Tatar points out the theme of filial duty in the Beauty and the Beast stories. This theme reflects the cultural filial ideals of its time being transmitted to its audience (children). These stories also reflect the society’s views on parenthood. Each story emphasizes the importance and value of children. The father in “Hans My Hedgehog” is said to “not be complete”, because he doesn’t have children and is mocked by the townspeople because of it.
The fathers in each story are devoted to their daughters, buying them expensive, hard-to-find gifts. In “The Winter Rose”, the father dies from the grief of losing his daughter. The fathers are also supposed to be honest and willing to give their daughters up if this is agreed upon in a deal. This may have been a culturally relevant issue at the time this story was originally told. The fathers who are dishonest and do not honor the deals, end up being punished.
We also see parental acceptance of deformed or unusual children. In “The Pig King” the parents decide to accept and love their mutant pig-child and treat him as if he were a normal boy. All of the stories transmit lessons on what virtuous parenting is.
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You cite The Pig King as an example of a story in which the parents choose to love their deformed child-showing what virtuous parenting looks like. However, I don't think you can ignore the parents in Hans My Hedgehog who are glad to be rid of their deformed son and treat him like an actual animal when they put him on a bed of straw behind the stove. This story is clearly not an example of loving your child no matter what. It isn't until Hans is changed into a fully human boy and comes home with a bride that his father accepts him and is glad to have a son at all. Good parenting is not present in regards to Hans at all. While I agree that many of the other stories show how to be a good parent, this story kind of flies in the face of that. It would be interesting to explore why this story defies the norm and what it is trying to say about parenting or the culture from which the story came.
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