
Each night he asks her to marry him, and she repeatedly declines. Although the Beast is hideous, he treats her kindly and they become companions. She is waited on by invisible servants, served delectable food, and kept in a luxurious room. He reveals that he had stayed overnight in a mysterious castle in the forest, and when he plucked the flower from the garden he was met by a furious Beast, who demanded that either the merchant or one of his daughters return in one month to become his prisoner. Her father leaves to sell the cargo and pay his debts, and returns with a rose for Beauty (in this version, she had asked him to bring back rose seeds for her to plant).

Their fortunes begin to reverse when they receive the news that one of her father’s ships has appeared in port. They make the best of their reduced circumstances and work hard at their new life. When her father’s fleet of ships is lost at sea, she and her family move to the northern countryside. Her great loves in life are her books and her horse. However, as she grows up she feels that she is ill-suited for the name, considering herself plain-looking and short.

Plot Summary: The third daughter of a wealthy merchant, given the name Honour at birth, renames herself Beauty when she is five-years-old.
