BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

HERE was a merchantman once, who
was very rich.

He had three daughters, and he
spared no expense to provide them
with an excellent education.

His daughters were beautiful; but
the youngest so excelled her sisters
that, from earliest childhood, she was called the
Beauty, and afterwards this name slipped into,
simply, Beauty.

But the real cause why she was so much more
admired than her sisters was that she was
amiable and they were not; and the sweetness of
her disposition shone out in her face and made
it doubly sweet. No frown ever spoiled her fair
brow ; no pout was ever on her pleasant lips. She
possessed the charm of good temper which makes
even a plain face agreeable.

The merchant’s elder daughters were idle, ill-
humoured, and proud; and people did not consider
them as beautiful, because they saw only the bad
temper that was in the expression of their faces.
The pride of the young ladies was so great that
. they despised all such as were of their own rank
in life, and wished to be the friends of noble
ladies and princesses. They hunted after grand

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BEAUTY
AND THE
BEAST