The origin of the fairy tale, Beauty and the Beast, is hard to pinpoint. Some believe it started with Cupid and Psyche, written by the Roman author Apuleius in the 2nd century. In this version, the Greek mythical figures Psyche and Cupid are the ancient versions of Belle and the Beast. Centuries later in the 1500’s, an Italian folklorist, Giovanni Francesco, tells a tale of Re Porco, translated to English as King Pig. Once again, our Beauty figure is the youngest of three sisters, but the story changes as one by one they are married to a prince who was born in the form of a pig. The version that we are most familiar with entitled Beauty and the Beast was published by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve. When it was published, it was over one hundred pages long and Belle is the daughter of a king and a fairy who was given to a merchant in place of his youngest daughter that died to protect her from the malice of an evil fairy. The Beast is a prince whose father has died and mother has to battle to save the kingdom, so he is left in the care of the same evil fairy who would wish Belle harm. The fairy attempts to seduce the Beast and transforms him into a monster when he rejects her. This version was originally written for adults. About 10 years later, Jeanne-Marie le Prince de Beaumont wrote a simplified version that was aimed toward children. This version is the most commonly retold story and is what the Disney incarnation was largely based on. Three parallel stories from around the world are, The Russian tale The Scarlet Flower, The Korean version Simchong, The Blindman’s Daughter and the Norwegian story East of the Sun and West of the Moon. All three of these are based off of the original Beauty and the Beast with some variations. In The Scarlet Flower, Belle is the youngest of three daughters. She is beautiful inside and out and the other sisters are of course jealous. The Merchant leaves on a trip and brings back gifts to his three daughters. The older two wanting material possessions and the youngest just wanting a scarlet flower which is hard for the father to find. However the father comes across a beautiful scarlet flower in an enchanted forest. The father does not know it is enchanted and ends up picking the flower upon which a beast comes and demands that in exchange for the flower the merchant must let the beast marry one of his daughters. The youngest agrees to go to the beast and eventually begins to have feelings for him. The beast is kind and showers her with gifts. When “Belle” lets him know that she is missing her family the beast agrees to let her go home to visit but must return within a certain time. Her jealous sisters try to sabotage her and upon her return to the beast she finds him dead with the scarlet flower in his hands. Belle then realizes that she has fallen in love with the beast and holds him in her arms and cries, this show of affection releases the spell that has been cast on the beast and he turns into a handsome prince and they live happily ever after. The Korean version has some very interesting twists to the original story of Beauty and the Beast. In Simching, the Blindman’s Daughter there lived a poor blind man named Shim Hakkyu. He and his wife were childless, so for many years they would pray for a child. The spirits blessed them with a beautiful daughter Simchong (the Belle in this story). But the mother dies giving birth to Simchong. Simchong was an obedient and beautiful daughter. One day the father stumbled into a deep ditch, he began fumbling in the water but being blind could not save himself. A voice began to speak to him saying, “Old man, if you will give 300 bushels of rice to my temple as a tribute to Lord Buddah, I will offer up your prayers and return your sight.” Then hands that seemed to reach out of heaven took hold of the old man’s arms and pulled him from the waters. Shim was so thankful to be rescued that he blurted out, “Thank you kind monk, I will give you 300 bags of rice, I swear it!” Later the old man’s happiness wore off when he realized there was no way for him to give 300 bags of rice because he was poor and didn’t even have enough rice for him and his daughter to eat. He knew terrible things would happen if he didn’t produce the 300 bags of rice. Then the story takes a turn and talks about the Dragon King of the East Sea who is angry with the merchant ships. He sends h