My Favorite Fairy Tale

The grey stuff really is delicious!

Last week I didn’t get any reading done, but I have a very good excuse! I was having adventures at

Disneyland, one of my favorite places ever! What made it even better was that I got to spend the time with some of the most important people in my life. It was a wonderful trip!

I still didn’t do any reading this week because one of my very good friends came for a visit.

But all that Disneyland reflection (plus the fact that I had a Once Upon a Time marathon the other day) got me thinking about fairy tales and their variations.

I usually hate favorite questions (you know, what’s your favorite fill-in-the-blank). I just like so many things. How can I just pick one of anything?! Impossible I tell you! However, if asked what my favorite fairy tale is, I’d probably have to say Beauty and the Beast. It probably helps that Disney’s version is a brown haired book worm (sound like a certain blog writer perhaps?).

I’ve read or seen some different versions of this story, and with the release of Disney’s live action version earlier this year, I’ve been exposed to some other’s thoughts, feelings, and jokes about the story. Here are my general feelings about it:

Besides the brown haired book worm thing, I just love the overall message of it. And it’s not just the “true beauty is found within” thing, although that is a very good point. You can’t judge a book by its cover, as they say. I love the transforming power of love. You may think I’m some sap who just loves the romance, but that’s not it. I think this is a point that doesn’t only reply to romantic love—the kind strong enough to break the spell on a man turned beast! If I reflect on my own life, I can think about times when I have been moved to act in a certain way because of my love for a certain person or thing—my parents, good friends, my husband, my dog, pretty much any flavor of Haagen Dazs ice cream. (That last one is a real motivator. Ha!) So if love can influence my actions, that means it can influence and shape me as a person as a whole.

In some versions of Beauty and the Beast, the beast isn’t so beastly by the time he’s met by our protagonist aside from the literal beast appearance. I really like how in Disney’s representation (as well as others) he is beastly not only in appearance but in personality. It’s when he begins to care about someone else that he begins to change on the inside—he desires to change himself because of the impact of another person, because of love. He becomes a better version of himself.

If we’re to take away a moral from the story—which is kind of the point of things like fables and fairy tales, isn’t it?—besides the “true beauty lies within/don’t judge a book by its cover” one, I would say that a little bit of love can go a long way. I’ve heard stories of how lives or circumstances or differing relationships with whomever have been changed for the better when even just a little bit of love was extended. And it doesn’t just go one way. It wasn’t just the beast’s life that was changed forever, but Belle’s was also.

So, don’t be quick to judge and show a little love. A good reminder, I think.

Okay, now for the book recommendation!

I should probably say first that both the animated and live action versions that Disney has put on the screen are a couple of my favorite renditions of this story (not to mention the stage play which is a lot of fun to see if you ever get the chance). The song Evermore is enough for me to fall instantly in love with Disney’s latest version. Seriously. That was some pure magic right there.

However, as far as books go, the versions I like best out of all the ones I’ve read thus far are both written by Robin McKinley. They are called Beauty and Rose Daughter. Pick them up when you get a chance!

Does anyone else out there have other Beauty and the Beast variations they absolutely love? What is your favorite fairy tale?