Beauty and the Beast ("La Belle et la Bête") is a traditional fairy tale The first published version of the fairy tale was a rendition by Madame Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, published in 1740. The best-known written version was an abridgement of M. Villeneuve's work published in 1756 by Mme Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont, an English translation appeared in 1757.
Many different versions of the story have in been told. In the version written by Villeneuve in 1756 the Beast was a prince who lost his father at a young age, and whose mother had to wage war to defend his kingdom. The queen left him in care of an evil fairy and it was she who transformed the prince into a beast.  Beauty's story reveals that she grew up thinking she was the daughter of a merchant but in fact she was really the daughter of a king and a fairy; the same fairy who turned the prince into a beast.  Beauty was then given to the merchant for protection as her mother tried to kill her.

A French version of La Belle et la Bête was made in 1946, directed by Jean Cocteau, starring Jean Marais as the Beast and Josette Day as Beauty. In this version Beauty is named Belle, the French word for "Beauty". This version adds a subplot involving Belle's suitor Avenant, who schemes along with Belle's brother and sisters to journey to Beast's castle to kill him and capture his riches while the sisters work to delay Belle's return to the castle. When Avenant enters the magic pavilion which is the source of Beast's power, he is struck by an arrow fired by a guardian statue of the Roman goddess Diana, which transforms Avenant into Beast and reverses the original Beast's curse.
In 1991, Walt Disney Feature Animation produced a musical animated film version of Beauty and the Beast. It won Academy Awards for Best Song and Best Original Score, and is the only animated film ever to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture
Many films have used the theme of Beauty and the Beast such as the popular modern day classic ‘Shrek’