#Beauty and a beat live skin
Later the pig sheds his skin and becomes a beautiful young man and the two live happily ever after (Tatar, 1999, 42-47).įinally, Jeanne-Marie Leprince De Beaumont’s telling of “The Beauty and the Beast” (1757) requires the least introduction as it is one of the worlds best known fairy tales. Finally the pig is married to the youngest sister who humbly accepts the pig as her husband. The pig then demands to be married to the maiden’s younger sister, and the second marriage ends the same as the first. The maiden is unwilling to marry the pig and is coerced by her mother into accepting the offer but is so disgusted by her husband she decides to kill him, however, the pig discovers her plot and kills her first. The king and queen raise the pig who one day demands that his parents find him a wife as he has fallen for a beautiful but poor maiden from the city. The tale begins with a queen who is desperate for a son and due to an enchantment gives birth to a boy with the body of a pig. The girl does as she is told until the frog tries to enter her bed, disgusted, she throws him against the wall and he is transformed into a prince with “beautiful, beaming eyes” and they fall in love (Tatar, 1999, 50).Īlternatively, Giovanni Francesco Straparola’s “The Pig King” features a more obliging bride who is willing to accept her deformed husband. Later the frog returns and the girl’s father scolds her and instructs her: “When you make a promise, you must keep it” (Tatar, 1999, 49). The princess makes a deal with the frog, promising that she will let him live with her but then leaves the frog admitting she never had any intention of fulfilling her promise. “The Frog King” written by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm (1812) is the tale of a young and naive princess who encounters a frog while playing in the garden (Ashliman, 2005). However the concept of the animal bridegroom has been used in children’s literature for centuries and, much like the modern interpretation of the tale itself the idiom ‘looks can be deceiving’ holds true when it comes to tales like “The Pig King” and “The Frog King”. Its universal appeal is due to its endearing message of ‘true love’ and the idea that ‘beauty is found within’. The tale of “Beauty and the Beast” is one of the best-loved and most persistent fairy tales in modern culture.
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