From kids to adults, we all adore the beautiful tale that is Beauty and the Beast, which some believe is the greatest Disney story of all time. Before various adaptations, depictions through films, and animated movies, it was first introduced as a part of a storybook collection published in 1740.
However, the much-renowned version of the same story, besides the Disney version, was published sixteen years later in 1756 as an independent and simplified story.
The original narration and the story have changed throughout the years making it the now loved version that we are all familiar with.
While anthropologists believe that the tale is over four centuries old with myths and elements of the story appearing throughout various cultures, the first printed story is considered the origination of Beauty and the Beast.
Who Wrote The Original Beauty And The Beast?
The first print of the story was published by the French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve in 1740 as a part of a storybook collection “Tales of the Sea”. The novel is a hundred pages long and depicts a different version of the story.
In this version, Beauty (or Belle) is the daughter of a King and a fairy. The same fairy who curses the prince and turns him into a beast.
There are various details like Beauty being able to talk with birds, her dreams of meeting the handsome prince and owning a magic mirror that is left out in the modern version of the tale.
Popularized Version of Beauty and the Beast
While the original version of the tale did not garner much attention, the later version was written by the French author Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont managed to popularize the story. The book titled La Belle et la Bete (French for Beauty and the Beast) was published in 1756.
Her version that we are now familiar with follows a similar plot line with a different narrative of the characters and the ending. This version was later portrayed in a French film by Jean Cocteau in 1946, which is now considered one of the romantic fantasy classics. But nothing made the story more relevant than the Disney franchise which has now made multiple depictions of the book through animated films.
No matter the origin, these movies gave us the characters that we now know so well. While various changes to the original narrative were seen, it appealed to the crowd it was aiming for. By adding more magical elements and new characters like Gaston, the story is now one of the most well-known and loved fairy tales all over the world.