This week, on the Mythos and Legends podcast, it's the original story of Beauty and the Beast.

The original is incredibly different from any version you've heard before,

and it contains monkey butlers, invisible genies, and 18th century versions of Spotify and cable TV.

Then, on the creature of the week, take care of the forest, or you might find yourself on the bad side of its protector,

whose either a ripped, hairy old man, or a giant possum.

This is the Mythos and Legends podcast, episode 35, Prisoners.

This is a podcast where I tell stories from folklore. Some are incredibly popular stories you think

you know, like today's, but with surprising origins. Others of stories you might not have

heard, but really should. Real quickly, I know I said we'd be doing the Pocahontas story this week,

but it is a huge story. The history is very, very time consuming, so that'll be next week.

This week, though, it's one I've been wanting to do for a while. Today's the odd, long,

and crazy original story of Beauty and the Beast. So let me just say that this is not the story you

know. It's not even the one the story you know is based off of. It comes from the unabridged,

original version of the fairy tale that inspired the story, that inspired the 90s animated movie,

and seemingly countless iterations. Though the Beauty and the Beast tale follows in the strong

tradition of many, many folk tales throughout the ages, like the story of Cupid and Psychie,

the story isn't one that was handed down from generations. It's a literary fairy tale.

So like the Little Mermaid of the Snow Queen, and it was written by one person, published in 1740.

Her name was Madame Gabriel Suzanne de Villeneuve. A huge thank you to everyone on Twitter and

Facebook for your help. And I hope I got it right. The original is well over 100 pages,

basically a novella, and it was abridged by another writer 16 years later, for a magazine for

well-to-do ladies. It was severely paired down into a version many of us know today. All in all,

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