Bluebeard
A rich lord with a strange blue beard, one small forbidden key, and the wife who opened it anyway
Page 1
Not far from a certain town there once lived a widow with two daughters and two grown sons. They were not rich, and lived simply in a small house at the edge of a lane. Across the valley stood the grand estate of a neighbor everyone called Bluebeard, because of the strange blue color of his beard. He was enormously wealthy, with fine houses in town and country, gold and silver plate, and coaches gilded all over — but no woman would look at him twice, for he had been married several times before, and nobody could say for certain what had become of any of his wives. All the same, Bluebeard had set his eye on marrying one of the widow's two daughters, and he begged the mother to bring them to visit his country house, so that they might get to know him a little before deciding.
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Bluebeard welcomed them all to his country house, and for a whole week there was nothing but pleasure. Every day brought something new: hunting parties in the morning, fishing by the ponds in the afternoon, music and dancing every evening, and tables so loaded with good things to eat that the feasting never seemed to stop. The younger daughter watched Bluebeard laugh and dance and make everyone welcome, and little by little she began to think that perhaps his beard was not so very blue after all, and that he was really a most civil and generous gentleman. By the end of the week, she had quite made up her mind. When they returned home, it was given out that she and Bluebeard were soon to be married.
Page 3
A month after the wedding, Bluebeard told his young wife that business called him away into the country for six weeks. He said she should enjoy herself while he was gone, invite her friends, and make good cheer. Then he gave her a great ring of keys. 'These open the strongboxes where the gold and silver are kept,' he said, 'and these the jewel cases, and these every room in the house. But this little key,' he said, holding up the smallest of them all, 'opens the closet at the end of the long gallery on the ground floor. You may open everything else in this house. But that closet, I forbid you to open, and if you do, you may expect my anger.' She promised faithfully to obey him, and he kissed her, stepped into his coach, and set off on his journey.
Page 4
No sooner was Bluebeard gone than the wife sent for her friends and sister Anne, and together they went all over the house, admiring the rich furniture and fine tapestries in every room, each more splendid than the last. But she could hardly keep her mind on any of it, for all she could think of was the little closet she had been forbidden to open. At last the longing grew too strong to bear. She left her guests without a word and hurried down a back staircase so quickly that she nearly fell twice, down the long gallery toward the closet door at the far end. There she stopped a moment, remembering her husband's warning and what might come of disobeying him. But curiosity is a powerful thing, and after only a moment's hesitation, she took the little key, and with a trembling hand, put it in the lock.
Page 5
At first she could see nothing, for the closet had no window and the shutters were closed, and the only light came from the crack of the open door behind her. But as her eyes grew used to the gloom, she began to make out shapes along the walls — tall silent shapes, draped in old cloth, standing still as the room itself, each one in its own place as though it had stood there a very long time. She understood, with a cold horror that went through her whole body, exactly what this room was and what had become of the wives who came before her. She was so frightened that the little key slipped from her trembling fingers and fell to the floor. She snatched it up at once, shut the door behind her with both hands, and ran from that place as fast as her legs would carry her.
Page 6
Back in her room, the wife took soap and sand and scrubbed at the little key with all her strength, trying to clean away the stain, but it would not come off, however hard she rubbed. She washed it again and again. No matter what she did, the mark remained — for the key was a magic key, and once it was stained, nothing in the world could make it clean again. While she sat trying to wipe it on a cloth with trembling hands, her sister Anne came in and found her pale and shaking. The wife could keep the secret no longer, and told Anne everything — what she had seen behind the forbidden door, and what the stain on the key truly meant. Anne held her hand and told her she must be calm, for Bluebeard was due home that very evening.
Page 7
That very evening, Bluebeard returned home, saying he had received letters on the road telling him his business was settled, and so he had come back early. The next morning he asked his wife for the keys. With a trembling hand she gave them to him, so pale and frightened that he guessed at once something was wrong. 'Why is the little key not with the others?' he asked. She said she must have left it upstairs, and went to fetch it, though she could delay no longer. When at last she handed it to him, Bluebeard looked at the stain upon it and said, very quietly, 'How came this stain on this key?' 'I do not know,' she said, white as a sheet. 'You do not know,' said Bluebeard. 'But I know well enough. You have been into the closet. Very well, madam. Now you shall go into it, and take your place among the ladies you saw there.'
Page 8
The wife begged for just a little time to say her prayers before she died, and Bluebeard, scowling, gave her a quarter of an hour and not a moment more. As soon as he was gone downstairs, she ran up to the top of the tower where her sister Anne was waiting, for their two brothers had promised to visit that very day, and it was for them the sisters now watched. 'Anne, sister Anne,' the wife called up to her, 'do you see anything coming?' And Anne, looking out across the long road, answered, 'I see nothing but the sun making dust, and the grass growing green.' Again and again the wife called up the same question, and again and again Anne gave the same answer, while down below, Bluebeard's voice rang out, impatient and terrible, demanding that she come down, for the quarter of an hour was almost spent.
Page 9
Her time was up. Bluebeard came down into the courtyard where she stood waiting, his sword drawn and gleaming in his hand, and told her she had but one moment left to live. She looked up at the tower one last time, hoping against hope. At that very instant, the courtyard gate burst open, and in galloped her two brothers, a dragoon and a musketeer, swords at their sides, riding hard and fast straight toward the house, for they had seen her signal and come as quickly as their horses could carry them. Bluebeard spun around at the sound of hooves, startled, his sword lowering in surprise. Before he could do anything else, the brothers were already leaping down from their horses and rushing straight at him, seizing him and wrestling him to the ground between them, so that he never had the chance to raise his blade again.
Page 10
Bluebeard had no children, and so his whole great fortune passed to his widow. With it, she did a great deal of good. She gave part of the money to her sister Anne, who was at last able to marry the young gentleman who had loved her for a long time. She used another part to buy commissions for her two brothers, so that they became captains in the army, just as they had always wished. And with what remained, she herself married a very worthy man some time after, who made her forget the dreadful days she had spent with Bluebeard. The mansion that had once held such a terrible secret became, in time, simply a family home again, full of ordinary happiness — gardens tended, doors standing open, nothing behind any of them but daylight.
About this story
- Audience: kids (ages 6–12)
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