I chose the motif of magical gifts, and I will continue in that fashion, but instead of just the similar idea, I wanted to see how one story is told differently by different authors. I chose four different versions of Beauty and the Beast, and I am so glad I did, because they are so different. I found some to be fantastic and others downright disappointing. This is a wonderful exercise, because these stories would have changed from storyteller to storyteller. Thus is the nature of oral tradition. I really enjoyed seeing how they differed.

Beauty and the Beast by Deborah Hautzig, is the story of a merchant who had three daughters, the youngest whose name was Beauty. The man had fallen on hard times and was unable to provide fancy gifts for his daughters. When he left on a trip, he asked the girls what they would like him to bring back. Only Beauty was understanding and asked only for a rose.
The man went on his trip and arrived at a lovely castle. His host was not in sight, but the table was laid. He took his repose, then remembered his promise to Beauty, and picked a rose from the garden. A hideous Beast appeared and told him now he could never leave. The man pleaded, telling of his daughters, and the Beast agreed to take one of them instead.
Only Beauty was unselfish enough to go, and the Beast fell in love with her, asking her everyday to marry him, but refused. She missed her father, and the magic mirror showed her he was very ill. She begged the Beast to let her visit him, and he agreed, but only for one week. He gave he a magic ring to place on her table when she was to return.
Her jealous sisters longed to keep her longer, so they begged her to stay, and she did. That night, she dreamed of the Beast, who lay in the garden, dying. Immediately she put the ring on the table and returned, but she could not find him. Remembering her dream, she went to the garden, where he lay dying. She told him she would marry him, and instantly he was transformed into a handsome prince. He told her of the curse an evil fairy had put on him, to remain a beast until he could find love. Just then, a good fairy appeared, and told Beauty that because she could see past the surface, she would be a great queen and gave her a beautiful crown. Then she brought Beauty’s sisters, turned them into statues and set them in the garden so that they must watch Beauty’s happiness forever.
The magical gifts in the story are the ring, the rose, and the magical crown. The moral is to teach children to look past the outer appearance and see the inner beauty.
The illustrations, by Kathy Mitchell, are done in colored pencil and have a flowing quality to them. Three Stars.