The man got lost on the way to where he was going, and it began to snow. He stopped at an old castle for the night, where unseen servants left food for him and dryed his clothes while he slept. On his way out, he noticed a rosebush in bloom. So he stole one rose to take back to his daughter.

The owner of the caste, a huge hairy beast-man, was not happy about having the man steal fromhim after he'd offered his hospitality, so the beast attacked him. He demanded to know why the man had stolen the rose, and, upon being told that it was for his daughter, the beast demanded that the daughter come and live in the castle, or she would lose a father.

The father agreed, thinking that once he was away from the castle the beast couldn't harm him. The beast released him, and the man went home to his family.

When he arrived, visibly shaken, Beauty asked him what was wrong, and he told her. Being an honest girl, she refused to allow her father to tarnish his name by breaking a promise, so she packed up and went to live in the castle.

Now, the beast is a beast because, back when he was human, a fairy had come to his house one cold winter night for shelter, and he, being a horrible, mean, nasty person, said no. She turned him into a beast and said he would stay that way until he got someone to fall in love with him, even tho he looked like an overgrown walking dog with really sharp teeth.

After much fighting and sobbing and friendship-making, he lets Beauty go home to visit her father, who has taken ill. He tells her before she leaves that his spell will kill him in a week if she doesn't return.

She forgets all about him until the very last minute, then goes running back to the caste to find him lying on the ground dying.

She cries all over him and he is transformed back into a human by her love, and they get married and live happily ever after.