Beauty and the Beast (A Good Night, Sleep Tight Storybook, Grandreams, 1997, ret. Grace De La Touche, ill. Pam Storey)
This retelling of 'Beauty and the Beast' by Grace De La Touche, illustrated by Pam Storey, was copyrighted to Grandreams in 1997. It was published as part of Grandreams' Good Night, Sleep Tight Storybook series, as part of a quartet alongside retellings of 'Thumbelina', 'Hansel & Gretel', and 'Rumpelstiltskin', likely in a boxed set, as all share the same ISBN.
For an overview of the collection, with links to my reviews of the other books in the series, see Goodnight, Sleeptight Storybook Series (Grandreams, 1990s).
Cover, front and back endpapers
The front cover shows an image from the perspective of someone looking over the shoulder of the Beast; he wears a blue, gold, and black coat, carries a rose, and is standing watching Beauty, who is walking through the garden peering into a mirror. The image is inside a gold-wrought frame (used for the other three covers in the series but most apt, here, drawing a parallel with Beauty's mirror).
This image doesn't align with any of the interior illustrations and the inside of the front cover shows a quite different image of the same scene, focusing only on Beauty, here dressed in an elaborate 18th century lavender-coloured ballgown, with her hair in a lavender-tinted high roll, as she looks into a square-shaped mirror in a rose garden. The image is inside a leafy frame. This image is much more in keeping with the rest of the book – the Beauty who appears on the front cover is not depicted anywhere else.
The front loose endpaper is the title page, which features an image inside another leafy grame of a single rose, lying on the grass above a small grey rock with a ladybird on it, with publication details below.
The story takes place over 20 pages, beginning on the back of the title page and ending on the inside of the back cover.
The story – retold by Grace De La Touche
There are many variants of the 'Beauty and the Beast' story, which was first published by French writer Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve in 1740, then abridged and rewritten by Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont in 1756, this second version becoming the most popular and commonly retold. Many English writers have rewritten the fairy tale, and I haven't been able to identify an obvious source for this retelling by Grace De La Touche – it has elements from many different variants.
As with the other stories in this series retold by Grace De La Touche, the story begins "Long ago and far away..." We're introduced to a merchant and his three daughters, the older two "proud" and the youngest "generous and kind".
After losing all his ships in a storm, the merchant moves with his daughters to a small cottage in the countryside, but when he hears news that one of his ships has come in, he travels to reap its rewards, promising his daughters that if there is money to spare, he will bring them a gift. The elder girls ask for a beautiful dress and a new hat, and Beauty asks for a red rose.
The merchant finds he "he had indeed made a profit. There was enough to buy his daughters' presents and some to invest." But he can't find a rose in the town. On the way home it grows dark and he is lost, but he finds a "vast mansion" where he sees no-one but has a hearty supper, sleeps in a bedroom prepared for him, eats breakfast, and has his horse cared for. About to leave, he sees the garden is "full of roses" and picks one for Beauty.
The "ugliest creature he had ever seen" then accuses him of theft and says "If you wish to live, you must send the first living thing you see when you arrive home". The merchant agrees, knowing that "his dog usually greeted him first", but on this occasion, "to his dismay, it was Beauty who ran out of the house to greet him."
Beauty agrees to go to the Beast's house, where she is given a beautiful room and a magic mirror to see her family whenever she wanted to. The Beast spent every afternoon with her, and gradually she became used to his appearance and looked forward to seeing him. When he asks if she loves him, she says "No, but I do like you, I like you a lot."
Looking in the magic mirror, she sees one of her sisters is getting ready to be married and asks to go to the wedding. The Beast agrees and she attends the wedding and returns. This is then repeated with the second sister. On her return she doesn't look in the mirror for a long time but "suddenly remembered it one afternoon when the Beast could not join her". She sees her father is ill and this time when she asks to leave, the Beast agrees but gives her a ring and tells her: "If the stone is bright then I am well, but if it turns dull, I am dying."
Beauty stays through autumn and winter with her father, then finds the ring while doing some spring cleaning and sees it dull and lifeless. She speeds back to the mansion. "She had grown very fond of the Beast, and was very upset that she hadn't looked at the ring for so long."
She finds the Beast lying in the garden by a great bush of roses. Cradling his "ugly head" in her arms, she begs him not to die, saying she does love him, and in a "sudden flash of light" he transforms into a handsome man. "Where is the beast?" she asks. He replies:
I was the Beast, and I was dying. I needed you to say that you love me. Now my stepmother's spell has been lifted.
"Beauty was delighted" and they married and "lived happily in the beautiful mansion with the rose garden".
Making the merchant promise to send the first living thing he sees, and returning home for the weddings of her two sisters are not hugely common elements in "Beauty and the Beast" variants.
The depiction of Beauty forgetting to look into the mirror to check on her family for so long and then forgetting all about the Beast's ring for a long time seemed unlikely, not fitting well with the depiction of Beauty as thoughtful, kind, and caring. That aside, I enjoyed this retelling of the story.