Beauty and the Beast is a tale as
old as time. At least, that’s what they sing in the song that every Disney
lover can sing by heart. Beauty and the Beast is a beloved tale, and I am one
of those people who love it, too. I know the Disney version forwards and
backwards, I can quote it and sing along with the best of them. So, when the
live-action film came out, I couldn’t wait to share my favorite princess with
my Daughter. To help her get familiar with the story I put on the classic
animated version. I re-lived my childhood and dreamed with Belle as she sang
about adventure in the big-wide somewhere. I was enjoying every moment and then
Chip was introduced. Of course, who doesn’t love Chip? He’s cute, relatable and
he plays a vital role in helping Belle get back to Beast. But as the movie
continued I began to wonder who chip really was. Was Mrs. Potts really his mom?
If so how was she able to have chip at such an advanced age? There had to be
more to Chip than what Disney revealed. So, my quest began to learn who Chip
really was and where he came from.
I started
my search where everyone else does- good old google. It didn’t take long for me
to find the possible origin of the story of Beauty and the Beast. The title was
Cupid and Psyche written in 2AD by Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis. The story is
about a girl Psyche who falls in love with Cupid, but she doesn’t know her
lover is Cupid. In fact, Cupid hides his identity from her and tells her that
he’s ugly. Our heroine goes along with it until one-night curiosity gets the
better of her. She devises a plan with her sister to kill her lover, thus
ridding the world of a hideous monster. So, she grabs a lamp and a dagger and
discovers her hideous lover-monster is the one and only super-babe Cupid. Of
course, because it is a Greek tale there is a lot more involved, but where this
story gets interesting is when Psyche gets knocked up by Cupid. Could this be
the first version of Chip? Really there’s no way of really knowing for sure.
There’s only one way to go from here and that’s onto the next version of this
story.
It may
come as a surprise (or maybe not) that our beloved story has Italian roots.
Here we have a story much closer to the one we all know and love. It was given
the very appropriate title; The Pig King and it was written by Giovanni
Francesco Straparola. In this version the King and Queen are childless they
make a deal with the local fairies, because nothing ever goes wrong when magic
is involved, to have a child. Of course, one of the stipulations is the child
has to be a pig until he’s married three times. So, our pig-faced prince grew
up and married three sisters. He killed the first and second sister, and the
third one was lucky wife number three. The Prince revealed himself to be
handsome and the third wife had a child. Again, with this story there is also a
lot of extra drama, as you can imagine. Again, we have our heroine conceiving a
child. Maybe this child is another version of Chip, maybe he isn’t. It’s
another piece of the puzzle that can’t quite be solved. So, let’s move on to
the next version of the tale.
This one
is the classic French version and the closest to the Disney version of Beauty
and the Beast. In fact, the title is Beauty and the Beast, and it was written
by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve. So, how is this story different?
Chip does not exist in this version either. Which makes me wonder where Disney
got the idea for Chip. After reading multiple versions of Beauty and The Beast
and trying to find some connection, I honestly can’t find a legitimate one. I
can theorize that Chip is the Beast’s illegitimate child, or maybe he was an
orphan taken in by the castle, since that practice was not uncommon for the
time. But I also have to address the fact that no one aged in the castle while
they were under the spell, so was the Beast really able to have Chip at the
time? I think the answer is no.
The
last version to examine is of course, the live-action version. Here we have
Mrs. Potts who seems to be a little bit younger than her animated counterpart
and she has a husband! Did Disney answer the question in their own way with the
live-action version? With this particular story the origin of Chip and his
parentage actually seems believable. In the end, no matter which version of
Beauty and the Beast you love, we can all agree that it is a tale as old as
time and no matter where Chip comes from he is easily one of the best
characters in the story. He’s just a kid and he finds a way to save the day.
The message alone that his story tells is one worth sharing. So, in the end I’m glad Disney invented this
character, because the story is one that I will share with my family for
generations to come.
