A History of Ghosts, Spirits, and the Supernatural describes Eleanor Vere Boyle’s Beast as “a kind of beaver or walrus,” then claims that he wasn’t really originally given a physical description. But I read a translation of de Villeneuve’s story that mentions his “trunk, similar to that of an elephant.”
He might be the most redesigned fairy tale monster ever.
“Beauty and the Beast” was never really a favorite fairy tale of mine, so I can only think of three versions of it from my childhood off the top of my head.
The Orchard Book of Fairy Tales: This illustration scared me so badly. Might have been the first time I ever saw a depiction of the Beast, but I’m not sure if I knew the fairy tale was specifically “Beauty and Beast.”
Disney: I didn’t grow up with the the first movie. Someone taped The Enchanted Christmas off of ABC Family (?), so we watched that. This Beast just can't hold a Lumière to that scaryass Ian Beck Beast. Also, Forte’s design was way cooler than the Beast’s. Best Disney direct-to-video villain.
Jan Brett: One of our teachers read this to us in elementary school. Or at least had it in her room. Somehow I felt my classmates were disappointed this version was pretty much just a warthog with a human body lol.
