The original version from Villeneuve is much like McKinley's, save a few details. It was later abridged and retold by another French writer, Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont in 1756, then again by Andrew Lang in 1889. Novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve wrote the original, French version of the fairy tale and Le Jeune Americaine et les contes marins published it in 1740. It was also the Best of the Best Books for Young Adults from 1966 to 1988. Well-received, the novel was a 1998 Phoenix Award Honor book. Every night Beast asks Beauty to marry him, and every night she refuses. They take walks together, and Beauty reads books from Beast's library. At the beast's castle, the two become friendly. For this crime, he must bring one of his daughters to the castle or die. When he did, a beast appeared accusing Roderick of stealing from him after the Beast showed him hospitality. The next day, he found the castle's rose garden and decided to pick one of the roses for Beauty. There, mysterious invisible servants waited on him. He has come sooner than expected, and he tells the girls that he cut through the forest and went inside a castle to find shelter from a storm.

Roderick returns from his trip laden with treasures and a single rose. Grace and Hope ask for clothes and jewelry. Beauty asks for a rose or seeds, as there aren't any roses in the village. He asks his daughters if there are any gifts they would like brought back from his travels. Roderick receives word that one of his ships has arrived at the port. Hope and Gervain marry, and Hope gives birth to twins. There, they acclimate to their new lives over the next year. The family agrees, auctions off all their belongings, and moves to a small village. Gervain suggests that they move to the country with him and that Roderick work as a carpenter. Suddenly, the wealthy family finds themselves in dire financial straits. Four of Roderick's ships, one of which is captained by Robert, are lost at sea. Grace is engaged to one of her father's ship captains, Robert Tucker, and Hope is involved with the blacksmith Gervain Woodhouse. The girls are the daughters of the widowed Roderick Hurston, a wealthy merchant. Honour Huston is known to her family as 'Beauty,' as she found the name more appealing as a child than 'Honour.' As she grows older, however, Beauty decides that the nickname better suits her sisters, Grace, and Hope. Unlike other versions of the tale, McKinley's book focuses on the situation Beauty's family, painting Beauty as a plain, bookish character. The novel tells the story of Beauty and her family as they deal with financial troubles and eventually with the mysterious Beast in his magical castle. Beauty (1978) by Robin McKinley is a retelling of the classic French story La Belle et La Bete, or The Beauty and the Beast.

Beauty and the beast robin mckinley