[8] In France, for example, Zémire and Azor is an operatic version of the story, written by Jean-François Marmontel and composed by André Grétry in 1771, which had enormous success into the 19th century.

Not only had the Beast been a prince who was cursed until he could be loved without being charming, but Beauty had been fated to marry a monster and hidden from her original, magical, royal family from early childhood.

When he arrives to the port to see his ship the merchant is dismayed to learn that his colleagues have already sold the cargo, thus leaving him penniless and unable to buy his daughters' presents.

Seeing that no one is home, the merchant sneaks in and finds tables inside laden with food and drink, which seem to have been left for him by the castle's invisible owner.

Her brothers say that they will go to the castle and fight the Beast, while his older daughters refuse to leave and place blame on Beauty, urging her to right her own wrong.

Beauty willingly decides to go to the Beast's castle, moving her father who remembers a Romani fortune-teller's prophecy about his youngest daughter making his household lucky.

Her older sisters are surprised to find her well-fed and dressed in finery, and their old jealousy quickly flares when their suitors' gazes turn to Beauty, even though she bestows lavish gifts on them.

Before leaving mother and son, the Evil Fairy warned them that only a maiden's act of true love could break the spell and that if anyone else beside the Queen knew about it, the Prince would be a Beast forever.

The Good Fairy then summons the King Of Fortunate Island to meet Beauty, and having reunited the family, brings the petrified servants back to life.

The Good Fairy then brought the Princess to a cottage with three sleeping nursesmaids and a little girl the same age as her who was very ill and had been sent to the countryside by her father, the merchant, in hopes that the fresh air would cure her.

She arranged for Beauty and the Prince to meet, the young couple's love both breaking the Evil Fairy's spell and fulfilling the Princess's destiny to marry a Beast.

Emmanuel Cosquin collected a version with a tragic ending from Lorraine titled The White Wolf (Le Loup blanc), in which the youngest daughter asks her father to bring her a singing rose when he returns.

[27] Antonio De Nino collected a variant from Abruzzo, in eastern Italy, that he also titled Bellindia, in which instead of a rose, the heroine asks for a golden carnation.

[34] Aurelio Macedonio Espinosa Sr. collected a version from Almenar de Soria titled The Beast of the Rose Bush (La fiera del rosal), in which the heroine is the daughter of a king instead of a merchant.

[citation needed] In a Portuguese version collected by Zófimo Consiglieri Pedroso, the heroine asks for "a slice of roach off a green meadow".

The father finally finds a slice of roach off a green meadow in a castle that appears to be uninhabited, but he hears a voice saying he must bring his youngest daughter to the palace.

[37] Another Portuguese version from Ourilhe, collected by: Francisco Adolfo Coelho and titled A Bella-menina, is closer to Beaumont's tale in its happy ending – the beast is revived and disenchanted.

[40] Another Flemish version from Wuustwezel, collected by Victor de Meyere, is closer to Beaumont's plot, the merchant's youngest daughter staying one day more at her family's home and soon returning to the Beast's palace.

[citation needed] The Brothers Grimm originally collected a variant of the story, titled The Summer and Winter Garden (Von dem Sommer- und Wintergarten).

[52] Ignaz and Josef Zingerle collected an Austrian variant from Tannheim titled The Bear (Der Bär) in which the heroine is the eldest of the merchant's three daughters.

[61] In a Hungarian version titled The Speaking Grapes, the Smiling Apple and the Tinkling Apricot (Szóló szőlő, mosolygó alma, csengő barack), the princess asks her father for the titular fruits, and the Beast is a pig.

[citation needed] Alexander Afanasyev collected a Russian version, The Enchanted Tsarevich (Закля́тый царе́вич, Zaklyátyĭ tsarévitch), in which the youngest daughter draws the flower she wants her father to bring her.

[71][72] Beauty and the Beast (Hebrew: הַיָפָה וְהַחַיָּה, Ha-Yafáh ve-Ha-Chayyáh, Arabic: الجميلة والوحش, Al-Jamīla wa-Al-Waḥsh, Persian: دیو و دلبر, Delbar o Div, Kurdish: Bedew û Cinawir or Ciwanê û Cinawir, Turkish: Güzel ve Çirkin, Chinese: 美女 與 野獸 (traditional) or 美女 与 野兽 (simplified), Měinǚ yǔ Yěshòu, Japanese: 美女 ト 野獣 (Katakana), Bíjò to̞ Yàjū, or びじょ と やじゅう (Hiragana), Bídyò to̞ Yàdyū, Korean: 미녀 와 야수, Minyeo wa Yasu, Indonesian: Si Cantik dan Si Buruk Rupa, Tagalog: Si Maganda at ang Halimaw) is known in some different variants in Asia.

[citation needed] North American missionary Adele M. Fielde collected a tale from Swatow, China,[73] titled The Fairy Serpent.

[74] In a second Chinese variant, Pearl of the Sea, the youngest daughter of rich merchant Pekoe asks for a chip of The Great Wall of China because of a dream that she had.

In reality, the Tatar master is her uncle Chang, who has been enchanted prior to the story, and could only be released from his curse until a woman consented to live with him in the Great Wall.

[77] Joseph Médard Carrière collected a version in which the Beast is described having a lion's head, a horse's back legs, a bull's body, and a snake's tail.

[79] Folklorist Fanny Dickerson Bergen published a fragmentary variant from Ohio, with the title The Golden Bird, which is the object the youngest daughter asks for.

[81][82] Lindolfo Gomes collected a Brazilian version titled A Bela e a Fera in which the deal consists of the father promising to give the Beast the first living creature that greets him at home.

[87] Hamburger (2015) points out that the design of the Beast in the 1946 film adaptation by Jean Cocteau was inspired by the portrait of Petrus Gonsalvus, a native of Tenerife who suffered from hypertrichosis, causing an abnormal growth of hair on his face and other parts, and who came under the protection of the French king and married a beautiful Parisian woman named Catherine.