he garden of the palace,
and that the beast lay dying on a grass plot, and, with his last breath,
put her in mind of her promise, and laid his death to her keeping away
from him; Beauty awoke in a great fright, and burst into tears. "Am not
I wicked," said she, "to behave so ill to a beast who has shown me so
much kindness; why will I not marry him? I am sure I should be more
happy with him than my sisters are with their husbands. He shall not be
wretched any longer on my account; for I should do nothing but blame
myself all the rest of my life,"

She then rose, put her ring on the table, got into bed again, and soon
fell asleep. In the morning she with joy found herself in the palace of
the beast. She dressed herself very finely, that she might please him
the better, and thought she had never known a day pass away so slow. At
last the clock struck nine, but the beast did not come. Beauty then
thought to be sure she had been the cause of his death in earnest. She
ran from room to room all over the palace, calling out his name, but
still she saw nothing of him. After looking for him a long time, she
thought of her dream, and ran directly towards the grass plot; and there
she found the poor beast lying senseless and seeming dead. She threw
herself upon his body, thinking nothing at all of his ugliness; and
finding his heart still beat, she ran and fetched some water from a pond
in the garden, and threw it on his face. The beast then opened his eyes,
and said: "You have forgot your promise, Beauty. My grief for the loss
of you has made me resolve to starve myself to death; but I shall die
content, since I have had the pleasure of seeing you once more." "No,
dear beast," replied Beauty, "you shall not die; you shall live to be my
husband: from this moment I offer to marry you, and will be only yours.
Oh! I thought I felt only friendship for you; but the pain I now feel,
shows me that I could not live without seeing you."

The moment Beauty had spoken these words, the palace was suddenly
lighted up, and music, fireworks, and all kinds of rejoicings, appeared
round about them. Yet Beauty took no notice of all this, but watched
over her dear beast with the greatest tenderness. But now she was all at
once amazed to see at her feet, instead of her poor beast, the
handsomest prince that ever was seen, who thanked her most warmly for
having broken his enchantment. Though this young prince deserved all her
notice, she could not he