Published in 1756, "Beauty and the Beast" by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont is considered the best-known written version of this famous tale. The French author abridged and rewrote Villeneuve's original long work of 1740.

"Beauty and the Beast" is a heartfelt story about the birth of love and the capability of love to transform the way you look at people you love. The moral of this fairytale is that person's beauty comes from a heart in love and when the beauty realizes the inner beauty of the beast and the feelings it has the outer appearance means nothing to her anymore.

"Beauty and the Beast" is the most symbolic fairy tale after "Cinderella" and has been adapted for screen, stage, prose, and television over many years.