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第6章 和我有关吗

Beauty could not help seeing that this seemed very probable;still, when she thought of her dear Prince who was so handsome,she did not feel at all inclined to marry the Beast. At any rate,for two months she need not decide, but could enjoy herselfwith her sisters. But though they were rich now, and lived in atown again, and had plenty of acquaintances, Beauty found thatnothing amused her very much; and she often thought of the

"What is the matter?" she cried.

"The Beast was mocking us," cried the merchant; "he musthave pretended to give us all these things, knowing that I couldnot carry them away."

"Ah!" cried the merchant, "if I were cruel enough to buy myown life at the expense of one of my children's, what excusecould I invent to bring her here?"

good-bye to everything she loved, and when the fatal day cameshe encouraged and cheered her father as they mounted togetherthe horse which had brought him back. It seemed to fly ratherthan gallop, but so smoothly that Beauty was not frightened;indeed, she would have enjoyed the journey if she had not fearedwhat might happen to her at the end of it. Her father still triedto persuade her to go back, but in vain. While they were talkingthe night fell, and then, to their great surprise, wonderful coloredlights began to shine in all directions, and splendid fireworksblazed out before them; all the forest was illuminated by them,and even felt pleasantly warm, though it had been bitterly coldbefore. This lasted until they reached the avenue of orange trees,where were statues holding flaming torches, and when they gotnearer to the palace they saw that it was illuminated from theroof to the ground, and music sounded softly from the courtyard.

thought could be the meaning of herstrange dreams, and why the Prince constantly begged her notto trust to appearances. After much consideration he answered:"You tell me yourself that the Beast, frightful as he is, loves youdearly, and deserves your love and gratitude for his gentlenessand kindness; I think the Prince must mean you to understandthat you ought to reward him by doing as he wishes you to, inspite of his ugliness."

found him, she ran up and stroked his head, but to her horror he

paths and avenues ran poor Beauty, calling him in vain, for no

So everything went on for a long time, until at last, happy asshe was, Beauty began to long for the sight of her father and herbrothers and sisters; and one night, seeing her look very sad, theBeast asked her what was the matter. Beauty had quite ceased tobe afraid of him. Now she knew that he was really gentle in spiteof his ferocious looks and his dreadful voice. So she answeredthat she was longing to see her home once more. Upon hearingthis the Beast seemed sadly distressed, and cried miserably.