Lesson : 4

The Beauty and the Beast

Let's start:

The Beauty and the Beast is a traditional fairy tale of France and is not authored by anyone specific. It was retold by several famous writers. Animation films have also been made on this story.

Let's share:

• ✨ Are you scared of beasts?
• ❓ What will you do if you meet a beast?
• 📖 Have you read any fairy tale?
• 🤔 If so, which one is it?

Unit I

Let's read:

Once upon a time a wealthy merchant lived in a big mansion with his three daughters. All of them were very beautiful. The youngest girl was Belle. She was known for her loveliness and for being pure at heart. Her sisters, in contrast, were wicked and selfish.

But their fortune soon changed. The merchant lost all his wealth in a tempest on sea. So he and his daughters started to live in a small farmhouse in a village. They had to work hard for their living. Some years later, the merchant heard that one of his trading ships had returned to port. Somehow it had escaped the violent storm. Hence, the merchant decided to return to the city to discover whether it still contained anything of value. Before leaving, he asked his daughters:

"Do you want me to bring any gift upon my return?" Both his elder daughters asked for jewels and fine dresses.

But Belle said,

"Father, promise me, you will bring me a rare rose that does not grow in this part of the country".

Having agreed to her request, the merchant set off for the city. When he reached the city he found, to his dismay, that his ship's cargo had been seized to pay his debts. So he was left with no money to buy any present for his daughters.

While returning, he lost his way in a forest. Seeking shelter, he came across a dazzling palace and entered it. Inside, he found tables laden with food and drink, which had apparently been left for him by the palace's unseen owner. The merchant accepted this gift, ate to his heart's content and spent the night at the palace.

The next morning as the merchant was about to leave, he saw a rose garden and recalled that Belle had desired a rose. Upon picking the loveliest rose the merchant suddenly came face to face with a hideous Beast. He told the merchant,

"Last night you were hungry and shelterless. I gave you food, shelter and comfort. And now you are taking away my most precious possession after accepting my hospitality! You must die for your conduct!"

The merchant begged to be set free. He argued that he had only picked the rose as a gift for his youngest daughter, Belle.

At last the Beast agreed. “Fine, you can take the rose for Belle, but you will have to return to the castle or else your daughter shall come to stay with me in this castle."

The merchant was upset, but accepted this condition. The Beast sent him on his way, with jewels and fine clothes for his daughters, and stressed that Belle must come to the castle of her own accord. The merchant, upon arriving home, tried to hide the secret from Belle, but she pried it from him and willingly went to the Beast's castle. The Beast received her graciously and told her,

"You are the mistress of the castle, and I am your servant."

Word Nest

mansion: palace; tempest: sea storm; laden: loaded; seeking: looking for; hideous: extremely ugly; hospitality: generous behaviour towards guests; conduct: behaviour; accord: free will; pried: managed to find out something that is kept secret; graciously: kindly.

Let's do:

Activity 1

Choose the correct option:

What is the text type? Is it— (a) an imaginary story (b) a true story (c) the life story of a famous person?

Activity 2

Underline the correct answer:

(a) Belle is the name of the— (i) youngest daughter (ii) middle daughter (iii) eldest daughter

(b) Belle asked her father to bring— (i) jewels (ii) dresses (iii) a rose

(c) The owner of the castle was a— (i) rich merchant (ii) beast (iii) king

Activity 3

Identify which of the following statements are True and which are False. Give a supporting statement for each of your answers:

(a) The merchant had three daughters. (b) The merchant lost his way on his return journey. (c) Belle did not go to the castle on her own will. (d) Belle became the mistress of the castle.

Activity 4

Answer the following questions :

(a) How did the fortune of the merchant change? (b) What were the gifts that the three daughters asked for? (c) Why did the merchant go to the castle? (d) What did the Beast demand from the merchant? (e) Why did Belle go to the castle of the Beast?

Let's talk:

• 🗣️ If you were Belle, what gift would you have wanted from your father? Discuss with your friends and tell the class.
• 💬 Do you think Belle did the right thing by going to the castle of the Beast? Tell the class about your views.

Unit II

Let's continue :

The Beast gave her lavish clothing and food and carried on lengthy conversations with her. Each night, the Beast asked Belle to marry him, only to be refused every time. After each refusal, Belle dreamt of a handsome prince who pleaded with her to explain why she kept on refusing the Beast. She replied each time that she could not marry the Beast because she loved him only as a friend. But Belle could not make the connection between the handsome prince and the Beast. She was convinced that the Beast was holding the prince captive somewhere in the castle.

She searched for him and discovered many enchanted rooms, but never the prince of her dreams.

For several months, Belle lived a life of luxury at the Beast's palace, being waited on hand and foot by invisible servants, having no end of riches to amuse her and an endless supply of fine clothes to wear. Eventually she became homesick and begged the Beast to allow her to go to see her family. He said he would allow it, only if she would return exactly a week later.

Belle agreed to this and set off for home with an enchanted mirror and ring. The mirror would allow her to see what was going on back at the Beast's castle, and the ring would allow her to return to the castle in an instant when turned three times around her finger.

Her elder sisters were surprised to find her well fed and dressed in grand clothes. They grew jealous of her happy life at the castle. Upon hearing that she must return to the Beast on a certain day, they begged her to stay just for one more day. They even put onion in their eyes to make it appear as though they were weeping. They secretly hoped that the Beast would grow angry with Belle for breaking her promise and would eat her alive! Belle's heart was moved by her sisters' false show of love, and she agreed to stay.

Belle began to feel guilty about breaking her promise to the Beast and used the mirror to see what he was doing back at the castle. She was horrified to discover that the Beast lay half-dead out of heartbreak. He lay near those very rose bushes her father had stolen the rose from. She immediately used the ring to return to the Beast.

Upon returning, Belle found the Beast almost dead. She wept over him, saying that she loved him. As soon as her tears touched him, the Beast was transformed into a handsome prince! The Prince informed Belle that long ago a fairy turned him into a hideous beast after he refused to let her in from the rain, and that only by finding true love despite his ugliness, could the curse be broken. Then the prince and Belle got married and they lived happily ever after.

Word Nest

lavish: generous; handsome: goodlooking (man); enchanted: the state of being under a magic spell eventually : at the end of a period of time

Let's do :

Activity 5

Fill in the table with information from the text:

Cause	Effect
	The merchant moved over to a village farmhouse
The merchant promised to send Belle to the castle
	Belle wept over the body of the beast

Activity 6

Answer the following sentences :

(1) Why did the Beast decide to kill the merchant? (2) How did the Beast look after Belle in his castle? (3) Why did Belle fail to find the prince of her dreams in the castle? (4) What were the two things Belle carried to her father's house? Why did she take them? (5) How did a handsome prince become an ugly beast?

Activity 7

Rearrange the sentences in the correct order by writing the numbers in the brackets. One is done for you :

(1) The ugly Beast became a handsome prince. ( ) (2) Belle declined to marry the Beast. ( ) (3) The merchant promised to bring a rose for Belle. (1) (4) Belle wept on the dying body of the Beast. ( ) (5) Belle went to the castle of the Beast. ( ) (6) Belle promised to return to the castle exactly a week later. ( )

Activity 8

The meanings of certain words are given here. Identify those words from the text:

(i) imprisoned (ii) that which cannot be seen (iii) friendly and kind behaviour to guests (iv) completely changed

Let's talk :

Sit in groups. Discuss with your friends-

• ❓ If you were Belle, would you have gone back to the castle of the Beast? Give reasons.
• 💭 Tell the class about one of your dreams.

Let's do :

Activity 9

Odd one out

In each set there is a word that does not fit with the rest of the words in the set. Identify the word. One is done for you:

(i) Mansion/palace/flat/huge house (ii) drizzle/storm/tempest/cyclone (iii) friend/foe/ally/compatriot (iv) refuse/accept/decline/deny

Let's learn :

Study the following sentences taken from the text:

• He entered a dazzling palace.
• She discovered many enchanted rooms.

In these two sentences the blue-coloured words are nouns. The red-coloured words describe the nouns that come after them. These are Participle Adjectives. They function like the adjectives and qualify the nouns that follow them. Let us look at some more examples of Participle Adjectives:

• A rolling stone gathers no moss.
• A barking dog seldom bites.
• She threw away the withered flowers.
• You should help a wounded man.

Let's do :

Activity 10

Form groups. Discuss among yourselves and identify the nouns that the participle adjectives in the above sentences of Activity 9 qualify.

Activity 11

Underline the participle adjectives in the following sentences :

(1) Runa is a trained nurse. (2) The police caught the absconding prisoner. (3) A rising sun looks bright. (4) Do not board a running bus. (5) The sleeping girl is looking beautiful.

Let's Learn

Look at the following sentences :

Ravi said, “I am going."

Ravi said that he was going.

Thus we see that there are two ways of reporting the words of a speaker:

(i) We may quote his actual words. This is called Direct Speech. (ii) We may report what he said without quoting his exact words. This is called

Indirect or Reported Speech.

Note that in Direct Speech, we use inverted commas to mark off the exact words of the speaker. In Indirect Speech this is not done. While changing Direct Speech into Indirect Speech the following points should be kept in mind :

• ✨ Inverted commas have to be removed while rewriting the sentence.
• ➡️ The conjunction that is used before the Indirect statement.
• 👤 The pronoun I is changed to he.
• 🕰️ The verb am is changed to was.

We also need to keep the following points in mind when changing Direct Speech into Indirect :

• 🔄 Simple present becomes simple past.

  Direct : She said, “I am tired." Indirect : She said that she was tired.

• 🔄 Present continuous becomes past continuous.

  Direct : He said, "My son is reading a book." Indirect : He said that his son was reading a book.

• ↔️ Words expressing nearness in time or place are generally changed into words expressing distance. Thus : Now becomes then, here becomes there, thus becomes so, today becomes that day, etc.

  Direct : The child said, “I am studying now." Indirect : The child said that she was studying then.

  Direct : Rita said, “I live here." Indirect : Rita said that she lived there.

Activity 12

Identify whether the following sentences are in Direct or Indirect Speech :

i) He said, "I am busy." ii) The master said that the clerk would not attend office that day. iii) The student said that she had left her bag there. iv) She said, “I am leaving for Delhi now"

Activity 13 (a)

You have just finished reading a beautiful story. Write a story in about seventy words with the help of the points given below. Give a title to your story:

merchant–going home through forest–has bag full of money–rain falls–gets wet–curses the rain— a robber comes–points gun at the merchant– shoots– unhurt–wet gunpowder– merchant thanks God for rain.

Activity 13 (b)

Describe in a short paragraph (within seventy words) about your experience of visiting a garden of flowers. You may use the following clues:

• 📍 its location
• 🌸 objects seen there
• 🌷 types of flowers
• 😊 its effect on you
• 💖 the beautiful memory that will always linger in your mind

Let's work together:

Making a Bookmark

• ✂️ Take a sheet of chart paper.
• ✏️ Draw a cartoon of any beast.
• 📏 Take a pair of scissors and cut out the cartoon.
• 🔖 Your bookmark is now ready.
• 🧑‍🏫 Show it to the class.
• 🤝 Now discuss in groups the utility of using a bookmark.