{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_25411/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_25411","id":"gutenberg_25411","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25411","summary":null,"tags":["Bluebeard (Legendary character) -- Fiction","Category: French Literature","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Novels","French fiction -- Translations into English","Husband and wife -- Fiction","Nobel Prizes in Literature"],"text":"Produced by David Widger\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE SEVEN WIVES OF BLUEBEARD & OTHER MARVELLOUS TALES\n\nBy Anatole France\n\nEdited By James Lewis May And Bernard Miall\n\nTranslated by D. B. Stewart\n\nJohn Lane Company MCMXX\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE SEVEN WIVES OF BLUEBEARD\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nTHE strangest, the most varied, the most erroneous opinions have\nbeen expressed with regard to the famous individual commonly known as\nBluebeard. None, perhaps, was less tenable than that which made of\nthis gentleman a personification of the Sun. For this is what a certain\nschool of comparative mythology set itself to do, some forty years ago.\nIt informed the world that the seven wives of Bluebeard were the Dawns,\nand that his two brothers-in-law were the morning and the evening\nTwilight, identifying them with the Dioscuri, who delivered Helena when\nshe was rapt away by Theseus. We must remind those readers who may\nfeel tempted to believe this that in 1817 a learned librarian of Agen,\nJean-Baptiste P\u00e9r\u00e9s, demonstrated, in a highly plausible manner, that\nNapoleon had never existed, and that the story of this supposed great\ncaptain was nothing but a solar myth. Despite the most ingenious\ndiversions of the wits, we cannot possibly doubt that Bluebeard and\nNapoleon did both actually exist.\n\nAn hypothesis no better founded is that which Consists in identifying\nBluebeard with the Marshal de Rais, who was strangled by the arm of\nthe Law above the bridges of Nantes on 26th of October, 1440. Without\ninquiring, with M. Salomon Reinach, whether the Marshal committed the\ncrimes for which he was condemned, or whether his wealth, coveted by a\ngreedy prince, did not in some degree contribute to his undoing, there\nis nothing in his life that resembles what we find in Bluebeard\u2019s;\nthis alone is enough to prevent our confusing them or merging the two\nindividuals into one.\n\nCharles Perrault, who, about 1660, had the merit of composing the first\nbiography of this _seigneur_, justly remarkable for having married seven\nwives, made him an accomplished villain, and the most perfect model of\ncruelty that ever trod the earth. But it is permissible to doubt, if\nnot his sincerity, at least the correctness of his information. He may,\nperhaps, have been prejudiced against his hero. He would not have been\nthe first example of a poet or historian who liked to darken the colours\nof his pictures. If we have what seems a flattering portrait of Titus,\nit would seem, on the other hand, that Tacitus has painted Tiberius much\nblacker than the reality. Macbeth, whom legend and Shakespeare accuse\nof crimes, was in reality a just and a wise king. He never treacherously\nmurdered the old king, Duncan. Duncan, while yet young, was defeated in\na great battle, and was found dead on the morrow at a spot called the\nArmourer\u2019s Shop. He had slain several of the kinsfolk of Gruchno, the\nwife of Macbeth. The latter made Scotland prosperous; he encouraged\ntrade, and was regarded as the defender of the middle classes, the true\nKing of the townsmen. The nobles of the clans never forgave him for\ndefeating Duncan, nor for protecting the artisans. They destroyed him,\nand dishonoured his memory. Once he was dead the good King Macbeth was\nknown only by the statements of his enemies. The genius of Shakespeare\nimposed these lies upon the human consciousness. I had long suspected\nthat Bluebeard was the victim of a similar fatality. All the\ncircumstances of his life, as I found them related, were far from\nsatisfying my mind, and from gratifying that craving for logic and\nlucidity by which I am incessantly consumed. On reflection, I perceived\nthat they involved insurmountable difficulties. There was so great a\ndesire to make me believe in the man\u2019s cruelty that it could not fail to\nmake me doubt it.\n\nThese presentiments did not mislead me. My intuitions, which had their\norigin in a certain knowledge of human nature, were soon to be changed\ninto certainty, based upon irrefutable proofs.\n\nIn the house of a stone-cutter in St. Jean-des-Bois, I found several\npapers relating to Bluebeard; amongst others his defence, and an\nanonymous complaint against his murderers, which was not proceeded with,\nfor what reasons I know not. These papers confirmed me in the belief\nthat he was good and unfortunate, and that his memory has been\noverwhelmed by unworthy slanders. From that time forth, I regarded it\nas my duty to write his true history, without permitting myself any\nillusion as to the success of such an undertaking. I am well aware that\nthis attempt at rehabilitation is destined to fall into silence and\noblivion. How can the cold, naked Truth fight against the glittering\nenchantments of Falsehood?\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nSOMEWHERE about 1650 there lived on his estate, between Compi\u00e8gne and\nPierrefonds, a wealthy noble, by name Bernard de Montragoux, whose\nancestors had held the most important posts in the kingdom. But he dwelt\nfar from the Court, in that peaceful obscurity which then veiled\nall save that on which the king bestowed his glance. His castle of\nGuillettes abounded in valuable furniture, gold and silver ware,\ntapestry and embroideries, which he kept in coffers; not that he hid\nhis treasures for fear of damaging them by use; he was, on the contrary,\ngenerous and magnificent. But in those days, in the country, the nobles\nwillingly led a very simple life, feeding their people at their own\ntable, and dancing on Sundays with the girls of the village.\n\nOn certain occasions, however, they gave splendid entertainments, which\ncontrasted with the dullness of everyday life. So it was necessary\nthat they should hold a good deal of handsome furniture and beautiful\ntapestries in reserve. This was the case with Monsieur de Montragoux.\n\nHis castle, built in the Gothic period, had all its rudeness. From\nwithout it looked wild and gloomy enough, with the stumps of its\ngreat towers, which had been thrown down at the time of the monarchy\u2019s\ntroubles, in the reign of the late King Louis. Within it offered a much\npleasanter prospect. The rooms were decorated in the Italian taste,\nas was the great gallery on the ground floor, loaded with embossed\ndecorations in high relief, pictures and gilding.\n\nAt one end of this gallery there was a closet usually known as \u201cthe\nlittle cabinet.\u201d This is the only name by which Charles Perrault refers\nto it. It is as well to note that it was also called the \u201cCabinet of the\nUnfortunate Princesses,\u201d because a Florentine painter had portrayed on\nthe walls the tragic stories of Dirce, daughter of the Sun, bound by the\nsons of Antiope to the horns of a bull, Niobe weeping on Mount Sipylus\nfor her children, pierced by the divine arrows, and Procris inviting\nto her bosom the javelin of Cephalus. These figures had a look of life\nabout them, and the porphyry tiles with which the floor was covered\nseemed dyed in the blood of these unhappy women. One of the doors of the\nCabinet gave upon the moat, which had no water in it.\n\nThe stables formed a sumptuous building, situated at some distance from\nthe castle. They contained stalls for sixty horses, and coach-houses\nfor twelve gilded coaches. But what made Guillettes so bewitching a\nresidence were the woods and canals surrounding it, in which one could\ndevote oneself to the pleasures of angling and the chase.\n\nMany of the dwellers in that country-side knew Monsieur de Montragoux\nonly by the name of Bluebeard, for this was the only name that the\ncommon people gave him. And in truth his beard was blue, but it was blue\nonly because it was black, and it was because it was so black that it\nwas blue. Monsieur de Montragoux must not be imagined as having the\nmonstrous aspect of the threefold Typhon whom one sees in Athens,\nlaughing in his triple indigo-blue beard. We shall get much nearer the\nreality by comparing the _seigneur_ of Guillettes to those actors or\npriests whose freshly shaven cheeks have a bluish gloss.\n\nMonsieur de Montragouz did not wear a pointed beard like his grandfather\nat the Court of King Henry II; nor did he wear it like a fan, as did\nhis great-grandfather who was killed at the battle of Marignan. Like\nMonsieur de Turenne, he had only a slight moustache, and a chin-tuft;\nhis cheeks had a bluish look; but whatever may have been said of him,\nthis good gentleman was by no means disfigured thereby, nor did he\ninspire any fear on that account. He only looked the more virile, and\nif it made him look a little fierce, it had not the effect of making\nthe women dislike him. Bernard de Montragoux was a very fine man, tall,\nbroad across the shoulders, moderately stout, and well favoured; albeit\nof a rustic habit, smacking of the woods rather than of drawing-rooms\nand assemblies. Still, it is true that he did not please the ladies\nas much as he should have pleased them, built as he was, and wealthy.\nShyness was the reason; shyness, not his beard. Women exercised an\ninvincible attraction for him, and at the same time inspired him with an\ninsuperable fear. He feared them as much as he loved them. This was the\norigin and initial cause of all his misfortunes. Seeing a lady for the\nfirst time, he would have died rather than speak to her, and however\nmuch attracted he may have been, he stood before her in gloomy silence.\nHis feelings revealed themselves only through his eyes, which he\nrolled in a terrible manner. This timidity exposed him to every kind\nof misfortune, and, above all, it prevented his forming a becoming\nconnection with modest and reserved women; and betrayed him,\ndefenceless, to the attempts of the most impudent and audacious. This\nwas his life\u2019s misfortune.\n\nLeft an orphan from his early youth, and having rejected, owing to this\nsort of bashfulness and fear, which he was unable to overcome, the very\nadvantageous and honourable alliances which had presented themselves, he\nmarried a Mademoiselle Colette Passage, who had recently settled down in\nthat part of the country, after amassing a little money by making a bear\ndance through the towns and villages of the kingdom. He loved her with\nall his soul. And to do her justice, there was something pleasing about\nher, though she was what she was a fine woman with an ample bosom, and a\ncomplexion that was still sufficiently fresh, although a little sunburnt\nby the open air. Great were her joy and surprise on first becoming\na lady of quality. Her heart, which was not bad, was touched by the\nkindness of a husband in such a high position, and with such a stout,\npowerful body, who was to her the most obedient of servants and devoted\nof lovers. But after a few months she grew weary because she could no\nlonger go to and fro on the face of the earth. In the midst of wealth,\noverwhelmed with love and care, she could find no greater pleasure than\nthat of going to see the companion of her wandering life, in the cellar\nwhere he languished with a chain round his neck and a ring through his\nnose, and kissing him on the eyes and weeping. Seeing her full of care,\nMonsieur de Montragouz himself became careworn, and this only added to\nhis companion\u2019s melancholy. The consideration and forethought which\nhe lavished on her turned the poor woman\u2019s head. One morning, when he\nawoke, Monsieur de Montragoux found Colette no longer at his side. In\nvain he searched for her throughout the castle.\n\nThe door of the Cabinet of the Unfortunate Princesses was open. It was\nthrough this door that she had gone to reach the open country with her\nbear. The sorrow of Bluebeard was painful to behold. In spite of the\ninnumerable messengers sent forth in search of her, no news was ever\nreceived of Colette Passage.\n\nMonsieur de Montragoux was still mourning her when he happened to dance,\nat the fair of Guillettes, with Jeanne de La Cloche, daughter of the\nPolice Lieutenant of Compi\u00e8gne, who inspired him with love. He asked her\nin marriage, and obtained her forthwith. She loved wine, and drank it\nto excess. So much did this taste increase that after a few months she\nlooked like a leather bottle with a round red face atop of it. The worst\nof it was that this leather bottle would run mad, incessantly rolling\nabout the reception-rooms and the staircases, crying, swearing, and\nhiccoughing; vomiting wine and insults at everything that got in her\nway. Monsieur de Montragoux was dazed with disgust and horror. But he\nquite suddenly recovered his courage, and set himself, with as much\nfirmness as patience, to cure his wife of so disgusting a vice, Prayers,\nremonstrances, supplications, and threats: he employed every possible\nmeans. All was useless. He forbade her wine from his cellar: she got it\nfrom outside, and was more abominably drunk than ever.\n\nTo deprive her of her taste for a beverage that she loved too well, he\nput valerian in the bottles. She thought he was trying to poison her,\nsprang upon him, and drove three inches of kitchen knife into his belly.\nHe expected to die of it, but he did not abandon his habitual kindness.\n\n\u201cShe is more to be pitied than blamed,\u201d he said.\n\nOne day, when he had forgotten to close the door of the Cabinet of the\nUnfortunate Princesses, Jeanne de La Cloche entered by it, quite out of\nher mind, as usual, and seeing the figures on the walls in postures\nof affliction, ready to give up the ghost, she mistook them for living\nwomen, and fled terror-stricken into the country, screaming murder.\nHearing Bluebeard calling her and running after her, she threw herself,\nmad with terror, into a pond, and was there drowned. It is difficult to\nbelieve, yet certain, that her husband, so compassionate was his soul,\nwas much afflicted by her death.\n\nSix weeks after the accident he quietly married Gigonne, the daughter of\nhis steward, Traignel. She wore wooden shoes, and smelt of onions. She\nwas a fine-looking girl enough, except that she squinted with one eye,\nand limped with one foot. As soon as she was married, this goose-girl,\nbitten by foolish ambition, dreamed of nothing but further greatness\nand splendour. She was not satisfied that her brocade dresses were rich\nenough, her pearl necklaces beautiful enough, her rubies big enough, her\ncoaches sufficiently gilded, her lakes, woods, and lands sufficiently\nvast. Bluebeard, who had never had any leaning toward ambition, trembled\nat the haughty humour of his spouse. Unaware, in his straightforward\nsimplicity, whether the mistake lay in thinking magnificently like his\nwife, or modestly as he himself did, he accused himself of a mediocrity\nof mind which was thwarting the noble desires of his consort, and, full\nof uncertainty, he would sometimes exhort her to taste with moderation\nthe good things of this world, while at others he roused himself to\npursue fortune along the verge of precipitous heights. He was prudent,\nbut conjugal affection bore him beyond the reach of prudence. Gigonne\nthought of nothing but cutting a figure in the world, being received at\nCourt, and becoming the King\u2019s mistress. Unable to gain her point, she\npined away with vexation, contracting a jaundice, of which she died.\nBluebeard, full of lamentation, built her a magnificent tomb.\n\nThis worthy _seigneur_ overwhelmed by constant domestic adversity, would\nnot perhaps have chosen another wife: but he was himself chosen for a\nhusband by Mademoiselle Blanche de Gibeaumex, the daughter of a cavalry\nofficer, who had but one ear; he used to relate that he had lost the\nother in the King\u2019s service. She was full of intelligence, which she\nemployed in deceiving her husband. She betrayed him with every man of\nquality in the neighbourhood. She was so dexterous that she deceived him\nin his own castle, almost under his very eyes, without his perceiving\nit. Poor Bluebeard assuredly suspected something, but he could not say\nwhat. Unfortunately for her, while she gave her whole mind to tricking\nher husband, she was not sufficiently careful in deceiving her lovers;\nby which I mean that she betrayed them, one for another. One day she was\nsurprised in the Cabinet of the Unfortunate Princesses, in the company\nof a gentleman whom she loved, by a gentleman whom she had loved, and\nthe latter, in a transport of jealousy, ran her through with his sword.\nA few hours later the unfortunate lady was there found dead by one of\nthe castle servants, and the fear inspired by the room increased.\n\nPoor Bluebeard, learning at one blow of his ample dishonour, and\nthe tragic death of his wife, did not console himself for the latter\nmisfortune by any consideration of the former. He had loved Blanche de\nGibeaumez with a strange ardour, more dearly than he had loved Jeanne de\nLa Cloche, Gigonne Traignel, or even Colette Passage. On learning that\nshe had consistently betrayed him, and that now she would never betray\nhim again, he experienced a grief and a mental perturbation which, far\nfrom being appeased, daily increased in violence. So intolerable were\nhis sufferings that he contracted a malady which caused his life to be\ndespaired of.\n\nThe physicians, having employed various medicines without effect,\nadvised him that the only remedy proper to his complaint was to take a\nyoung wife. He then thought of his young cousin, Ang\u00e8le de La Garandine,\nwhom he believed would be willingly bestowed upon him, as she had no\nproperty. What encouraged him to take her to wife was the fact that she\nwas reputed to be simple and ignorant of the world. Having been deceived\nby a woman of intelligence, he felt more comfortable with a fool. He\nmarried Mademoiselle de La Garandine, and quickly perceived the falsity\nof his calculations. Ang\u00e8le was kind, Ang\u00e8le was good, and Ang\u00e8le loved\nhim; she had not, in herself, any leanings toward evil, but the least\nastute person could quickly lead her astray at any moment. It was enough\nto tell her: \u201cDo this for fear of bogies; comes in here or the were-wolf\nwill eat you;\u201d or \u201cShut your eyes, and take this drop of medicine,\u201d and\nthe innocent girl would straightway do so, at the will of the rascals\nwho wanted of her that which it was very natural to want of her, for\nshe was pretty. Monsieur de Montragouz, injured and betrayed by this\ninnocent girl, as much as and more than he had been by Blanche de\nGibeaumex, had the additional pain of knowing it, for Ang\u00e8le was too\ncandid to conceal anything from him. She used to tell him: \u201cSir, some\none told me this; some one did that to me; some one took so and so away\nfrom me; I saw that; I felt so and so.\u201d And by her ingenuousness she\ncaused her lord to suffer torments beyond imagination. He endured them\nlike a Stoic. Still he finally had to tell the simple creature that she\nwas a goose, and to box her ears. This, for him, was the beginning of\na reputation for cruelty, which was not fated to be diminished. A\nmendicant monk, who was passing Gulllettes while Monsieur de Montragouz\nwas out shooting woodcock, found Madame Ang\u00e8le sewing a doll\u2019s\npetticoat. This worthy friar, discovering that she was as foolish as she\nwas beautiful, took her away on his donkey, having persuaded her that\nthe Angel Gabriel was waiting in a wood, to give her a pair of pearl\ngarters. It is believed that she must have been eaten by a wolf, for she\nwas never seen again.\n\nAfter such a disastrous experience, how was it that Bluebeard could make\nup his mind to contract yet another union? It would be impossible to\nunderstand it, were we not well aware of the power which a fine pair of\neyes exerts over a generous heart.\n\nThe honest gentleman met, at a neighbouring ch\u00e2teau which he was in\nthe habit of frequenting, a young orphan of quality, by name Alix de\nPontalcin, who, having been robbed of all her property by a greedy\ntrustee, thought only of entering a convent. Officious friends\nintervened to alter her determination and persuade her to accept the\nhand of Monsieur de Montragoux. Her beauty was perfect. Bluebeard, who\nwas promising himself the enjoyment of an infinite happiness in her\narms, was once more deluded in his hopes, and this time experienced a\ndisappointment, which, owing to his disposition, was bound to make an\neven greater impression upon him than all the afflictions which he\nhad suffered in his previous marriages. Alix de Pontalcin obstinately\nrefused to give actuality to the union to which she had nevertheless\nconsented.\n\nIn vain did Monsieur de Montragoux press her to become his wife; she\nresisted prayers, tears, and objurgations, she refused her husband\u2019s\nlightest caresses, and rushed off to shut herself into the Cabinet of\nthe Unfortunate Princesses, where she remained, alone and intractable,\nfor whole nights at a time.\n\nThe cause of a resistance so contrary to laws both human and divine was\nnever known; it was attributed to Monsieur de Montragoux\u2019s blue beard,\nbut our previous remarks on the subject of his beard render such a\nsupposition far from probable. In any case, it is a difficult subject\nto discuss. The unhappy husband underwent the cruellest sufferings. In\norder to forget them, he hunted with desperation, exhausting horses,\nhounds, and huntsmen. But when he returned home, foundered and\novertired, the mere sight of Mademoiselle de Pontalcin was enough to\nrevive his energies and his torments. Finally, unable to endure the\nsituation any longer, he applied to Rome for the annulment of a marriage\nwhich was nothing better than a trap; and in consideration of a handsome\npresent to the Holy Father he obtained it in accordance with canon law.\nIf Monsieur de Montragoux discarded Mademoiselle de Pontalcin with\nall the marks of respect due to a woman, and without breaking his cane\nacross her back, it was because he had a valiant soul, a great heart,\nand was master of himself as well as of Guillettes. But he swore that,\nfor the future, no female should enter his apartments. Happy had he been\nif he had held to his oath to the end!\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nSOME years had elapsed since Monsieur de Montragoux had rid himself\nof his sixth wife, and only a confused recollection remained in the\ncountry-side of the domestic calamities which had fallen upon this\nworthy _seigneur\u2019s_ house. Nobody knew what had become of his wives,\nand hair-raising tales were told in the village at night; some believed\nthem, others did not. About this time, a widow, past the prime of life,\nDame Sidonie de Lespoisse, came to settle with her children in the manor\nof La Motte-Giron, about two leagues, as the crow flies, from the castle\nof Guillettes. Whence she came, or who her husband had been, not a soul\nknew. Some believed, because they had heard it said, that he had held\ncertain posts in Savoy or Spain; others said that he had died in the\nIndies; many had the idea that the widow was possessed of immense\nestates, while others doubted it strongly. However, she lived in a\nnotable style, and invited all the nobility of the country-side to La\nMotte-Giron. She had two daughters, of whom the elder, Anne, on the\nverge of becoming an old maid, was a very astute person: Jeanne, the\nyounger, ripe for marriage, concealed a precocious knowledge of the\nworld under an appearance of simplicity. The Dame de Lespoisse had also\ntwo sons, of twenty and twenty-two years of age; very fine well-made\nyoung fellows, of whom one was a Dragoon, and the other a Musketeer. I\nmay add, having seen his commission, that he was a Black Musketeer.\nWhen on foot, this was not apparent, for the Black Musketeers were\ndistinguished from the Grey not by the colour of their uniform, but by\nthe hides of their horses. All alike wore blue surcoats laced with gold.\nAs for the Dragoons, they were to be recognized by a kind of fur bonnet,\nof which the tail fell gallantly over the ear. The Dragoons had the\nreputation of being scamps, a scapegrace crowd, witness the song:\n\n     \u201cMama, here the dragoons come,\n     Let us haste away.\u201d\n\nBut you might have searched in vain through His Majesty\u2019s two regiments\nof Dragoons for a bigger rake, a more accomplished sponger, or a viler\nrogue than Cosme de Lespoisset. Compared with him, his brother was\nan honest lad. Drunkard and gambler, Pierre de Lespoisse pleased the\nladies, and won at cards; these were the only ways of gaining a living\nknown to him.\n\nTheir mother, Dame de Lespoisse, was making a splash at Motte-Giron only\nin order to catch gulls. As a matter of fact, she had not a penny, and\nowed for everything, even to her false teeth. Her clothes and furniture,\nher coach, her horses, and her servants had all been lent by Parisian\nmoneylenders, who threatened to withdraw them all if she did not\npresently marry one of her daughters to some rich nobleman, and the\nrespectable Sidonie was expecting to find herself at any moment naked\nin an empty house. In a hurry to find a son-in-law, she had at once\ncast her eye upon Monsieur de Montragoux, whom she summed up as being\nsimple-minded, easy to deceive, extremely mild, and quick to fall in\nlove under his rude and bashful exterior. Her two daughters entered\ninto her plans, and every time they met him, riddled poor Bluebeard with\nglances which pierced him to the depths of his heart. He soon fell\na victim to the potent charms of the two Demoiselles de Lespoisse.\nForgetting his oath, he thought of nothing but marrying one of them,\nfinding them equally beautiful. After some delay, caused less by\nhesitation than timidity, he went to Motte-Giron in great state, and\nmade his petition to the Dame de Lespoisse, leaving to her the choice\nof which daughter she would give him. Madame Sidonie obligingly replied\nthat she held him in high esteem, and that she authorized him to pay his\ncourt to whichever of the ladies he should prefer.\n\n\u201cLearn to please, monsieur,\u201d she said. \u201cI shall be the first to applaud\nyour success.\u201d\n\nIn order to make their better acquaintance, Bluebeard invited Anne and\nJeanne de Lespoisse, with their mother, brothers, and a multitude of\nladies and gentlemen to pass a fortnight at the castle of Guillettes.\nThere was a succession of walking, hunting, and fishing parties, dances\nand festivities, dinners and entertainments of every sort. A young\n_seigneur_, the Chevalier de Merlus, whom the ladies Lespoisse had\nbrought with them, organized the beats. Bluebeard had the best packs of\nhounds and the largest turnout in the countryside. The ladies rivalled\nthe ardour of the gentlemen in hunting the deer. They did not always\nhunt the animal down, but the hunters and their ladies wandered away in\ncouples, found one another, and again wandered off into the woods. For\nchoice, the Chevalier de la Merlus would lose himself with Jeanne de\nLespoisse, and both would return to the castle at night, full of their\nadventures, and pleased with their day\u2019s sport.\n\nAfter a few days\u2019 observation, the good _seigneur_ of Montragoux felt\na decided preference for Jeanne, the younger sister, rather than\nthe elder, as she was fresher, which is not saying that she was less\nexperienced. He allowed his preference to appear; there was no reason\nwhy he should conceal it, for it was a befitting preference; moreover,\nhe was a plain dealer. He paid court to the young lady as best he could,\nspeaking little, for want of practice; but he gazed at her, rolling his\nrolling eyes, and emitting from the depths of his bowels sighs which\nmight have overthrown an oak tree. Sometimes he would burst out\nlaughing, whereupon the crockery trembled, and the windows rattled.\nAlone of all the party, he failed to remark the assiduous attentions of\nthe Chevalier de la Merlus to Madame de Lespoisse\u2019s younger daughter,\nor if he did remark them he saw no harm in them. His experience of women\nwas not sufficient to make him suspicious, and he trusted when he loved.\nMy grandmother used to say that in life experience is worthless, and\nthat one remains the same as when one begins. I believe she was right,\nand the true story that I am now unfolding is not of a nature to prove\nher wrong.\n\nBluebeard displayed an unusual magnificence in these festivities.\nWhen night arrived the lawns before the castle were lit by a thousand\ntorches, and tables served by men-servants and maids dressed as fauns\nand dryads groaned under all the tastiest things which the country-side\nand the forest produced. Musicians provided a continual succession of\nbeautiful symphonies. Towards the end of the meal the schoolmaster and\nschoolmistress, followed by the boys and girls of the village, appeared\nbefore the guests, and read a complimentary address to the _seigneur_\nof Montragoux and his friends. An astrologer in a pointed cap approached\nthe ladies, and foretold their future love-affairs from the lines of\ntheir hands, Bluebeard ordered drink to be given for all his vassals,\nand he himself distributed bread and meat to the poor families.\n\nAt ten o\u2019clock, for fear of the evening dew, the company retired to\nthe apartments, lit by a multitude of candles, and there tables were\nprepared for every sort of game: lansquenet, billiards, reversi,\nbagatelle, pigeon-holes, turnstile, porch, beast, hoca, brelan,\ndraughts, backgammon, dice, basset, and calbas. Bluebeard was uniformly\nunfortunate in these various games, at which he lost large sums every\nnight. He could console himself for his continuous run of bad luck by\nwatching the three Lespoisse ladies win a great deal of money. Jeanne,\nthe younger, who often backed the game of the Chevalier de la Merlus,\nheaped up mountains of gold. Madame de Lespoisse\u2019s two sons also did\nvery well at reversi and basset; their luck was invariably best at the\nmore hazardous games. The play went on until late into the night. No\none slept during these marvellous festivities, and as the earliest\nbiographer of Bluebeard has said: \u201cThey spent the whole night in playing\ntricks on one another.\u201d These hours were the most delightful of\nthe whole twenty-four; for then, under cover of jesting, and taking\nadvantage of the darkness, those who felt drawn toward one another would\nhide together in the depths of some alcove. The Chevelier de la Merlus\nwould disguise himself at one time as a devil, at another as a ghost or\na were-wolf in order to frighten the sleepers, but he always ended by\nslipping into the room of Mademoiselle Jeanne de Lespoisse. The good\n_seigneur_ of Montragoux was not overlooked in these games. The two sons\nof Madame de Lespoisse put irritant powder in his bed, and burnt in his\nroom substances which emitted a disgusting smell. Or they would arrange\na jug of water over his door so that the worthy _seigneur_ could not\nopen the door without the whole of the water being upset upon his\nhead. In short, they played on him all sorts of practical jokes, to the\ndiversion of the whole company, and Bluebeard bore them with his natural\ngood humour.\n\nHe made his request, to which Madame de Lespoisse acceded, although, as\nshe said, it wrung her heart to think of giving her girls in marriage.\n\nThe marriage was celebrated at Motte-Giron with extraordinary\nmagnificence. The Demoiselle Jeanne, amazingly beautiful, was dressed\nentirely in _point de France_, her head covered with a thousand\nringlets. Her sister Anne wore a dress of green velvet, embroidered\nwith gold. Their mother\u2019s dress was of golden tissue, trimmed with black\nchenille, with a _parure_ of pearls and diamonds. Monsieur de Montragoux\nwore all his great diamonds on a suit of black velvet; he made a very\nfine appearance; his expression of timidity and innocence contrasting\nstrongly with his blue chin and his massive build. The bride\u2019s brothers\nwere of course handsomely arrayed, but the Chevalier de la Merlus, in\na suit of rose velvet trimmed with pearls, shone with unparalleled\nsplendour.\n\nImmediately after the ceremony, the Jews who had hired out to the\nbride\u2019s family and her lover all these fine clothes and rich jewels\nresumed possession of them and posted back to Paris with them.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\nFOR a month Monsieur de Montragoux was the happiest of men. He adored\nhis wife, and regarded her as an angel of purity. She was something\nquite different, but far shrewder men than poor Bluebeard might have\nbeen deceived as he was, for she was a person of great cunning and\nastuteness, and allowed herself submissively to be ruled by her\nmother, who was the cleverest jade in the whole kingdom of France. She\nestablished herself at Guillettes with her eldest daughter Anne, her\ntwo sons, Pierre and Cosme, and the Chevalier de la Merlus, who kept\nas close to Madame de Montragoux as if he had been her shadow. Her good\nhusband was a little annoyed at this; he would have liked to keep his\nwife always to himself, but he did not take exception to the affection\nwhich she felt for this young gentleman, as she had told him that he was\nher foster-brother.\n\nCharles Perrault relates that a month after having contracted this\nunion, Bluebeard was compelled to make a journey of six weeks\u2019 duration\non some important business. He does not seem to be aware of the reasons\nfor this journey, and it has been suspected that it was an artifice,\nwhich the jealous husband resorted to, according to custom, in order to\nsurprise his wife. The truth is quite otherwise. Monsieur de Montragouz\nwent to Le Perche to receive the heritage of his cousin of Outarde, who\nhad been killed gloriously by a cannon-ball at the battle of the Dunes,\nwhile casting dice upon a drum.\n\nBefore leaving, Monsieur de Montragoux begged his wife to indulge in\nevery possible distraction during his absence.\n\n\u201cInvite all your friends, madame,\u201d he said, \u201cgo riding with them, amuse\nyourselves, and have a pleasant time.\u201d\n\nHe handed over to her all the keys of the house, thus indicating that\nin his absence she was the sole and sovereign mistress of all the\n_seigneurie_ of Guillettes.\n\n\u201cThis,\u201d he said, \u201cis the key of the two great wardrobes; this of the\ngold and silver not in daily use; this of the strong-boxes which contain\nmy gold and silver; this of the caskets where my jewels are kept; and\nthis is a pass-key into all the rooms. As for this little key, it is\nthat of the Cabinet, at the end of the Gallery, on the ground floor;\nopen everything, and go where you will.\u201d\n\nCharles Perrault claims that Monsieur de Montragoux added:\n\n\u201cBut as for the little Cabinet, I forbid you to enter that; and I forbid\nyou so expressly that if you do enter it, I cannot say to what lengths\nmy anger will not go.\u201d\n\nThe historian of Bluebeard in placing these words on record, has fallen\ninto the error of adopting, without, verification, the version concocted\nafter the event by the ladies Lespoisse. Monsieur de Montragoux\nexpressed himself very differently. When he handed to his wife the key\nof the little Cabinet, which was none other than the Cabinet of the\nUnfortunate Princesses, to which we have already frequently alluded, he\nexpressed the desire that his beloved Jeanne should not enter that part\nof the house which he regarded as fatal to his domestic happiness. It\nwas through this room, indeed, that his first wife, and the best of\nall of them, had fled, when she ran away with her bear; here Blanche\nde Gibeaumex had repeatedly betrayed him with various gentlemen; and\nlastly, the porphyry pavement was stained by the blood of a beloved\ncriminal. Was not this enough to make Monsieur de Montragoux connect the\nidea of this room with cruel memories and fateful forebodings?\n\nThe words which he addressed to Jeanne de Lespoisse convey the desires\nand impressions which were troubling his mind. They were actually as\nfollows:\n\n\u201cFor you, madame, nothing of mine is hidden, and I should feel that I\nwas doing you an injury did I fail to hand over to you all the keys of\na dwelling which belongs to you. You may therefore enter this little\ncabinet, as you may enter all the other rooms of the house; but if you\nwill take my advice you will do nothing of the kind, to oblige me, and\nin consideration of the painful ideas which, for me, are connected\nwith this room, and the forebodings of evil which these ideas, despite\nmyself, call up into my mind. I should be inconsolable were any\nmischance to befall you, or were I to bring misfortune upon you. You\nwill, madame, forgive these fears, which are happily unfounded, as being\nonly the outcome of my anxious affection and my watchful love.\u201d\n\nWith these words the good _seigneur_ embraced his wife and posted off to\nLe Perche.\n\n\u201cThe friends and neighbours,\u201d says Charles Perrault, \u201cdid not wait to be\nasked to visit the young bride; so full were they of impatience to see\nall the wealth of her house. They proceeded at once to inspect all\nthe rooms, cabinets, and wardrobes, each of which was richer and more\nbeautiful than the last; and there was no end to their envy and their\npraises of their friend\u2019s good fortune.\u201d\n\nAll the historians who have dealt with this subject have added that\nMadame de Montsagoux took no pleasure in the sight of all these\nriches, by reason of her impatience to open the little Cabinet. This\nis perfectly correct, and as Perrault has said: \u201cSo urgent was her\ncuriosity that, without considering that it was unmannerly to leave her\nguests, she went down to it by a little secret staircase, and in such a\nhurry that two or three times she thought she would break her neck.\u201d The\nfact is beyond question. But what no one has told us is that the reason\nwhy she was so anxious to reach this apartment was that the Chevalier de\nla Merlus was awaiting her there.\n\nSince she had come to make her home in the castle of Guillettes she had\nmet this young gentleman in the Cabinet every day, and oftener twice a\nday than once, without wearying of an intercourse so unseemly in a young\nmarried woman. It is Impossible to hesitate, as to the nature of the\nties connecting Jeanne with the Chevalier: they were anything but\nrespectable, anything but chaste, Alas, had Madame de Montragoux merely\nbetrayed her husband\u2019s honour, she would no doubt have incurred the\nblame of posterity; but the most austere of moralists might have found\nexcuses for her. He might allege, in favour of so young a woman, the\nlaxity of the morals of the period; the examples of the city and the\nCourt; the too certain effects of a bad training, and the advice of\nan immoral mother, for Madame Sidonie de Lespoisse countenanced her\ndaughter\u2019s intrigues. The wise might have forgiven her a fault too\namiable to merit their severity; her errors would have seemed too common\nto be crimes, and the world would simply have considered that she was\nbehaving like other people. But Jeanne de Lespoisse, not content with\nbetraying her husband\u2019s honour, did not hesitate to attempt his life.\n\nIt was in the little Cabinet, otherwise known as the Cabinet of the\nUnfortunate Princesses, that Jeanne de Lespoisse, Dame de Montragoux, in\nconcert with the Chevalier de la Merlus, plotted the death of a kind and\nfaithful husband. She declared later that, on entering the room, she saw\nhanging there the bodies of six murdered women, whose congealed blood\ncovered the tiles, and that recognizing in these unhappy women the first\nsix wives of Bluebeard, she foresaw the fate which awaited herself.\nShe must, in this case, have mistaken the paintings on the walls for\nmutilated corpses, and her hallucinations must be compared with those\nof Lady Macbeth. But it is extremely probable that Jeanne imagined\nthis horrible sight in order to relate it afterwards, justifying her\nhusband\u2019s murderers by slandering their victim.\n\nThe death of Monsieur de Montragouz was determined upon. Certain letters\nwhich lie before me compel the belief that Madame Sidonie Lespoisse had\nher part in the plot. As for her elder daughter, she may be described as\nthe soul of the conspiracy. Anne de Lespoisse was the wickedest of the\nwhole family. She was a stranger to sensual weakness, remaining chaste\nin the midst of the profligacy of the house; it was not a case of\nrefusing pleasures which she thought unworthy of her; the truth was that\nshe took pleasure only in cruelty. She engaged her two brothers,\nCosme and Pierre, in the enterprise by promising them the command of a\nregiment.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V\n\nIT now rests with us to trace, with the aid of authentic documents,\nand reliable evidence, the most atrocious, treacherous, and cowardly\ndomestic crime of which the record has come down to us. The murder\nwhose circumstances we are about to relate can only be compared to\nthat committed on the night of the 9th March, 1449, on the person of\nGuillaume de Flavy, by his wife Blanche d\u2019Overbreuc, a young and slender\nwoman, the bastard d\u2019Orbandas, and the barber Jean Bocquillon.\n\nThey stifled Guillaume with a pillow, battered him pitilessly with a\nclub, and bled him at the throat like a calf. Blanche d\u2019Overbreuc proved\nthat her husband had determined to have her drowned, while Jeanne de\nLespoisse betrayed a loving husband to a gang of unspeakable scoundrels.\nWe will record the facts with all possible restraint. Bluebeard returned\nrather earlier than expected. This it was gave rise to the quite\nmistaken idea that, a prey to the blackest jealousy, he was wishful to\nsurprise his wife. Full of joy and confidence, if he thought of giving\nher a surprise it was an agreeable one. His kindness and tenderness, and\nhis joyous, peaceable air would have softened the most savage hearts.\nThe Chevalier de la Merlus, and the whole execrable brood of Lespoisse\nsaw therein nothing but an additional facility for taking his life, and\npossessing themselves of his wealth, still further increased by his new\ninheritance.\n\nHis young wife met him with a smiling face, allowing herself to be\nembraced and led to the conjugal chamber, where she did everything to\nplease the good man. The following morning she returned him the bunch of\nkeys which had been confided to her care. But there was missing that of\nthe Cabinet of the Unfortunate Princesses, commonly called the little\nCabinet. Bluebeard gently demanded its delivery, and after putting him\noff for a time on various pretexts Jeanne returned it to him.\n\nThere now arises a question which cannot be solved without leaving\nthe limited domain of history to enter the indeterminate regions of\nphilosophy.\n\nCharles Perrault specifically states that the key of the little Cabinet\nwas a fairy key, that is to say, it was magical, enchanted, endowed with\nproperties contrary to the laws of nature, at all events, as we conceive\nthem. We have no proof to the contrary. This is a fitting moment to\nrecall the precept of my illustrious master, Monsieur du Clos des Lunes,\na member of the Institute: \u201cWhen the supernatural makes its appearance,\nit must not be rejected by the historian.\u201d I shall therefore content\nmyself with recalling as regards this key, the unanimous opinion of all\nthe old biographers of Bluebeard; they all affirm that it was a fairy\nkey. This is a point of great importance. Moreover, this key is not the\nonly object created by human industry which has proved to be endowed\nwith marvellous properties. Tradition abounds with examples of enchanted\nswords. Arthur\u2019s was a magic sword. And so was that of Joan of Arc, on\nthe undeniable authority of Jean Chartier; and the proof afforded by\nthat illustrious chronicler is that when the blade was broken the two\npieces refused to be welded together again despite all the efforts of\nthe most competent armourers. Victor Hugo speaks in one of his poems of\nthose \u201cmagic stairways still obscured below.\u201d Many authors even admit\nthat there are men-magicians who can turn themselves into wolves. We\nshall not undertake to combat such a firm and constant belief, and we\nshall not pretend to decide whether the key of the little Cabinet was\nor was not enchanted, for our reserve does not imply that we are in any\nuncertainty, and therein resides its merit. But where we find ourselves\nin our proper domain, or to be more precise within our own jurisdiction,\nwhere we once more become judges of facts, and writers of circumstances,\nis where we read that the key was flecked with blood. The authority of\nthe texts does not so far impress us as to compel us to believe this. It\nwas not flecked with blood. Blood had flowed in the little cabinet, but\nat a time already remote. Whether the key had been washed or whether it\nhad dried, it was impossible that it should be so stained, and what, in\nher agitation, the criminal wife mistook for a blood-stain on the iron,\nwas the reflection of the sky still empurpled by the roses of dawn.\n\nMonsieur de Montragoux, on seeing the key, perceived none the less that\nhis wife had entered the little cabinet. He noticed that it now appeared\ncleaner and brighter than when he had given it to her, and was of\nopinion that this polish could only come from use.\n\nThis produced a painful impression upon him, and he said to his wife,\nwith a mournful smile:\n\n\u201cMy darling, you have been into the little cabinet. May there result\nno grievous outcome for either of us! From that room emanates a malign\ninfluence from which I would have protected you. If you, in your turn\nshould become subjected to it, I should never get over it. Forgive me;\nwhen we love we are superstitious.\u201d\n\nOn these words, although Bluebeard cannot have frightened her, for his\nwords and demeanour expressed only love and melancholy, the young lady\nof Montragoux began shrieking at the top of her voice: \u201cHelp! Help!\nhe\u2019s killing me!\u201d This was the signal agreed upon. On hearing it, the\nChevalier de la Merlus and the two sons of Madame de Lespoisse were to\nhave thrown themselves upon Bluebeard and run him through with their\nswords.\n\nBut the Chevalier, whom Jeanne had hidden in a cupboard in the room,\nappeared alone. Monsieur de Montragoux, seeing him leap forth sword in\nhand, placed himself on guard. Jeanne fled terror-stricken, and met\nher sister Anne in the gallery. She was not, as has been related, on\na tower; for all the towers had been thrown down by order of Cardinal\nRichelieu. Anne was striving to put heart into her two brothers, who,\npale and quaking, dared not risk so great a stake. Jeanne hastily\nimplored them: \u201cQuick, quick, brothers, save my lover!\u201d Pierre and Cosme\nthen rushed at Bluebeard. They found him, having disarmed the Chevalier\nde la Merlus, holding him down with his knee; they treacherously ran\ntheir swords through his body from behind, and continued to strike at\nhim long after he had breathed his last.\n\nBluebeard had no heirs. His wife remained mistress of his property. She\nused a part of it to provide a dowry for her sister Anne, another part\nto buy captains\u2019 commissions for her two brothers, and the rest to marry\nthe Chevalier de la Merlus, who became a very respectable man as soon as\nhe was wealthy.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg\u2019s The Seven Wives Of Bluebeard, by Anatole France","title":"The Seven Wives of Bluebeard: 1920","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":8060}