in return. When she asks him why he keeps her prisoner
he is unable to reply. He gives her a magic mirror whereby she sees her father, whose position of wealth has been
reestablished but he himself is near death with sadness. After three refusals to let her leave Beast consents,
providing she return in a week. She overstays her visit and returns to Beast’s palace, now overwhelmed by snow
and ice. She finds him and tells him how she has grown to love him. Her love breaks the curse, melts the ice, and
he is restored to his princely self. They are married in the enchanted garden and live in peace.]
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- Beauty and the Beast. Retold and illustrated by Mordicai Gerstein. New York: Dutton,
- 1989.
[A merchant sets out
in winter to meet his ship come from China. Edwina asks that he bring her a velvet gown. Sybill asks for a gown,
cape, and hat with parrot feathers. Beauty saks for a rose. The ship is lost and the merchant returns in a
blinding storm. He comes upon a splendid castle, etc. The castle is surrounded by a maze. The confused merchant
picks a rose and is met by the beast, a monster with a pig trunk, tusks, ram’s horns and chicken feet. He demands
one of the daughters in place of the merchant’s life. A magnificent white stallion appears. Beauty mounts it and
is carried to the castle. Voices tell her not to fear, that the palace, gardens, and roses are hers. She dreams
of a caged nightingale who reassures her with its song. She wishes she might free it. Beast brings her a
nightingale in his claws and asks Beauty to be his wife. She declines and asks that the bird be let go. She asks
to visit her ailing father. Beast agrees to let her go, hoping that she will return. “I am ugly, I am a beast and
a fool. But, Beauty, my heart is good.” She is toughened and returns to her father. The sisters are enraged by her
wealth and plan to destroy her by making her break her promise to Beast. The nightingale comes to tell her of his
illness. Beauty arrives as he is dying and declares her love. Suddenly the sun rises, the giant bird cage in the
garden opens, the birds are freed rejoicing, and beast is transformed into a prince. They are married. Beauty
asks the sisters to give up their jealousy and hate. They refuse and are turned into stone.]
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- Beauty and the Beast. Adapted and illustrated by Warwick Hutton. Atheneum, 1985.
[An efficient retelling of Mme.
de Beaumont’s story. The watercolor/pen and ink illustrations are splendid, with impressionist backgrounds,
decor-conscious interiors and gardens, and striking use of shadows, mirrors, and dream effects.]
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- Beauty and the Beast. Retold by Carolyn Magner. Illustrated by Peter Church. Fort
- Salonga, New York: Book Club of America, 1993.
[Follows Madame LePrince de Beaumont, with the merchant having six sons and six daughters, the
youngest of which is Beauty. The Beast is represented as a friendly-looking lion dressed in white ruffled shirts,
elegant robes, knee-length trousers with garters, etc. On his wall is a tapestry of a lion lying with a lamb. The
narrative of their friendship, separation, and beauty’s return at the last minute to save and transform him is
gentle and efficient. One knows by the lions kind and dignified face that he is a goodly and endearing creature.]
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- Beauty and the Beast. Retold and Illustrated by John Patience. New York: Derrydale
- Books, 1992.
[Instead of a ship coming in, here the merchant father sets out to find work in a distant town but gets lost in a storm. Also,
after Beauty goes to the castle an old woman appears to reassure her in her sleep. Otherwise, the retelling
follows Beaumont, with a lion-like Beast reviving from his transformed when Beauty’s loving tears fall on him.]
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- Beauty and the Beast. Retold by Vera Southgate. Illustrations by Eric Winter.
- Loughborough: Ladybird Books Ltd. (formerly Wills & Hepworth, Ltd.), 1968.
[See Elementary Readers.]
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- Beauty and the Beast. Retold by Philippa Pearce. Illustrated by Alan Barrett. New York:
- Thomas Y. Crowell, 1972.
[In an appendix Pearce includes a short history of the story. She abridges Beaumont, adding a wise horse, rather
in the manner of Cocteau, to expedite Beauty’s first going to Beast’s mansion. The illustrations by Alan Barrett
are dark and surreal.]
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- Beauty and the Beast. Retold by Lesley Young. Illustrated by Annabell Spenceley. A
- Storyteller Book. London: Anness Publishing Ltd., 1995.
[A large book, 10 1/2" X 13 1/4". The credits cite Mme de Villeneuve, though
the narrative follows Mme LePrince de Beaumont, with no details borrowed from de Villeneuve. Odd bits: The
merchant is awakened in Beast’s castle by a rooster crowing. The rose he steals is an old-fashioned pink
single-petalled floribunda. Beast has a lion-like look. Beauty has flowing strawberry blond hair. The
illustrations are quite nice with rural settings of cottages with thatched roofs. The castle is given a Loire
valley look.]
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- Bunny and the Beast. Retold by Molly Coxe. Paintings by Pamela Silin-Palmer. New York:
- Random House, 2001.
[A clever retelling of Mme. le Prince Beaumont’s story with the principles as a bunny, whose sisters, Thorna and
Thistle, don’t like to get their paws dirty, and a dog-like prince, who turns out to be a very handsome hare
prince. Before the transformation the beast gives her asperagus to eat and lovely books to read. They dance
elegantly in the ballroom to a band of musical frogs. The drawings are elegant and courtly — a beautiful book.]
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- Disney’s Beauty and the Beast Christmas Story. Cartoon strip released over the 22 days
- prior to Christmas, 1992, in syndicated newspapers. (My source is the Sun Sentinel, Boca Raton, Florida.) The first and last installments
are in color.
[Belle and the household staff — Lumiere, Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts, Chip, etc. — decorate the castle
for Christmas. Beast is grumpy, for he is unable to find a suitable gift for Belle. He tries to carve something,
but clumsily ruins it. Belle has gifts for everyone — a tea cozy for Mrs. Potts, a shiny new key for Cogsworth,
etc., but she too lacks the most important gift, the one for Beast. She goes out to build a snowman on day 9,
loses Chip in the snow on day 10, finds him on day 11 and in the process comes upon a gorgeous stone that she
fashions into a clasp for Beast. He still cannot think of an appropriate gift, however, and in his anger rips off
his cloak, losing the brooch that holds it together. On day 20 Belle gives him his gift, which is perfect since
he can now clasp his cloak, rather than tie it. But he remains moody. On day 21 he gives Belle a letter saying
how much they all appreciate the joy she has brought them but that he has no gift and that he is ashamed. On day
21 he wanders out onto the balcony to mope. It is snowing. Belle calls him back but he, in his grief, asks her to
go away. On day 22, she approaches him on the balcony and, in color, tells him that he has given her the greatest
gift of all — his heart. They wish each other marry Christmas and go back into the radiant palace. The
announcement of the strip indicates that the Disney film has been seen by over 30 million people.]
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- Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. Ed. Barbara Bazaldua. Philadelphia: Running Press, 1993.
[An adaptation of Disney’s movie done in miniature format (ca. 2“x3") interspersed by scenes from the movie. In fifteen chapters
(126 pages).]
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- Carruth, Jane. My Book of Beauty and the Beast. Illustrated by L’Alpino. Feltham,
- Middlesex: Odhams Books, 1965.
[Attributes the story to Charles Perrault: “When Perrault was writing this story he was thinking about real love,
and of all the people who have learned to love unselfishly, and so found true happiness.” Carruth follows the
basic outline of Mme. Leprince de Beaumont’s version, but with animal helpers and companions, especially birds,
bunnies, and fish, liberally introduced a la Disney’s Cinderella. The illustrations are nicely done, and the
retelling of the story is lively, with one of the conniving sisters falling into the pigsty, etc. Beauty looks
like Cinderella as she works at the hearth or in the field. Beast is an elegant lion wearing a black ermine lined
cloak.]
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- Easton, Samantha. Beauty and the Beast. Illustrated by Ruth Sanderson. Kansas City,
- Mo.: Andrews and McMeel (Ariel books), 1992.
[Through her great capacity to love, a kind and beautiful maiden relases a handsome prince
from a spell which has made him into an ugly beast. The illustrations make him look somewhat like Vincent (Ron
Perlman) in the TV series.]
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- McCaughrean, Geraldine. Beauty and the Beast. Illustrated by Gary Blythe. Minneapolis:
- Carolrhoda Books, Inc., 1999.
[The illustrations in this adaptation are stunning. The narrative is basically a streamlined version of
Madame Le Prince de Beaumont, beginning with the father, Gregor, discovering in a wood a broken fragment of an
enchanted mirror. As he looks into it he is magically borne into an enchanted palace that seems deserted. He
dines alone, then in the morning imagines how Lotte would give her soul for the silk scarves, how Gitta would
give her soul for the racks of white fur capes, and how Beauty would love a rose from the courtyard that is
overrun with them. He picks one and is challenged by the Beast, a grotesque monster deformed by elaphantiasis and
a huge horned forehead; he is so acutely aware of his deformities, that he lurks only in darkness. He demands
Gregor’s life or the life of one of his daughters. Beauty goes to the castle in her father’s place. Her first
night of terror is described at some length. But she is essentially kind and eventually coaxes the beast to dine
with her. He wonders if he is not the ugliest thing she has ever seen; to which she replies that she has not seen
much of the world. Friendship grows betweem them, and she asks permission to return to her father for a few days.
At first Beast refuses but then lets her go. She is detained by the devious sisters, but then, looking into the
mirror that Beast sent with her, she sees that he is dying. She goes to him, and finding him on the verge of
death declares her love for him. Like falling rose petals his pelt falls from his back as he is transformed into
the young man who for a hundred years wore the curse of Beast. The castle disappears and the find themselves back
in the lovely woods. Without fear they begin their lives together, and though both change with time, the love
between them only grows sweeter and more beautiful.]
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PHILOSOPHICAL BACKGROUND: |
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- Apuleius. The Golden Ass. See Precursive Analogues.
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- Armstrong, A. Hilary. “The Divine Enhancement of Earthly Beauties: The Hellenic
- and Platonic Tradition.” In Eranos Lectures 6: On Beauty. Dallas, Texas: Spring Publications, 1962, pp. 39-73.
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- Plato. Symposium.
[The classic study of Love as search for the Good and the Beautiful through stages of transformation and ascent.]
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- Plotinus. “Beauty,” Enneads I, 6 [1-9]. In The Essential Plotinus. Trans. Elmer O’Brien.
- Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1964, pp. 33-44.
[The classic Neoplatonic statement on the ugly and the beautiful and their
relationship to vision.]
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- Nietzsche, Friedrich. The Birth of Tragedy (1872), translated with commentary by
- Walter Kaufmann. New York: Vintage Books, 1967.
[Juxtaposes the Apollonian (the beautiful) with the Dionysian (the beast) to get at the soul
of tragedy and art. Emphasizes the generative power of Dionysus.]
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- Read, Herbert. “Beauty and the Beast.” In Eranos Lectures 6: On Beauty. Dallas, Texas:
- Spring Publications, 1962, pp. 1-38.
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PRECURSIVE ANALOGS: |
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- Apuleius. The Golden Ass of Lucius Apuleius. Second century Greek. The most
- entertaining English translation is that of William Adlingdon (London, 1566). See The Most Pleasant and Delectable Tale of the
Marriage of Cupid and Psyche, done into English by William Adlington of University College in Oxford, with a
discourse on the fable by Andrew Lang, late of Merton College in Oxford. London: David Nutt, 1887.
[Robert Graves translated Apuleius, Penguin Book, 1950, under the title of Metamorphoses. He considered it “a neat philosophical
allegory of the progress of the rational soul towards intellectual love.” See also adaptations of the Psyche
story by William Morris in The Earthly Paradise, and C. S. Lewis, Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold (Grand
Rapids, Michigan, 1956): “Love is too young to know what conscience is.”]
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- The Arrow and the Lamp: The Story of Psyche. Retold by Margaret Hodges. Illustrated
- by Donna Diamond. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989.
[An abridgement of Apuleius that plays down the role of the jealous sisters,
eliminates their destruction, cuts out Psyche’s various thoughts of suicide, deletes her visit to Ceres and Juno,
but includes her four tests at Venus’s command. Jove does not intervene at the end; Aphrodite simply relents.
Psyche’s shoulders spring wings, and she is compared to a butterfly which mortals may see in summer fields and
remember Psyche and her love.]
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- Bernard, Mademoiselle Catherine. “Ricky of the Tuft,” In Inès de Cordoue. 1696.
[A girl is so stupid that her natural beauty only makes her more distasteful. On a walk she meets Riquet with the Tuft, a man so hideous that
he might be a monster emerged from the ground. He promises to make her intelligent if, after a year, she marries
him. With her new intelligence she is much admired by men who vie for her attention. After a year, worrying about
losing her lover because of her promise, she walks in the wood where she meets Riquet again. He gives her a
choice, to be ugly and smart or once again beautiful and stupid, if she should refuse to marry him, or both smart
and beautiful if she carries out her promise. After the marriage she contacts her lover. So Riquet places a curse
upon her whereby she is ugly by day, beautiful by night. So she sleeps all day and at night drugs Riquet by
placing a leaf over his nose and goes to her lover. But a servant removes the leaf while she is gone and Riquet
knows his bad luck. So this time he touches the lover with a wand thereby making him as ugly as Riquet himself.
Thus the woman lives with two husbands instead of one, never knowing whom she should address her lamentations to
for fear of mistaking the object of her hatred for the object of her love. But the moral is that “in the long run
lovers become husbands anyway.” A good modern translation may be found in Zipes (Beauties, Beasties, and
Enchantment, pp. 93-100). Compare Perrault’s version, written about the same time.]
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- D’Aulnoy, Madame. Le Mouton (“The Ram”). 1697. In D’Aulnoy’s Fairy Tales.
- Philadelphia: McKay, 1923; as are the following two items: La Grenouille Bienfaisante (“The Beneficent Frog”) 1697; and Serpentin Vert (“The Green
Serpent”). 1697.
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- Lucianus Samosatensis. The True History and Lucius or the Ass. Trans. Paul Turner.
- Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1958.
[Source for Apuleius, or perhaps from a common source. Second century Greek.]
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- Marie de France. Bisclavret (Breton for werewolf). c. 1185.
[The innate goodness of the man trapped in the beast
becomes apparent when contrasted with the moral frailty of the beautiful wife who betrays him for a handsome
lover. Marie “shows how discourse avoids the tautology of the observing instrument by revealing the dialectical
underside of perception”–Stephen G. Nichols].
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- Perrault, Charles. “Riquet à la Houppe” [“Ricky of the Tuft”]. In Histoires ou Contes
- du Tempes Passé, Paris, 1697, with the alternate title Contes de Ma Mere l’Oye.
[First published anonymously. A woman gives birth to a
creature so ugly and misshapen the people doubt that he is human. He is named Riquet with the tuft. In a
neighboring kingdom a queen gives birth to two daughters, one beautiful but stupid, the other ugly but smart. The
beautiful girl is a social embarrassment and is scorned because of her awkwardness. She goes into the wood where
she meets Riquet who proposes that he can make her intelligent if she will agree to marry him at the end of one
year. She agrees and becomes the hit of society. Men vie for her hand in marriage, but her father leaves the
choice to her. She, having forgotten about Riquet, goes into the wood to decide which handsome man to choose
where she meets Riquet, dressed like a prince about to be married. She tries to talk him out of the promise. But
Riquet convinces her that marriage to him will make him the most pleasing of men, so she consents. Riquet gave
her the intelligence she wanted but he also gave her the power to render handsome any man who pleases her. So the
marriage takes place and she no longer sees his deformities and ugliness. The moral is that even beauty cannot
move the heart as much as charm. See Zipes, (Beauties, Beasts, and Enchantments, pp. 52-57), for a modern
translation.]
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- Spenser, Edmund.The Faerie Queen, Book I (before 1590).
[Uses maiden and wild man/beast paradigm, as Satyrane
and lion befriend and defend beauty (Una). Although these beasts are not transformed by beauty, the bestial RCK
is, as he lies victim of the monster Orgolio and then, even worse, despair; Una’s beautiful attendance on him in
the House of Holiness restores him to shining knighthood.]
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Analogous to many Beauty and the Beast narratives are Tales of Beasts Transformed through Love: |
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BEAR: |
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- East of the Sun and West of the Moon, A Norwegian fairy tale collected by Peter Christen
- Asbjornsen and Jorgen
Moe, Norske Folkeeventyr (1844). This volume was published in English as Popular Tales from the Norse. Edinburgh:
David Douglas, 1888. “East of the Sun and West of the Moon” was first translated into English by Sir George
Webbe Dasent, Popular Tales from the Norse (1859). This version is included in Betsy Hearne, Beauty and the Beast
(Phoenix: Oryx Press, 1993), pp. 66-75.
[For synopsis see Scandinavian Cinderellas.]
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- East of the Sun & West of the Moon. Written and Illustrated by Mercer Mayer. New York
- and London: Collier Macmillan, 1980; Aladdin Books, 1987.
[A farmer, his wife, and lovely daughter fall on hard times. The mother
sends her for a potion to help cure her sick father. She goes to the pond of the South Wind but finds only a
frog. He gets the healing water in a silver cup, in return for three wishes the first of which is permission to
visit her. She agrees. The father is healed; moreover, the king wins a war and pays her father threefold. The
frog arrives and asks his second wish–to marry the girl. She refuses and throws him against a wall. Immediately
he is changed to a handsome youth who is seized by demons who take him away. The girl is reduced to rags. She
sets out to find him. The Moon sends her to a mountain of ice with a cave of fire within where a Salamander
lives. The Salamander tells her of the troll princess in the kingdom east of the sun and west of the moon who
would marry the prince. Take the tinder box outside and a unicorn will help her to find Father Forest. He gives
her a bow and arrow and sends her to the Great Fish of the Sea. The Great Fish gives her a scale from his back
and takes her to the North Wind. North Wind takes her there, warning her that few return. The troll princess
hires her as a scullery maiden, hoping to get her to turn her into a statue. She pours soot on her and tears her
hear. The maiden finds the prince frozen in a block of ice. With her tinder box she sets the bedclothes on fire
and releases him from the ice. The troll princess attacks her with an ax but the maiden shoots the troll in the
heart with the bow and arrow. She then takes the fish scale, holds it up, and the other trolls see their
reflection and are instantly turned to stone. Life returns to the kingdom and the troll castle is dismantled and
a new castle and city rise in its place. The Prince and the maiden become King and Queen.]
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- East of the Sun and West of the Moon: A Play by Nancy Willard. Illustrated by Barry
- Moser. New York: Harcourt Brace Javanovich, 1989.
Cast: Players: South Wind, East Wind, West Wind, North Wind, Woodcutter, Woodcutter’s
Wife, Eldest Daughter, Middle Daughter, Karen the Youngest Daughter, Bear/Prince, Longnose the Troll Princess,
Troll Queen, Raven, Troll King, Captives 1, 2, and 3, and Trolls. Voices: Chair, Table, Spoon, Knife, Comb, Rug,
Dresses, Bell, Ham, Harp, Waterfold, Beasts, Birds, Stars, Echo. Puppets: Karen, Bear, all the Winds. Golden
Apple and Shears that appear to move by themselves.
[Act I. Sc. 1: The winds converse about Karen and her virtue
and the Troll Queen’s ugly daughter. Sc. 2: The woodcutter family lives in poverty. Karen is happy and feeds the
bears. The older sisters grumble. A white bear comes to the door, offering the family food and riches in return
for Karen. The sisters say yes, but Karen says no. The mother convinces her it is for the best. Sc. 3: The winds observe the Trolls squabbling.
Sc. 4: Puppet scene: The winds observe Karen and the Bear on the road, laughing as they proceed. Sc. 5: Karen and Bear arrive at his castle.
Sc. 6: Karen in her room converses with the furniture,
etc. The Bear leaves her alone. She goes to bed and the Bear returns, takes off his skin and, transformed into
Prince, climbs into bed.
[Act Act II. Sc. 1: The winds observe a happy scene with Karen skipping rope. Sc. 2: Karen gets permission to visit her family for a week. Bear agrees providing she not talk
alone with her mother. Sc. 3: Karen and Bear travel to her home. Sc. 4: Woodcutter and family greet Karen. The house manifests wealth, with a TV
in every room. The wife convinces Karen that her husband must be a troll: Observe him at night, but don’t drop
candle wax on him. Sc. 5: The Bear carries Karen home. Sc. 6: Karen mimes the story East Wind tells as she
observes the Prince sleeping and drops wax on him as she attempts to kiss him. The Prince reveals the spell and
is taken by the Troll Queen. Sc. 7: Puppet scene of Karen in the woods, searching. Sc. 8: Karen works in the
kitchen of South Wind. A golden apple follows her around. South Wind helps her mop and consults the Water Folk
for information about the Troll Princess with the three foot long nose. A lobster suggests she visit the East
Wind. South Wind gives her a golden apple and sends her to East Wind. Sc. 9: South Wind carries Karen to East
Wind. The winds squabble over their dresses. East Wind consults Beasts (otter, moose, flea, etc.) Flea suggests
consulting West Wind. East Wind combs Karen’s hair and gives her the comb.
[Act Act III. Sc. 1: West Wind’s tent in a
rocky desert. They consult the birds and stars and send her to North Wind along with a gift of golden shears and
a cloak with pockets which they make. Sc. 2: Northwind, howling, is convinced by the other winds of Karen’s
virtue, and he agrees to take her to the Trolls. Sc. 3: The winds comfort her and North Wind carries her over
water to the Trolls. Sc. 4: Troll Queen tries to get Longnose to clean her room. Karen entices Longnose with the
golden apple, which the Troll accepts thinking to add Karen to her collection of captives that night after
letting her see the sleeping Prince. Sc. 5: The Prince sleeps but Karen can’t awaken him. The Trolls drive her
out. Sc. 6: Karen plays with the golden comb. Longnose wants it and agrees to let Karen spend another night in
the Prince’s room. Sc. 7: Karen tries to waken the Prince. Three captives observe her cries. Longnose drives
Karen out. The Prince wakens, talks with Longnose about the wedding next day, and learns from the captives that
his dreams of a visitor were true. He recalls how he drinks each night from the ruby goblet by his bed.
Sc. 8: Troll Queen and Longnose prepare her wedding dress. They see Karen’s golden shears and agree to let Karen have
one more night with the Prince in return for the shears. Sc. 9: Longnose offers the Prince a drink. He feigns
drinking it and plays like he’s asleep. She leaves, and Karen approaches, calling for the Prince to wake up. He
greets her and he tells her of a plan to thwart Longnose. He will ask to have his shirt with the wax spots on it
cleaned, knowing that Karen is the only person who can perform the task. Sc. 10: The Prince asks to have his
shirt cleaned. The Trolls try but fail. Karen comes in and cleans it. A gong sounds, and the Trolls freeze.
Sc. 11: The Trolls disappear, a beautiful ship arrives, the captives are released, and the winds sing a song of Karen
and her prince as they sail to joy and happiness at last.]
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- East O’ the Sun and West O’ the Moon. Translated by Sir George Webbe Dasent.
- Illustrated by P. J. Lynch. With an Introduction by Naomi Lewis. London: Walker Books Ltd., 1991; Cambridge, Mass.: Candlewick Press, 1992.
[Lewis compares Dasent to C. S. Lewis in his love of Scandinavian lore. The bear is king of all animals in Scandinavia,
respected for strength and wisdom. Lynch follows Dasent’s translation closely with his superb illustrations.]
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- East of the Sun and West of the Moon. Retold and Illustrated by László Gál. Toronto:
- McClelland & Stewart Inc., 1993.
[Ingrid, beautiful daughter of a poor woodcutter, is given in marriage to a bear. He takes her to his
castle and gives her a bell which she need only ring to get whatever she needs. At night a handsome prince comes
to her. Subsequently she wishes to visit her family. The bear permits her to return but warns her against talking
alone with her mother. She forgets his advice, and the mother convinces her she is married to a troll. She
returns and at night lights a candle to see who her partner is. She drips wax on him, he awakens and flees,
explaining that now he must marry an ugly troll in a castle east of the sun and west of the moon. But Ingrid
pursues her beloved, gets advice from an old woman who gives her a spinning wheel, an old man who gives her a
ball, and a giant who gives her a harp; she travels by moose and elk and, with the guidance of the Four Winds,
finally gets to the castle of the trolls. She uses the golden spinning wheel, the golden ball, and the harp to
gain access to her husband, but he has been drugged by a sleeping potion. Finally she finds him awake, and he
suggests that he will marry only the one who can wash the wax from his shirt. The trolls fail, but Ingrid
succeeds. The trolls are destroyed and the North Wind bears the couple back to the palace where they had lived
before. Now they can live happily together; the old woman, old man, giant, and the Four Winds share in their
wedding festivities, which may still be going on.]
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- Grimm, Jacob, and Wilhelm. Snow White and Rose Red. Retold and Illustrated by
- Bernadette Watts. Monchaltorf, Switzerland: North-South Books, 1988.
[The two girls and their mother are hospitable to a bear on a winter night.
The children love playing with the bear, who departs in the spring. The girls are troubled by a mean-tempered
dwarf who keeps getting his beard caught, first in a log and then in a fish line. To rescue him they cut his
beard shorter, thus incurring his wrath. They then rescue him from an eagle. When he is caught by the bear he
offers the girls to the bear to eat, but the bear calls them to him. They recognize the bear’s voice and approach
him. The dwarf’s curse upon the prince is broken and the bear transforms into back into human form. He marries
Snow White, and Rose Red marries his brother. Their mother comes to live with them in the castle. She plants
roses near her window that bloom white and red each year.]
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- Rose Red and the Bear Prince. Retold from the Brothers Grimm by Dan Andreasen. New
- York: Harper-Collins, 2000.
[Rose Red lives in the woods with her mother. She is afraid of nothing and is
much loved by forest creatures. One winter night there is a knock at the door and a half frozen bear asks for shelter. She
brushes the snow from his coat, and they play like puppies. Each night he returns. But with spring he disappears into the
forest, hoping to find his three treasures that a wicked dwarf had stolen. Rose Red comes upon a dwarf with his beard caught
in a log. To his rage, Rose Red frees him by cutting the beard. She finds the bowl of pearls he stole from the bear and
takes them to her house to be kept for the bear, who will return in the autumn. Three weeks later she saves the dwarf
from an eagle by cutting off the dwarf’s hair. As he tumbles to earth, a bag of gold falls from his belt. She takes it and
places it on the mantel next to the jar of pearls. Three weeks later the dwarf’s beard gets caught in a fishing line. Rose
Red saves him from drowning by cutting off the beard and finds the bear’s chest of jewels that the dwarf had stolen. The
dwarf flees, because his power had been in his hair. The bear appears and changes into a handsome young man, who explains
how she broke the spell on him by rescuing his treasure and destroying the dwarf’s power. They marry and the widow lives
with them, bring with her her beautiful rose bush.]
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- Rose Red and Snow White: A Grimm’s Fairy Tale. Retold and Illustrated by Ruth
- Sanderson. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1997.
[Follows the basic story, emphasizing the environmental bliss of the girls’ lives in the
forest. A lamb lives with them, who accepts the bear too. Superbly illustrated.]
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BIRDS: |
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- The Crane Wife. Retold by Sumiko Yagawa. Translated from the Japanese by Katherine
- Paterson. Illustrated by Suekichi Akaba. New York: Mulberry Books, 1987. Yagawa’s edition 1979. Paterson’s translation 1981.
[A peasant named Yohei comes upon a wounded crane in a snow storm. He removes an arrow from its wing and tends the wound.
That night he hears a tapping at his door and a beautiful young woman enters, asking to become his wife. Yohei
accepts, though he is very poor, and they have scarcely enough food to survive the winter. His new wife asks for
a loom. She weaves an exquisite silk cloth which he sells for a good price. But the winter is long and the money
runs out. She wonders that he keeps needing more money–could they not simply live alone together in their
happiness? But she weaves again a cloth that brings even a greater price. But each time she weaves she becomes
more thin and frail. A neighbor convinces Yohei that they could become rich on his wife’s labor. So he asks her
to weave one last time. She agrees to do so but forbids him to watch. He sneaks a peek nonetheless and sees that
it is the crane, weaving the exquisite material from her own feathers. When she finishes she gives him the finest
material of all, but because he looked she must leave. She explains that it was her love for his gentleness and
simple heart that made her come to live at his side. She prays that his life will be long and happy, then leaves.
He pleads that she stay, but she flies out across the snow. He pursues but can see only a speck above the
mountains.]
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- Nones, Eric Jon. The Canary Prince. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1991.
[A Turinese story of a princess,
locked in a castle tower by her wicked stepmother, who sees a lonely prince hunting in the forest below. Unable
to find a means to get together the two stare at each other in love. A witch puts a spell on him whereby he can
turn into a canary and fly to her window. Then, when he is with her, he can turn back into a man. But the
stepmother finds out and puts needles outside the window so that when the canary lands on the sill he is impaled.
Desperately wounded, he is transformed back into his human form, but is dying of his wounds whom none can heal.
The girl breaks out of the tower, and at night, in the woods, overhears the witches talking of the boy. She
learns where the healing ointment is hidden and, albeit in her scraggly clothes, enters the castle and performs
the cure. She takes only his bloody shirt as payment. Later the prince goes by the girl’s castle, but scorns her,
thinking she was responsible for his wound. But he is transferred back up in his canary form anyway, and, upon
seeing the bloody shirt, realizes that she did not betray him but, rather, saved him, and they are married. The
girl’s father is pleased and the stepmother placed in the dungeons. The happy young couple spends the rest of
their lives together.]
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- The Swallow Girl. Retold by Tang Mei Ling. Illustrated by Chang Shin Ming. Taipei: Hsin Yi
- Foundation, 1991.
[In Chinese, with page by page English language oral rendition by Sheila Allen (Arcadia, CA: Shen’s Books and
Supplies, 1993) inserted: Lo Zi-fu is a spoiled orphan who lives with his uncle. He robs his uncle of jewelry and
antiques and goes to the city where he squanders his ill-gotten fortune in pleasure spots. With the money gone he
attempts to survive by begging. He falls ill and becomes diseased. He tries to return home but falls exhausted
near his hometown. A lovely young girl appears and takes him to a strange land in the mountains. She cleanses
him, cures him, feeds him, and makes him clothes from banana leaves. She is Pian-Pian, a swallow he once helped
as a child, who, in this magical place may dwell as a woman. In return for that kindness in his youth she now
rescues him. Lo Zi-fu is ashamed and wonders if there might not be evil spirits waiting to destroy him for all
his unkind acts. But she reassures him. After a time Zi-fu yearns to see his uncle, to try to obtain forgiveness.
Pian-Pian is heart-broken but permits him to leave. He finds his uncle just before the old man dies. The uncle
forgives him and gives Zi-fu his inheritance. Lo Zi-fu returns to the mountain and tries to find the heavenly
paradise, but he fails and never sees his beautiful Pian-Pian again.]
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- The Tsar’s Promise. Retold by Robert D. San Souci. Illustrated by Lauren Mills. New York:
- Philomel Books, 1992.
[The Tsar and his wife are childless. He takes a long journey and upon drinking from a stream has his beard
seized by a demon in the pool. The demon demands that the Tsar give him what awaits him upon his return home. The
Tsar promises and is released. When he arrives home his wife presents him with a baby boy named Ivan. He forgets
his promise and the child grows up. One day Ivan sees white garments on the bank and thirty ducks swimming in a
pond. He picks up one of the garments and is surprised when the ducks come out of the pond and turn into
beautiful women who put on the garments and disappear into the earth. The last duck comes to him asking for the
garment. When he gives it to her she turns into a woman and takes him with her into the earth where they meet the
demon. The demon will release him only if he passes three tests. First he must make in one night a castle lit by
jewels and with marble walls. The woman, named Maria, comes to him and by magic produces the castle. The second
challenge is that he must pick Maria out of thirty maidens who look and dress exactly alike. Maria tells him to
watch for a fly on her cheek. On the third viewing Ivan sees the fly and identifies Maria. The third test is to
find out what is in a locked casket. But Maria comes to him at night and they escape to a chapel over which the
demon has no power. After a couple of diversionary tactics they almost arrive at the chapel, but the demon’s
henchmen catch up. So Maria turns herself into a chapel and Ivan into a monk who tells the henchmen that the
couple has already been there and asked that he pray for the demon and his henchmen. In a rage the demons turn
into hornets and fly away. Maria and Ivan get to the real church and return to the Tsar where they are happily
married.]
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BULL: |
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- Jacobs, Joseph. “Black Bull of Norroway.” In More English Fairy Tales (1894); rpt.
- English Fairy Tales, illustrated by John Batten (London: David Campbell Publishers, 1993), pp. 242-248.
[The third daughter sets out on a quest with a black bull who feeds her from his ears. They stop at the house of the bull’s three brothers on
consecutive nights whereupon each gives the girl the gift, first an apple, then a pear, then a plum, which she
must not break until she is in the most dire straits. The bull then must battle an old man. The girl must remain
utterly still, else the bull will not be able to find her after his victory. She moves her leg, however, thinking
the bull has won the battle and thus loses the bull. She serves seven years a smith then sets out again, climbing
a glassy hill. There she meets a washerwoman who makes her wash bloody clothes. She falls in love with a knight,
but the washerwoman foists her elder daughter upon him. To thwart the marriage the girl breaks the apple, obtains
jewels with which she convinces the elder daughter to let her spend the first night with the knight. But the
witch gives him a potion whereby he sleeps all night. The girl breaks the pear to obtain be with the knight the
second night, but again the witch puts him to sleep with a potion. While the knight is hunting the third day his
friends inquire about moaning they heard in his chamber. He determines that he will stay awake to check out the
mystery. The girl breaks the plum, obtains the richest jewels of all which she gives to the daughter; the witch
gives the knight a sleeping potion, but he pours it out and meets the girl who tells her story. The witch and her
daughter are burnt and the girl and knight marry. Betsy Hearne includes this story in her collection Beauties and
Beasts (Phoenix, Arizona: Oryx Press, 1993), pp. 92-96. She notes that Jacobs adapted the tale from Robert
Chambers’ Popular Rhymes, Fireside Stories, and Amusements of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1842 and 1870), and cites
other variants, including “The Red Bull o’ Norroway” and “The Brown Bear of Norway,” which is apparently derived
from “East of the Sun and West of the Moon.” For a modern retelling see Isabel Cole, under Modern Fiction.]
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CAT: |
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- Cowles, Julia Darrow. “The White Cat.” In Fairy Tales of Long Ago. Illustrated by
- Dorothy Dulin. Chicago: A. Flanagan Company, 1923. Pp. 88-95.
[Based on Madame d’Aulnoy’s “La chatte blanche.” The illustration of the white
cat after she is transformed, through the agency of the Prince, back into a gloriously beautiful women, thus
breaking the bad fairy’s spell, is especially well done.]
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- San Souci, Robert D. The White Cat. Illustrated by Gennady Spirin. New
- York: Orchard Books, 1990.
[A retelling of Madame d’Aulnoy’s “La chatte blanche.” The youngest of three princes sets out to find his father’s little dog
and comes upon an enchanted castle where hands appear out of thin air to serve him. He enters and is made welcome
by a mysterious voice. He attends a dance of the cats the meets the mistress of the castle, a lovely white cat
dressed like Queen Elizabeth I. He tells the White Cat of his quest and she gives him an acorn containing the
tiniest dog in the world, with a tiny bark. He returns home with the acorn and the king is charmed by the most
beautiful little dog. But he sends the brothers out on a second mission, this time to find a piece of linen so
fine it will pass through of the tiniest needle. He returns to the White Cat just in time to encounter a fierce
battle between the cats and the rats. The White Cat gives him a walnut which will have fine linen in it. But to
his surprise the walnut has a hazelnut inside, which in turn contains a cherry pit. Inside the cherry pit he
finds a grain of wheat, in which he finds a single tiny mustard seed. Just as he thinks White Cat has played a
trick on him he opens the mustard seed to find four hundred yards of very fine linen. He returns to White Cat’s
castle a third time, in time to challenge a dragon who turns himself into a two-headed rock. This time the White
Cat is transformed into a princess who, out from under a wizard’s spell. The Prince marries White Cat who becomes
known for her knowledge, courage, beauty and generous heart. beauty, and generous heart. Andrew Lang offers a
version of the story in The Blue Fairy Book, illustrated by G. P. Jacomb Hood (London: Longmans, Green, and Co.,
1889; rpt. New York: Dover, 1965), pp. 157-173.]
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- Yep, Laurence. Tiger Woman. Illustrated by Robert Roth. BridgeWater Books, of Troll
- Associates. Printed in Mexico, 1995.
[Based on a Shantung folk song. A selfish old woman makes smooth, white bean curd, which she will
share with no one. A beggar asks for some. She replies that she must eat it all herself or become a terrible
tiger. The beggar curses her so that she becomes what she says. All in the market are terrified to see a loose
tiger. The soldiers come to kill it. She hides in a sedan chair where she sees some bread. She says she would be
dumb as an ox to waste such a snack. When she eats she is turned into an ox. The soldiers get nooses to catch the
beast. But she sees some grain on the ground and in her greed forgets her fear. Even a dumb bird would eat the
grain, she thinks, and is turned next into a sparrow. She flies to a pavilion where a man feeds the birds. “I’m
starved as an elephant,” she says and turns into one as she eats. Again she is pursued but comes upon a cook
chopping vegetables. Her appetite is great — she is hungry as a swine, which she becomes. Immediately she is
captured and is about to be chopped up with a cleaver when she remembers the beggar’s curse. She nibbles on a bit
of remaining bean curd, wishing she were as she was, for now she would be a generous old woman. The cook turns to
chop up the pig but finds only an old woman. She now becomes famous for serving her bean curd to others. She
tells everyone: “In kindness I’ve become a believer, / since I faced the wrong end of the cleaver.”]
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CHILDREN: |
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- Tunnell, Michael O. Beauty and the Beastly Children. Illustrated by John Emil
- Cymerman. New York: Tambourine Books, 1993.
[After Beauty and the Beast’s marriage (his real name was Auguste), Auguste spends his time hanging
around with neighborhood princes and dukes, ignoring beggars, the sick, and his pregnant wife. Beauty is furious.
Hunting with his crones in the wood Auguste thinks he sees the witch who cursed him and returns home, terrified
that he may be turning back into a beast. But Beauty tells him that she is more concerned about their three
children (she had triplets while he was away). And, indeed, they have tails, fur, and wild beastly behavior.
Beauty is again furious at Auguste, who clearly didn’t learn a thing by his own transformation. The children
terrorize the neighborhood until Auguste finally starts paying attention to them and tells them stories, namely
his own. The boys come around asking after the king, but he tells them he cannot come out: “A king’s duty is to
raise princes who will make fine kings, you know.” The beggars come by and he looks after them. Their children’s
fangs become shorter, their tails smaller and smaller, their bodies less hairy, and their behavior more civil.
One old beggar turns out to be the witch who, when treated kindly, grins and removes the curse. The children,
Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, turn out to have regular smiles, and their only hair is on the tops of their heads.]
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DOG: |
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- Osborne, Mary Pope. Molly and the Prince. Illustrated by Elizabeth Sayles. An Apple
- Soup Book. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1994.
[A girl finds an old red dog with tattered ears by a river. She loves the dog and plays with it
in the woods. They move like ghosts between the trees until they come upon a satyr and woodland creatures that
speak. The satyr tells her that the hound is other than he seems — a prince under a wicked spell until a girl
loves him well. The girl whispers that she does love him, and the forest swells with joy declaring the dog a
summer prince and her a summer girl, crowning them with flowers. The goat-man leads a parade, and all follow the
pair with their crowns, dancing until the moon is round and full. Together they roll on the ground, laughing.
Suddenly brother William, who is five years old, calls Molly to dinner. She comes from the woods, the stray dog
with her. Molly keeps the dog and tells William that the dog is not as he seems. William agrees, for “I saw his
crown.”]
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DRAGON: |
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- Yep, Laurence. The Dragon Prince: A Chinese Beauty and the Beast Tale. Illustrated
- by Kam Mak. New York: Harper-Collins, 1997.
[A Southern Chinese version of a traditional Chinese tale. A poor farmer has seven
daughters. They would starve were it not for the industry of Seven, who cares for the house and makes the finest
silk adorned with exquisite needle work which they can sell. The other six hate Seven. One day when Three is
working in the field she comes upon a serpent. She would kill it, but Seven pities it and lets it go. It slithers
to the mountain and turns into a dragon who seizes the father and will kill him unless he gives him one of the
daughters in marriage. The first six come to fetch him for the supper that Seven has prepared dinner. Each is
given the choice of marrying the dragon, but each refuses. Then Seven comes and, though she is terrified by the
dragon, she looks into his eyes and sees gentleness. She agrees to the marriage and the father is released. Seven
learns to love the dragon with her heart rather than her eyes, and he turns into a prince. After a time she
yearns to see her family again. She returns with gold and pearls. The sisters become more jealous than ever and
strike Seven on the head and cast her into the river. They then tell the dragon that she has been ill and
undergone physical changes. Three puts on her clothes and goes to take her place. The dragon soon figures out
that Three is not Seven and goes in search of her. Seven, meanwhile, has floated down the river and is rescued by
an old woman. She weaves beautiful silk shoes with dragons on them that are sold in the market. The prince sees
the slippers and knows they could only have been made by Seven. He finds her, transforms himself back into a
dragon, and brings his bride home. Three is sent back to papa.]
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FROG: |
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- Isadora, Rachel. The Princess and the Frog. New York: Greenwillow Books, 1989.
[Adapted from Grimm. Three nights
bedding, but no kissing. Beautifully illustrated by the author.]
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- Edens, Cooper, and Harold Darling. “The Frog Prince. By the Brothers Grimm,” In
- Favorite Fairy Tales. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1991. Pp. 38-43.
[With four color illustrations from Walter Crane, 1874.]
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- A Frog Prince. Written and Illustrated by Alix Berenzy. New York: Henry Holt and Company,
- 1989; Owlet Paperback edition, 1991.
[A Frog loves a princess, but she does not notice. Her ball falls into the swamp and he returns it
to her when she agrees that she will let him dine with her in the castle and sleep there too. When he arrives at
the castle door that evening she despises him, but the king insists that she uphold her promise. After supper she
scornfully takes him to her room, puts him on the floor, then stamps off to her silken bed. He looks in a mirror
and sees nothing wrong. The moon sings to him in his dream suggesting he seek another kingdom and a princess of a
different mind. He tells the king next day of his decision. The king makes him clothing and gives him a horse,
and the frog sets off, following the sun by day and the moon by night. He rescues a bird from two trolls, who
kill each other. He rescues a turtle from a witch who was about to make soup of it. The witch pursues him, but
the birds peck her to death. He comes to the ocean, and a great turtle carries him across to the end of the
world. There he finds a castle where a frog princess dwells. She awakens and loves him even though he is only a
common frog, albeit well-dressed. They are married, and everyone dances to the music of crickets and tree frogs
for three days. Superb illustrations.]
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- The Princess and the Frog. Retold and Illustrated by Jonathan Langley. London:
- Harper-Collins Publishers Ltd., 1993.
[Tomboyish Ivy, the youngest of seven daughters still lives at home. Playing football in the fields with
her golden ball she kicks it over a tall oak tree, through which it falls into a pond. A frog retrieves it after
obtaining a promise that he may sit at her table, sleep on a silk cushion beside her pretty bed, and receive a
good night kiss before she sleeps. Filled with joy at retrieving her ball she forgets her promise and rushes
home. The frog arrives a week and a day later to claim his promise. The king insists she comply. She would keep
him in a fish tank but he insists upon the cushion and the kiss. When she complies the frog turns into Prince
Frederick, the spell being broken. Ivy and Freddy play ball in the fields, go swimming, and a year and a day
later are married. They have seven children who excel at swimming and leapfrog. Well-illustrated.]
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- The Frog Prince, or Iron Henry, by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. Illustrated by Binette
- Schroeder. Translated by Naomi Lewis. New York: North-South Books, 1989.
[The king has lovely daughters but the youngest is most lovely. Her
golden ball falls into a well where a frog rescues it upon promise of entrance to the court, supper at the table,
and sleep in the princess’ bed. Pleased to have the ball returned the princess hastens home, leaving the frog
hopping behind. The king insists she uphold her promise which she does. In her room she becomes enraged and
throws the frog against the wall and he turns into a handsome prince. He had been cursed by a wicked witch, a
curse that could only be broken by the loveliest princess. They are married. In the morning a coach awaits,
driven by faithful Henry. Three times they hear cracking sounds and think the carriage is breaking, but it is the
bands breaking to free Henry’s faithful heart. Superb Magrite-like illustrations.]
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- The Frog Prince. Retold by Jan Omerod and David Lloyd. Illustrated by Jan Ormerod. New
- York: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books, 1990.
[A princess loses her ball in a well. A frog returns it for a promise that she love him.
After receiving the ball she ignores the frog but he would claim the promise from his darling. The princess is
miserable but must entertain the frog at table, then take him to bed with her. She places him on her pillow. Next
day he is still there. So too the second night. She is amused a bit by his antics, but thinks he is only a frog,
albeit a pretty one. The third night he returns but in the morning seems to have disappeared. The princess
wonders, “Where is my frog, my own darling?” Their three nights together have broken the spell and he is now a
prince. They are married. Superbly illustrated.]
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- The Frog Prince. Retold by Edith H. Tarcov. Illustrated by James Marshall. New York:
- Scholastic Inc., 1974.
[A Hello Reader!–Level 3 book for second grade readers. Adapted from Grimm, with the frog thrown against the wall
to precipitate his transformation.]
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- McKinley, Robin. “The Princess and the Frog.” In The Door in the Hedge. Greenwillow
- Books, 1981.
[An evil prince eliminates his elder brother, then ingratiates himself with ominous power into the neighboring kingdom, obtaining
power in that court and wooing the princess with a magical necklace. She fears him and takes the necklace outside
to examine it, drops it accidentally into a pond, and recovers it (now without its magical power) through the
help of a frog who, as reward, joins the household. The wicked prince throws the frog against the wall, whereupon
it turns into his elder brother who challenges him. The princess gets water from the frog pond and dumps it on
the evil prince, who is turned into a statue. Then she and the true prince join hands.]
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- Mieder, Wolfgang. “Modern Anglo-American Variants of the Frog Prince
- (AaTh440).” New York Folklore, 6 (1980): 111-135.
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- Vuong, Lynette Dyer. “Master Frog.” In The Brocaded Slipper and Other Vietnamese
- Tales. New York: Addison-Wesley, 1982; rpt. New York Harper-Collins, 1992, pp. 65-82.
[Giang Dung, an ugly girl, is finally given a husband, who
dies soon leaving her pregnant. She gives birth to a frog. The frog shows himself apt at school and as he becomes
an adult requests the hand of a princess in marriage. Giang Dung is shocked but requests an audience with the
king. The king ridicules Master Frog, but shows him his three daughters as a joke. Master Frog then stuns the
king by croaking loudly and producing a stampede of elephants, tigers, leopards, and panthers in the court, then
departing leaving the animals there. The king reconsiders the offer and the youngest daughter, Kien Tien, agrees
to the marriage. Master Frog proves an intelligent and agreeable partner and after a time sheds his frog skin and
becomes a handsome prince. He is a fairy, it turns out, a heavenly mandarin, one of the sons of the Jade Emperor,
who wanted an adventure in the world below. His father granted him the request only if he begin as a frog. The
other two sisters of Kien Tien become jealous, steal the frog skin, try to find frog princes for themselves, then
murder Kien Tien. Master Frog, who had disappeared when they stole the skin, returns, rescues Kien Tien from the
sea, and accepts the rule of the kingdom. The wicked sisters flee to the wood and are not heard of again. Giang
Dung is brought to the palace and lives in comfort to a ripe old age.]
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HEDGEHOG: |
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- “Prince Hedgehog.” In Best-Loved Folktales of the World. Ed. Joanna Cole. New York:
- Doubleday, 1982. Pp. 425-427.
[In this Russian tale a childless empress wishes for a son even were he no bigger than a hedgehog. She gives
birth to one, to everyone’s shame. Hedgehog grows up and, riding a cock, goes looking for a bride. A king
welcomes him and agrees to Hedgehog’s marrying his youngest daughter. She is forced to consent. On the advice of
her priest she sprinkles holy water on her bridegroom and pricks herself with his spines so that three drops of
blood trickle from her hand upon him. He is transformed into a beautiful youth, and they are married.]
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- Haviland, Virginia. “About the Hedgehog Who Became Prince.” In Favorite Fairy
- Tales Told in Poland, Retold by Virginia Haviland. Illustrated by Joel Cook. New York: A Beech Tree Paperback Book, 1995. Pp. 7-16.
[Haviland first retold the story in 1965. Cook’s illustrations, 1995. In this version the woman wishes for a child, even if
it were a hedgehog. A witch overhears and grants the wish. The hedgehog son grows up, herding the pigs in the
woods. One day the king rides by, lost in the wood. The hedgehog shows him his way out, providing he pledge to
him one of his daughters in marriage. The king consents, thinking nothing could come of his device to find his
way home. Later, the hedgehog orders that a cock be saddled so that he might ride away. His mother consents and
hedgehog sets out for the palace. The king is at dinner when the hedgehog arrives. He orders the beast killed but
instantly the room is filled with hedgehogs, that are really good fairies. They impale the court with their barbs
until the king consents. The hedge takes the youngest daughter to church. After the ceremony she is amazed to
find him transformed into a handsome young man. He explains that the marriage broke the wicked witch’s spell.]
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- Janosch. “Hans My Hedgehog.” From Janosch erzahlt Grimm’s Marchen. Belta & Gelberg
- Verlag, 1972.
[Childless woman wishes for child even if it were a hedgehog. It so happens, and the minister refuses to baptize it. So the
creature is called Hans My Hedgehog. The farmer goes to town and will return with gifts. Hans wants a harmonica
in B flat. Next trip he wants sunglasses, then a motorcycle. Hans sets out on his own. He gets a job playing
background music for a radio station, gets into movies, and sets fashions with his garb and hairdo. Everyone
wants to be like him and to cut their hair exactly as he does.]
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- Walker, Wendy. “The Contract with the Beast.” In The Sea-Rabbit: Or, The Artist of Life.
- Los Angeles: Sun and Moon Press, 1988. Pp. 105-180.
[A retelling of “Jack My Hedgehog.”]
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- Williamson, Duncan, ed. “The Hedgehurst.” In Fireside Tales of the Traveler Children:
- Twelve Scottish Tales. New York: Harmony Books, 1985.
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MERMAIDS AND MERMEN: |
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- Mermaid Tales from Around the World. Retold by Mary Pope Osborne. Illustrated by Troy
- Howell. New York: Scholastic Inc., 1993.
[Includes The Mystery of Melusine, Menana of the Waterfall, The Sea Nymph and the Cyclops,The Enchanted
Cap, Nastasia of the Sea, The Fish Husband, The Serpent and the Sea Queen, The Mermaid’s Revenge,
The Princess of the Tung Lake, The Sea Princess of Persia, The Mermaid in the Millpond, The Little Mermaid.]
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- Nicholas Pipe. Told by Robert D. San Souci. Illustrated by David Shannon. New York: Dial
- Books for Young Readers, 1997.
[The tale is based on a brief account “Of Nicholas Pipe, A Merman” in Walter Map’s De nugis curialium
(Courtiers’ Trifles). Map (c. 1140-1208), a priest, storyteller, sermon writer, courtier, was contemporaneous
with Chrétien de Troyes and a notable figure in the court of Henry II. San Souci’s adaptation follows a
suggestion by the medievalist Frederick Tupper, which provides the tale with a happy ending. San Souci’s tale is
as follows: Nicholas Pipe was a merman who had saved a sorcerer’s child from drowning and, in gratitude, the
sorcerer gave him the capacity to have legs while on land and a merman’s tail when at sea. Marius, a fisherman,
had a daughter Margaret who fell in love with Nicholas. Marius had lost a son at sea, however, and blamed the
mermen. Thus he hated Nicholas. But the village appreciated Nicholas, for he gave them fair warning of
approaching storms. One day her father went to sea to fish. Margaret learned of the warning and hastened to help
her father. But the storm struck. Only with Nicholas’ help did they survive. But the father continued to hate
Nicholas and told the king of his existence. The king sent guards to imprison him in a cage to bring him to court
as a show. Margaret, however, was determined to rescue him. She had once offered to marry him but he had
declined: she was of the land, he of the sea. If ever a day passed that he did not swim in salt water he would
die. When the king’s men took Nicholas away she hastened to the sea and got two skins of sea water and set out in
pursuit of the soldiers. When she found them they thought Nicholas was dead and had left him under a tree. As
Margaret wept salt tears over him he revived. Then with the water skins as remedy they began their trek back to
the sea. But the water ran out, and it seemed he would die after all. But the father, repentant of his hatred,
came to help. He cut the skins open and placed the wet interior against Nicholas’ skin. That was enough. He got
to the sea in time. Next day he appeared in human form, and he and Margaret were married. He still worried that
he was of the sea and she of the land. But she replied: “Our children will be children of land and sea, and Oh!
what marvels they will be.”]
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MONKEY: |
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- Mayer, Fanny Hagin. “The Monkey Son-in-law.” In Ancient Tales in Modern Japan: An
- Anthology of Japanese Folktales. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1985.
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PIG: |
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- Straparola, Giovanni. “The Pig Prince.” In Le piacevoli notti (The Facetious [or
- Delectable] Nights). 1553.
[A childless queen sleeps in a garden where three capricious fairies cast spells upon her — that she shall give birth
to a most handsome child, that no one will have power to offend her and that her son will have great virtue, and
that the child will be cursed with the skin of a pig and a pig’s manners until he has been wed three times.
Through the agency of a woman with three daughters, one of whom honors and obeys him, the pig prince finally
comes into his human form and is rid of his piggishness.]
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- Thomas, Rosemary Hyde. “Prince White Hog.” In It’s Good to Tell You: French Folktales
- from Missouri. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1981.
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- Walker, Barbara. “The Princess and the Pig.” In A Treasury of Turkish Folktales for
- Children. Hamden, Conn.: Linnet Books, 1988. Pp. 114-117.
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SEAL: |
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- Cooper, Susan. The Selkie Girl. Illustrated by Warwick Hutton. New York: Macmillan,
- 1986; rpt Aladdin Books, 1991.
[Based on an ancient Celtic legend of a beautiful seal girl, daughter of King of Lochlann, who is loved by
Donallan; he steals her seal skin while she is sunning on the beach in human form. He names her Mairi and marries
her, and they have five children. Years later Mairi finds the skin and returns to the sea. Every year, at the
seventh stream of the spring flood tide she may be seen in the waves. Donallan’s nets take three times as many
fish as those of others and, in spring, they can hear singing that seems to come from the sea. See The Secret of Roan Inish for a film adaptation under Movies.]
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SERPENT: |
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- Basile, Giambattista. The Pentamerone of Giambattista Basile, translated from the
- Italian of Benedetto Croce … by N. M. Penzer. Vol. 1. New York and London: E. P. Dutton, 1932.
[See “The Serpent,” Il Pentamerone was first published posthumously in 1634-1636.]
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- Arnott, Kathleen. “The Snake Chief.” In African Myths and Legends. London: Oxford
- University Press, 1962.
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- Delarue, Paul. “The Serpent and the Grape-grower’s Daughter.” In French Fairy Tales.
- New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1968. Pp 104-109.
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- “The Serpent of the Sea.” In American Indian Myths and Legends, selected and edited
- by Richard Erdoes and Alfonso Ortiz. New York: Pantheon, 1984, pp. 327-331.
[Based on Frank Hamilton Cushing’s version, 1931. A beautiful Zuni
maiden bathes in Kolowissi’s sacred spring. The god appears as a baby which the maiden takes home. At night he
turns into a gigantic serpent. Her father, a priest, prays to the serpent, giving his daughter to him as a gift.
The serpent accepts. On the way back to the pool the serpent turns himself into a young man and pledges his love.
The maiden forgets her sadness and her home and goes to the Doorway of the Serpent of the Sea, where they live
happily.]
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SHELLS AND SNAIL: |
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- The Shell Woman and the King: A Chinese Folktale. Retold by Laurence Yep. Paintings
- by Yang Ming-Yi. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers, 1993.
[Uncle Wu, disappointed in love, tells his story to the sea. A woman called
Shell appears out of the sea to tell him he wastes his love on cold waves. He would marry her, but she has a
secret too: she comes from the sea and lives most of her life as a large seashell. But that is okay with him, so
they are married. The king hears of this strange love and collects the shell for his treasure room. The king
would marry her too, but she refuses. He threatens to kill her husband, however, so she consents. The king then
makes demands, first the hair of a toad, which she supplies from the moon, which shivers without its hair. Then
the arm of a ghost, which she supplies also. Then the king demands a bushel of luck. She brings a black dog as
large as a pony. He says that’s not luck, but changes his mind when the dog eats burning wood then spreads fire
about, burning down the castle and the king with it — bad luck! The king forgot to specify which kind. So Shell
leaps on the dog’s back, helping her husband Wu on too, and they escape back to their home by the sea. All that’s
left of the cruel king is lumps of melted silver, amber, cracked crystal, and ashes.]
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- The Snail Lady. Adapted by Duance Vorhees and Mark Mueller. Illustrated by Kang Mi-sun.
- Seoul, Korea: Hollym Corporation, 1990.
[A Korean tale, printed in English and Korean. A young man hoes in his garden. A small voice
asks him to share his food. Unable to find the lady whose voice he hears he picks up a snail and puts it in a
clay jar in his house. Next day he finds his breakfast waiting him and his house straightened up. Who does this
he wonders. Next day he pretends to go to work but hides near the kitchen. He sees a lovely woman step out of the
jar and do the work. He wishes she were his wife. Next day he waits and catches the lady after she appears and
proposes. She agrees to be his wife. They live together many years. The king rides by and wants the woman,
thinking she is too beautiful to be married to a farmer. He proposes a contest. The first to cut down a tree gets
the girl. The king chooses a small tree for himself and conscripts two hundred men to do the work. The farmer
must cut down a very large tree. The snail lady goes to her father the Dragon King in the sea, however, and
brings back a gourd, which she gives to her husband. From the gourd come countless little men who cut down the
big tree before the king’s men, who get in each other’s way, can get half way through their task. So the king
sets another task — a race with horses across a stream. The Dragon King gives his son-in-law a tired looking
horse, but it goes fast as lightning. The king, in losing, falls off his horse into the river. But he insists on
one more contest — a boat race. The farmer competes in a row-boat, but it is fast as a dolphin and outstrips the
king’s big bulky ship. A wave capsizes the king’s ship and swallows it. So the young man gives the king’s food
and riches to the poor and lives happily with the snail lady ever after.]
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SNOW: |
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- The Snow Wife. Retold by Robert D. San Souci. Pictures by Stephen T. Johnson. New York:
- Dial Books for Young Readers, 1993.
[Two Japanese woodcutters, descending a mountain, are caught in a blizzard. As they hide in an
abandoned cottage the door blows open and a beautiful snow woman appears. The young woodcutter sees her and loves
her beauty and she him. She asks that he never tell anyone of their love. He promises and she disappears. In the
morning the old woodcutter is dead. The younger man, named Minokichi, works on always thinking of the beautiful
ghost. Then he meets Yuki, whose skin is white as snow. They marry and she gives him children. One day he tells
her that she is as beautiful as the snow maiden, at which point she says that she is in fact the same person but
since he has broken his promise she must return to the spirit world, which she does with a shriek. Minokichi goes
to a priest who advises him against pursuing a ghost. But there is no dissuading him, and he sets out. He gets
past the Mountain Man, then the Mountain Woman. A procession of lights appears to guide him on and at last,
thinking he will certainly die, he arrives at the shrine of the Wind God. He obtains forgiveness for destroying
one of the Wind God’s shrines and is granted a wish. He asks for Yuki the Snow Wife. The God reminds of his
broken promises but at last consents after Minokichi promises to build him a shrine. At first the Snow Wife does
not recognize him. But the Wind God sends them both back, with instructions to her never to let him forget his
promise. They build an altar to the Wind God and tend it, as do their children and grandchildren, always faithful
to their promises.]
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TALES OF LOATHLY MEN TRANSFORMED BY LOVE (Monsters, Dwarfs, Humpbacks, etc.), Other than the Basic Beauty
& the Beast Plot of Mme. de Villeneuve and Mme de Beaumont (see “Riquet with the Tuft”, under Basic Texts): |
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- Hague, Michael. “Riquet with the Tuft.” In Cinderella and Other Tales from Perrault,
- illustrated by Michael Hague. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1989, pp. 55-65.
[Ugly Riquet gives Beauty intelligence on promise of
marriage. When he comes to collect she appeals to his reason, arguing that she had agreed to the contract when she
was stupid. He turns the argument around to insist that if she loves him he will be beautiful. She agrees and he
is transformed.]
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- Salisbury, Eve, ed. Sir Gowther. In The English Breton Lays, ed. Anne Laskaya and Eve
- Salisbury. Kalamazoo: Western Michigan University Press, 1995. Pp. 263-307.
[A woman cannot conceive. Her husband threatens to take a
new wife. She goes into a garden where a fiend inseminates her. The child born is of monstrous appetite, sucking
nine wetnurses to death and biting the nipples off his mother. At fifteen he rapes all the nuns in a convent and
then burns it down. His uncle says he must have been fathered by the fiend. He goes to his mother and learns that
it is true. Overwhelmed by the revelation he goes to the pope and receives penance. He must wander taking food
only that dogs give him. He comes to a palace and sits under the table with the dogs. The maiden of the castle,
who is a mute, pities him and sends him food by a dog whose mouth she washes clean with wine. The kingdom is
attacked by a monstrous king who demands the princess as his bride. Unbeknownst to any Gowther prays, is given
armor, and wins the day. Only the princess knows what has happened. The bad king attacks again, and a second time
Gowther defeats the army, this time in a different disguise. A third time the villain attacks, this time in his
own person. Gowther kills him, but is wounded himself. As he returns the maiden sees him from the tower, faints,
and falls. All think she is dead. They call for the pope who comes to bless her. She returns to life, now with
speech. She tells of Gowther’s deeds and the youth is invited from under the table to join them. The pope
pronounces that his penance is over, and the maiden and Gowther marry. Her founds a holy church for nuns as a
further act of penance. He lives a long life and rules as an excellent emperor, always holding the Saracens at
bay. His life illustrates that God can make the blind to see and the dumb to speak and the crooked right. In some
versions he is declared a saint.]
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TALES OF LOATHLY LADIES TRANSFORMED THROUGH LOVE: |
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- Chaucer, Geoffrey. “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” (ca. 1393). In The Riverside Chaucer. 3rd
- edn. Ed. Larry D. Benson. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1987. Pp. 116-122.
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- Gower, John. “The Tale of Florent” (ca. 1390). Confessio Amantis, Bk I, lines
- 1407-1861. In The English Works of John Gower, ed. G. C. Macaulay. London: Oxford University Press, 1900; rpt. 1957, I. Pp. 74-86.
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- Hahn, Thomas, ed. Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle (ca. 1400). In The Gawain Poems.
- Ed. Thomas Hahn. Kalamazoo: Western Michigan University Press, 1995.
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- Hastings, Selina, ed. Sir Gawain and the Loathly Lady. Illustrated by Juan Wijngaard.
- New York: Lathrop, 1985.
[An illustrated adaptation of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle.]
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- Hoffmann, E. T. A. Nussknacker und Mausekonig (1816). First appearing in a
- Christmas collection of children’s stories, Kindermarchen von C.W. Contessa, Friedrich Baron de la Motte Fouqué und E.T.A. Hoffmann.
See “Nutcracker and the King of Mice,” trans. Alexander Ewing, in The Best Tales of E.T.A. Hoffmann, ed. E.F. Bleiler.
New York: Dover, 1967, pp. 130-182.
[In the encapsulated story told Marie by Drosselmeier, the Mouse Queen curses Princess
Pirlipat at birth with ugliness until a young man cracks a hard nut and yields the kernel to the princess to eat.
Drosselmeier’s nephew, the necessary young man, stumbles over the Mouse Queen, killing her and unfortunately
transforming himself into the Nutcracker. The retransformation of the Nutcracker and thus of Princess Pirlipat
lies in Marie’s (the audience’s) power. Marie becomes Clara in Tchaikovsky’s adaptation.]
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TALES OF PEOPLE TRANSFORMED THROUGH LOVE INTO BEASTS: |
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- Carter, Angela. “The Tiger’s Bride.” In The Blo
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