Bluebeard often went away to war, and when he did, he
left his wife in
charge of the castle... He had had lots of wives, all young, pretty
and noble.
As bad luck would have it, one after the other, they had all died,
and so the
noble lord was forever getting married again.
"Sire," someone would ask now and again, "what did your
wives die of?"
"Hah, my friend," Bluebeard would reply, "one died of
smallpox, one of a
hidden sickness, another of a high fever, another of a terrible
infection...
Ah, I'm very unlucky, and they're unlucky too! They're all buried
in the castle
chapel," he added. Nobody found anything strange about that. Nor
did the sweet
and beautiful young girl that Bluebeard took as a wife think it
strange either.
She went to the castle accompanied by her sister Anna, who said:
"Oh, aren't you lucky marrying a lord like Bluebeard?"
"He really is very nice... and when you're close, his
beard doesn't look as
blue as folk say!" said the bride, and the two sisters giggled delightedly.
Poor souls! They had no idea what lay in store for them!...
A month or so later, Bluebeard had the carriage brought
round and said to
his wife, "Darling, I must leave you for a few weeks. But keep cheerful
during
that time, invite whoever you like and look after the castle. Here,"
he added,
handing his bride a bunch of keys, "you'll need these, the keys
of the safe,
the armoury and the library keys, and this one, which opens all
the room doors.
Now, this little key here," and he pointed to a key that was much
smalle than
the others, "opens the little room at the end of the great ground
floor
corridor. Take your friends were you want, open any door you like,
but not this
one! Is that quite clear?" repeated Bluebeard. "Not this one! Nobody
at all is
allowed to enter that little room. And if you ever did go into it,
I would go
into such a terrible rage that it's better that you don't!"
"Don't worry, husband," said Bluebeard's wife as she
took the keys, "I'll do
as you say." After giving her a hug, Bluebeard got into his carriage,
whipped
up the horses and off he went.
The days went by. The young girl invited her friends
to the castle and
showed them round all the rooms except the one at the end of the
corridor.
"Why shouldn't I see inside the little room? Why? Why
is it forbidden?"
Well, she thought about it so much that she ended up bursting with
curiosity,
until one day she opened the door and walked into the little room...
Of all
ghastly horrors! Inside, hanging on the walls were the bodies of
Bluebeard's
wivws: he had strangled them all with his own hands!
Terror stricken, the girl ran out of the room, but the
bunch of keys slipped
from her grasp. She picked them up without a glance and hurried
to her own
room, her heart thumping wildly in her chest. Horrors! She was living
ina
castle of the dead! So that is what had ahppened to Bluebeard's
other wives!
The girl summoned up her courage and she noticed that
one of the keys - the
very key to the little room - was stained with blood.
"I must wipe it clean, before my husband comes back!"
she said to herself.
But try as she would, the blood stain wouldn't wash away. She washed,
she
scrubbed and she rinsed it; all in vain, for the key was still red.
That very
evening, Bluebeard came home. Just imagine the state his poor wife
was in!
Bluebeard did not ask his wife for the keys that same
evening, but he
remarked:
"You look a little upset, darling. Has anything nasty
happened?"
"Oh, no! No!"
"Are you sorry I came back so soon?"
"Oh, no! I'm delighted!" But that night, the bride didn't
sleep a wink. Next
day, Bluebeard said:
"Darling, give me back the keys," and his wife hurriedly
did so. Bluebeard
remarked: "There's one missing, the key to the little room!"
"Is there?" said the young girl shaking,
"I must have left it in my room!"
"All right, go and get it." But when Bluebeard's wife
put the key into his
hand, Bluebeard turned white and in a deep hoarse voice demanded:
"I don't know..." stammered his wife.
"You know very well!" he retorted. "You went into the
little room, didn't
you? Well, you'll go back again, this time for good, along with
the other
ladies in there. You must die!"
"Oh no! I pray you!"
"You must die!" he repeated. Just then, there was a
knock at the door and
Anna, Bluebeard's wife's sister, entered the castle.
"Good morning," she said, "you seem rather pale."
"Not at all, we're quite well," replied Bluebeard. His
wife whispered in his
ear:
"Please, please give me ten minutes to live!" Bluebeard replied:
"Not more than ten!" The girl ran to her sister Anna
who had gone up to one
of the towers and asked her,
"Anna, do you see our brothers coming? They promised
they would come and see
me today!" But Anna replied "No, I don't see anyone. What's
wrong? You look agitated."
"Anna, please," said the shaken girl, "look again! Are
you sure you can't
see someone?"
"No," said her sister, "only one or two peasants." Just
then the voice of
Bluebeard boomed up to them:
"Wife, your time is up! Come here!"
"I'm coming!" she called, but then said to her sister:
"Oh Anna, aren't our
brothers coming?..."
"No," replied Anna. Again Bluebeard shouted up.
"Come down at once! Or I'll come up!" Trembling like
a leaf, his wife went
downstairs. Bluebeard was clutching a big knife and he grabbed his
bride by the
hair...
"Sister, I can see two horsemen coming!" called out
Anna from the tower that
very moment. Bluebeard made a horrible face:
"They too will die!" His wife knelt to implore:
"Please, please don't kill me. I'll never tell anyone
what I saw! I'll never
say a word!"
"Yes, you'll never say a word for eternity!" snarled
Bluebeard, raising his
knife. The poor girl screamed:
"Have pity on me!" But he fiercely replied:
"No! You must die!" He was about to bring the knife
down on the girl's
delicate neck, when two young men burst into the room: a dragoon
and a
musketeer. They were his wife's brothers.
Drawing their swords, they leapt towards Bluebeard,
who tried to flee up
some stairs, but was caught and killed. And that was the end of
the sad story.
Bluebeard's poor wives were given a Christian burial, the castle
was completely
renovated and the young widow, some time later, married a good and
honest young
man, who helped her to forget the terrible adventure. And that young
lady
completely lost all her sense of curiosity...
The End
Please sign my guestbook if you have a minute. I've had so much fun working on my webpage and wouldn't want to miss anyone!