A multitude of cultural adaptations of the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast have been written. This page looks at just a few adaptations from a variety of different places of origin. Often tales derived in different cultures offer insight into that particular cultures impressed social values and affirms the view of the author or era.
Karpman (1968) states that exposure to fairy tales during childhood also varies from family to family and culture to culture. Cultures vary in their selections of tales and can include decisions of which popular versions of tales are available, retold, reprinted or newly written. Rudine Sims Bishop (as cited in Hurley, 2005, p.227) states "multicultural literature is one of the most powerful components of a multicultural education curriculum". Thus, I wish to update this page with many other cultures versions of the story for use by teachers and other educators as time goes on.
Karpman (1968) states that exposure to fairy tales during childhood also varies from family to family and culture to culture. Cultures vary in their selections of tales and can include decisions of which popular versions of tales are available, retold, reprinted or newly written. Rudine Sims Bishop (as cited in Hurley, 2005, p.227) states "multicultural literature is one of the most powerful components of a multicultural education curriculum". Thus, I wish to update this page with many other cultures versions of the story for use by teachers and other educators as time goes on.
Portuguese
(Porteguese.jpg, 2012)
The Maiden and the Beast (A Portuguese Tale)
The Maiden and the Beast is a tale from the book 'Portuguese Folk-Tales' by Consiglieri Pedroso.
In Consiglieri's 1882 publication of folk tales (as cited in Heiner, 2006) The Maiden and the Beast tells the story of a man and his three daughters whom he loved very much, although he was particularly fond of his third daughter. One day, he was going to a fair and asked his three daughters what gifts they would like him to bring back for them. The first two daughters told him what they would like but the third daughter was not keen on anything and only wished that her father would remain healthy. However, he insisted and she reluctantly asked for a slice of roach off a green meadow, knowing that he would not find one at the fair. Indeed, the father did not find one at the fair and saddened by this he set for home.
It was soon nightfall as he walked home and upon seeing a palace from a distance, he set out to rest there for the night. Upon reaching the palace he found it well lit, with a table laid out for him to eat and a bed to sleep in. A voice spoke to him telling him to eat and sleep, and that by the following morning he will have what his daughter had asked for. However, there was a condition that at the end of the three days, he must bring his daughter back to the palace. The man ate and slept in the palace that night and true to the voice’s words, a slice of roach off a green meadow lay on the table the following morning for him to take home to his third daughter. As the man brought home the gifts, he was happy to have fulfilled his daughter’s wishes. However, he was also saddened by the condition placed on him at the palace for taking with him his third daughter’s gift. He sadly told her about the enchanted palace and what the voice had told him to do, to which she accepted and on the third day left with her father for the palace. She went on to stay at the palace and the voice spoke to her everyday but she never got to see the form behind the voice.
On three separate occasions, a messenger bird brought news from her family and she was given a chance to go home to visit them but only if she promised to come back. Twice she went and twice she kept her promise to come back despite her family insisting she stays. Unfortunately, she did not keep her promise upon the third time she left the palace. Her father was dying and she only had a brief moment to see him before he died. Her sisters planned for her not to come back and she discovered too late that she had broken her promise. Upon returning to the palace, she found the enchantment spell in the palace was broken and that the form behind the voice was a huge beast that was dying. Before it died, the beast cursed the unfortunate girl and she soon died after returning home. Her sisters became worse off for their part in the girl’s misfortune.
The Maiden and the Beast is a tale from the book 'Portuguese Folk-Tales' by Consiglieri Pedroso.
In Consiglieri's 1882 publication of folk tales (as cited in Heiner, 2006) The Maiden and the Beast tells the story of a man and his three daughters whom he loved very much, although he was particularly fond of his third daughter. One day, he was going to a fair and asked his three daughters what gifts they would like him to bring back for them. The first two daughters told him what they would like but the third daughter was not keen on anything and only wished that her father would remain healthy. However, he insisted and she reluctantly asked for a slice of roach off a green meadow, knowing that he would not find one at the fair. Indeed, the father did not find one at the fair and saddened by this he set for home.
It was soon nightfall as he walked home and upon seeing a palace from a distance, he set out to rest there for the night. Upon reaching the palace he found it well lit, with a table laid out for him to eat and a bed to sleep in. A voice spoke to him telling him to eat and sleep, and that by the following morning he will have what his daughter had asked for. However, there was a condition that at the end of the three days, he must bring his daughter back to the palace. The man ate and slept in the palace that night and true to the voice’s words, a slice of roach off a green meadow lay on the table the following morning for him to take home to his third daughter. As the man brought home the gifts, he was happy to have fulfilled his daughter’s wishes. However, he was also saddened by the condition placed on him at the palace for taking with him his third daughter’s gift. He sadly told her about the enchanted palace and what the voice had told him to do, to which she accepted and on the third day left with her father for the palace. She went on to stay at the palace and the voice spoke to her everyday but she never got to see the form behind the voice.
On three separate occasions, a messenger bird brought news from her family and she was given a chance to go home to visit them but only if she promised to come back. Twice she went and twice she kept her promise to come back despite her family insisting she stays. Unfortunately, she did not keep her promise upon the third time she left the palace. Her father was dying and she only had a brief moment to see him before he died. Her sisters planned for her not to come back and she discovered too late that she had broken her promise. Upon returning to the palace, she found the enchantment spell in the palace was broken and that the form behind the voice was a huge beast that was dying. Before it died, the beast cursed the unfortunate girl and she soon died after returning home. Her sisters became worse off for their part in the girl’s misfortune.
Korean
(shimchong.jpg, 2001)
Shimchong, The Blindman's Daughter
Shimchong, The Blinman's Daughter is a Korean story written by Heinz Insu Fenkl.
Fenkl (2001) tells the story of Shimchong, a beautiful maiden born to a poor elderly blind man by the name Shim Hakkyu and his wife, Kwakssi. Unfortunately, Kwakssi passed away soon after giving birth to Shimchong, leaving Shim to raise his daughter by himself. One day, as Shim was begging in the street, he stumbled into a deep irrigation ditch and could not climb out. A monk helped him out in return for 300 bags of rice to which Shim readily accepted even though he was a beggar as he was overcome with joy. Upon realising what he had committed himself to, Shim was overcome with grief as he had no way of producing the 300 bags of rice. Coincidentally, the Dragon King of the Eastern Sea was angry with the merchant ships and sent bad weather to sink their ships as they journeyed to China. The merchants believed they could appease the Dragon King by offering a beautiful maiden but could not find any family willing to sell their daughter. In a bid to help her father, Shimchong offered herself in exchange and calmness befell the sea once again. The Dragon King took her and she dwelled happily in his magnificent underwater palace although she still longed to see her father again. Moved by her selfless devotion, the Dragon King returned her back to the world above the sea as a lotus flower. The flower found its way to the King who was widowed and was in mourning. Awed by its beauty, the King kept it in a special room where he could admire it for hours not knowing that Shimchong would emerge from it every night and return before dawn. On one of these nights, the King saw Shimchong as she emerged from the lotus flower and after being mesmerized by her beauty, married her in a beautiful wedding. Although they lived happily together, Shimchong still longed to see her father and the King accorded her request to celebrate their marriage with a public banquet where only blind people were invited. Shimchong was eventually re-united with her father and he recovered his sight when he opened his eyes to gaze upon her beauty.
Nigerian
(rubiewe.jpg, 2012)
Rubiewe,' Nigerian Adaptation of 'Beauty and the Beast'- Kenneth Uphopho
This stage play is an African adaptation by Kenneth Uphopho of the fairy tale story Beauty and the Beast (Ikaz, 2012). The all dancing and singing adaptation is played out by many actors and actresses from the PAWS (Performing Arts Workshop and Studio).
Although a full video or script of the adaptation I have found hard to come by I felt it should still be included to show a variety of cultures forms of telling the story of beauty and the beast not only through re-written texts but also through theatre, dance and music.
This stage play is an African adaptation by Kenneth Uphopho of the fairy tale story Beauty and the Beast (Ikaz, 2012). The all dancing and singing adaptation is played out by many actors and actresses from the PAWS (Performing Arts Workshop and Studio).
Although a full video or script of the adaptation I have found hard to come by I felt it should still be included to show a variety of cultures forms of telling the story of beauty and the beast not only through re-written texts but also through theatre, dance and music.
Below is a YouTube video of African news which mentions and shows a short view of the stage production 'Rubiewe'.
(SashenVOAHausa, 2012)
(SashenVOAHausa, 2012)