The Story
This is a small summary of the magnificent story, Beauty and the Beast.
This is the best love story ever told. It takes place in France. Long ago, there was a prince who had grown up with everything. He was cold and harsh towards others, and one night he received a visitor at the door. It was an old woman, and she asked if she could have shelter from the rain in exchange for a rose she held. He turned her away, and she told him to be careful, that things are not always as they appear. She revealed herself as an enchantress, and he asked for forgiveness. She refused, seeing that his heart was cold. She cast a spell on the castle, turning the prince into a Beast and the inhabitants of the house into household objects. She left the rose with him and told him the spell would only be broken if he could learn to love and be loved before the last petal fell.
Belle lives in a village near the Prince's castle. She is unlike the other people of the town, and enjoys reading. Her father Maurice is an inventor, and she has an arrogant suitor named Gaston who claims he is going to marry her. Her father Maurice leaves on a trip to show his inventions, but ends up lost in the woods. He seeks shelter in a castle, but it is the Beast's castle - and he does not take kindly to guests. Philippe, the horse, comes back without Maurice and Belle tells Philippe to take her to her father. She arrives at the castle and finds Maurice locked in a dungeon, and the Beast finds her. She trades places with her father in exchange for his freedom, and the Beast accepts.
At first the Beast and Beauty do not get off on the right foot. He warns her to stay out of the West Wing, where the rose the enchantress gave him is located. She goes anyway, and he finds her and frightens her and tells her to leave. She does leave, but is attacked by wolves. The Beast saves her just in time, but is wounded in the process. After some time, the Beast becomes kinder and she sees there is "something there that wasn't there before." She grows to like him, and a friendship blossoms. The Beast grows to have strong feelings for Belle. After dinner and a dance one night, the Beast lets her go after she sees that her father Maurice is ill, and gives her a mirror so she can always remember him. Belle goes to see her father, but Gaston comes to take Maurice away to a hospital because of the "crazy" stories Maurice was telling about a Beast. Belle sets out to prove Maurice is not lying, and shows the villagers the Beast with her mirror. The villagers, led by Gaston, set off to destroy the Beast and lock up Belle and her father in their cellar so they cannot do anything.
Luckily, Chip, one of the teacups from the Castle, has stowed away in Belle's dress and gets her out. The villagers reach the castle, but they don't get in without a fight from the enchanted furniture. Gaston reaches the Beast and is destroying him, and the Beast does not fight back. But then, Belle arrives and the Beast finds new strength. He is about to throw Gaston off the balcony when he realizes that would be very wrong. Belle gets there and she and the Beast embrace, but Gaston stabs the Beast in the back. Belle catches the Beast before his fall, but Gaston is not so lucky. The Beast is laying down on the floor and tells Belle, "At least I got to see you one last time." Belle says, "No, you can't. I love you." She says this just as the last petal falls, and then the Beast is taken up into the air, and transforms back into the Prince! Belle backs away, but the Prince says, "It's me." Belle is not so sure, but she sees the same warmth in his eyes that the Beast had. They embrace, and stay together and marry, and live happily ever after.
The End