Brother Grimm's Tales

BLUEBEARD

   Once upon a time... in the fair land of France, there lived a very powerful

lord, the owner of estates, farms and a great splendid castle, and his name was

Bluebeard. This wasn't his real name, it was a nickname, due to the fact he had

a long shaggy black beard with glints of blue in it. He was very handsome and

charming, but, if the truth be told, there was something about him that made

you feel respect, and a little uneasy...

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 , 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 keys, and this one, which opens all the room doors.

Now, this little key here," and he pointed to a key that was much smaller 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?"