Mrs. Potts sings that Beauty and the the Beast is a “tale as old as time.” But it’s not quite as old as fans might imagine. While similar folktales have been kicking around for thousands of years, the story that most readers know comes directly from a novel by French author Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, first published in 1740. La Belle et la Bête inspired both the 1991 Disney film and the 2017 remake, which pays homage to the original writer by naming Belle’s village “Villeneuve.” As always, Disney has taken some major liberties with the source material — which is for the best, as Villeneuve’s story goes in some pretty twisted directions. I took a look at the original novel (specifically this gorgeous new illustrated edition from MinaLima) to see which parts of Beauty and the Beast’s story survived intact, and which details (including some very un-Disney incest and seduction subplots) have fallen by the wayside over the past two-and-half centuries.

The Disney animated film takes all of its basic story elements from the novel: A virtuous village girl (Beauty, translated literally into the name “Belle” by Disney) agrees to become a prisoner in a castle owned by the mysterious Beast, in exchange for the Beast setting her father free. Over time, she sees past the Beast’s looks, and they fall in love, thus breaking the spell that turned him into a hideous creature and restoring him to his former appearance as a human prince. The new film borrows a few additional elements from the book — for example, Belle sets the plot in motion when she asks her father to bring her a rose, and he angers the Beast by attempting to pluck it from the castle garden.

While the transformation of the prince’s servants into household objects was a Disney innovation, the castle in the original story is enchanted in its own delightful way. When Beauty moves in, a troupe of performing monkeys and a chorus of talking parrots become her servants. Food, clothing, and jewels are magically provided for her. She has her pick of books from the castle’s library (an idea that Disney, obviously, embraced). Best of all, one of the rooms in the palace has six windows that give Beauty front-row seats to various live events around the world — a comic play, an opera, a society party, even a revolution — like a lush 18th century version of cable television.

View photos An illustration from Beauty and the Beast (Image: MinaLima c/o HarperCollins) More

Generally speaking, Beauty’s imprisonment is quite pleasant. Sure, she doesn’t get to go home, but in the book she has five jealous sisters who hate her, so that doesn’t seem like much of a hardship. As for the Beast (who is described as “a horrible creature” with “a trunk resembling an elephant’s”), he shows up just once a day to ask for Beauty’s hand in marriage, which she declines. However — and here’s a major difference from the Disney story — the Beast in his handsome-prince form visits Beauty in her dreams every night. He doesn’t explain that he’s actually the Beast, and Beauty doesn’t connect the dots, in spite of his many cryptic statements about how appearances aren’t everything. But she does fall hopelessly in love with him, and ironically, won’t consider the Beast’s marriage proposal mainly because her heart belongs to the dream prince.

Of course, Beauty does have a change of heart, though it’s more about the politics of marriage than true love. The Beast allows her a brief visit home, during which time Beauty’s father — a broke merchant who has been made rich again, thanks to gifts from the Beast — urges her to consider his nightly proposal. “It is much better to have an amiable husband than one whose only recommendation is a handsome person,” Beauty’s father tells her. “How many girls are compelled to marry rich brutes, much more brutish than the Beast, who is only one in form, and not in his feelings or his actions?” In other words: A girl could do worse!