{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_44288/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_44288","id":"gutenberg_44288","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/44288","summary":null,"tags":["Bluebeard (Legendary character) -- Juvenile fiction","Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: French Literature","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore"],"text":"[Illustration: title page decoration]\n\n                       THE STORY\n                           OF\n                       BLUE BEARD\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: decoration]\n\n              The : Story : of : Blue=Beard\n                from Perrault illustrated\n               with pictures and ornaments\n                       by Joseph\n                      E. Southall.\n\n[Illustration: decoration]\n\n                    London-Lawrence\n                      and Bullen\n                     Chicago Stone\n                      & Kimball\n                         1895\n\n[Illustration: decoration]\n\n\n\n\nBLUE BEARD\n\n\nOnce on a time there was a man who had fine town and country houses,\ngold and silver plate, embroidered furniture, and coaches gilt all over;\nbut unfortunately, this man had a blue beard, which made him look so\nugly and terrible, that there was not a woman or girl who did not run\naway from him. One of his neighbours, a lady of quality, had two\ndaughters, who were perfectly beautiful. He proposed to marry one of\nthem, leaving her to choose which of the two she would give him. Neither\nof them would have him; and they sent him from one to the other, not\nbeing able to make up their minds to marry a man who had a blue beard.\nWhat increased their distaste to him was, that he had had several wives\nalready, and nobody knew what had become of them.\n\nBlue Beard, in order to cultivate their acquaintance, took them, with\ntheir mother, three or four of their most intimate friends, and some\nyoung persons who resided in the neighbourhood, to one of his country\nseats, where they passed an entire week. Nothing was thought of but\nexcursions, hunting and fishing, parties, balls, entertainments,\ncollations; nobody went to bed; the whole night was spent in merry games\nand gambols. In short, all went off so well, that the youngest daughter\nbegan to find out that the beard of the master of the house was not as\nblue as it used to be, and that he was a very worthy man. Immediately\nupon their return to town the marriage took place.\n\n[Illustration: His beard seemed not so very blue]\n\nAt the end of a month Blue Beard told his wife that he was obliged to\ntake a journey, which would occupy six weeks at least, on a matter of\ngreat consequence; that he entreated she would amuse herself as much as\nshe could during his absence; that she would invite her best friends,\ntake them into the country with her if she pleased, and keep an\nexcellent table everywhere.\n\n\"Here,\" said he to her, \"are the keys of my two great store-rooms; these\nare those of the chests in which the gold and silver plate is kept,\nthat is only used on particular occasions; these are the keys of the\nstrong boxes in which I keep my money; these open the caskets that\ncontain my jewels; and this is the pass-key of all the apartments. As\nfor this little key, it is that of the closet at the end of the long\ngallery, on the ground floor. Open everything, and go everywhere except\ninto that little closet, which I forbid you to enter, and I forbid you\nso strictly, that if you should venture to open the door, there is\nnothing that you may not have to dread from my anger!\" She promised to\nobserve implicitly all his directions, and after he had embraced her, he\ngot on to his horse and set out on his journey.\n\nThe neighbours and friends of the young bride did not wait for her\ninvitation, so eager were they to see all the treasures contained in the\nmansion, not having ventured to enter it while the husband was at home,\nso terrified were they at his blue beard.\n\n[Illustration: Departure of Blue-Beard]\n\nBehold them immediately running through all the rooms, closets, and\nwardrobes, each apartment exceeding the other in beauty and richness.\n\n[Illustration: Her Friends did not wait to be invited]\n\nThey ascended afterwards to the store-rooms, where they could not\nsufficiently admire the number and elegance of the tapestries, the beds,\nthe sofas, the cabinets, the stands,[1] the tables, and the mirrors in\nwhich they could see themselves from head to foot, and that had frames\nsome of glass,[2] some of silver, and some of gilt metal, more\nbeautiful and magnificent than had ever been seen. They never ceased\nenlarging upon and envying the good fortune of their friend, who in the\nmeanwhile was not in the least entertained by the sight of all these\ntreasures, in consequence of her impatience to open the closet on the\nground floor. Her curiosity increased to such a degree that, without\nreflecting how rude it was to leave her company, she ran down a back\nstaircase in such haste that twice or thrice she narrowly escaped\nbreaking her neck. Arrived at the door of the closet, she paused for a\nmoment, bethinking herself of her husband's prohibition, and that some\nmisfortune might befall her for her disobedience; but the temptation was\nso strong that she could not conquer it.\n\n[Illustration: She paused before unlocking the door]\n\nShe therefore took the little key and opened, tremblingly, the door of\nthe closet. At first she could discern nothing, the windows being\nclosed; after a short time she began to perceive that the floor was all\ncovered with clotted blood, in which were reflected the dead bodies of\nseveral females suspended against the walls. These were all the wives of\nBlue Beard, who had cut their throats one after the other. She was ready\nto die with fright, and the key of the closet, which she had withdrawn\nfrom the lock, fell from her hand. After recovering her senses a little,\nshe picked up the key, locked the door again, and went up to her chamber\nto compose herself; but she could not succeed, so greatly was she\nagitated. Having observed that the key of the closet was stained with\nblood, she wiped it two or three times, but the blood would not come\noff. In vain she washed it, and even scrubbed it with sand and\nfreestone, the blood was still there, for the key was enchanted, and\nthere were no means of cleaning it completely: when the blood was washed\noff one side, it came back on the other.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBlue Beard returned that very evening, and said that he had received\nletters on the road informing him that the business on which he was\ngoing had been settled to his advantage. His wife did all she could to\npersuade him that she was delighted at his speedy return. The next\nmorning he asked her for his keys again; she gave them to him; but her\nhand trembled so, that he had not much difficulty in guessing what had\noccurred. \"How comes it,\" said he, \"that the key of the closet is not\nwith the others?\" \"I must have left it,\" she replied, \"up-stairs on my\ntable.\" \"Fail not,\" said Blue Beard, \"to give it me presently.\" After\nseveral excuses, she was compelled to produce the key. Blue Beard having\nexamined it, said to his wife, \"Why is there some blood on this key?\"\n\"I don't know,\" answered the poor wife, paler than death. \"You don't\nknow?\" rejoined Blue Beard. \"I know well enough.\n\n[Illustration: \"You do not Know!\n               I very well Know\"]\n\nYou must needs enter the closet. Well, madam, you shall enter it, and go\ntake your place amongst the ladies you saw there.\" She flung herself at\nher husband's feet, weeping and begging his pardon, with all the signs\nof true repentance for having disobeyed him. Her beauty and affliction\nmight have melted a rock, but Blue Beard had a heart harder than a rock.\n\"You must die, madam,\" said he, \"and immediately.\" \"If I must die,\" she\nreplied, looking at him with streaming eyes, \"give me a little time to\nsay my prayers.\" \"I give you half a quarter of an hour,\" answered Blue\nBeard, \"but not a minute more.\" As soon as he had left her, she called\nher sister, and said to her, \"Sister Anne\" (for so she was named), \"go\nup, I pray thee, to the top of the tower, and see if my brothers are not\ncoming. They have promised me that they would come to see me today; and\nif you see them, sign to them to make haste.\" Sister Anne mounted to\nthe top of the tower, and the poor distressed creature called to her\nevery now and then, \"Anne! sister Anne! dost thou not see anything\ncoming?\" And sister Anne answered her, \"I see nothing but the sun making\ndust, and the grass growing green.\"\n\n[Illustration: \"I see only the sun and dust\"]\n\nIn the meanwhile Blue Beard, with a great cutlass in his hand, called\nout with all his might to his wife, \"Come down quickly, or I will come\nup there.\" \"One minute more, if you please,\" replied his wife; and\nimmediately repeated in a low voice, \"Anne! sister Anne! dost thou not\nsee anything coming?\" And sister Anne replied, \"I see nothing but the\nsun making dust, and the grass growing green.\" \"Come down quickly,\"\nroared Blue Beard, \"or I will come up there.\" \"I come,\" answered his\nwife, and then exclaimed, \"Anne! sister Anne! dost thou not see anything\ncoming?\" \"I see,\" said sister Anne, \"a great cloud of dust moving this\nway.\" \"Is it my brothers?\" \"Alas! no, sister, I see a flock of sheep.\"\n\"Wilt thou not come down?\" shouted Blue Beard. \"One minute more,\"\nreplied his wife, and then she cried, \"Anne! sister Anne! dost thou not\nsee anything coming?\" \"I see,\" she replied, \"two horsemen coming this\nway; but they are still at a great distance.\" \"Heaven be praised!\" she\nexclaimed, a moment afterwards. \"They are my brothers! I am making all\nthe signs I can to hasten them.\" Blue Beard began to roar so loudly that\nthe whole house shook again. The poor wife descended, and went and threw\nherself, with streaming eyes and dishevelled tresses, at his feet.\n\n\"It is of no use,\" said Blue Beard. \"You must die!\" Then seizing her by\nthe hair with one hand, and raising his cutlass with the other, he was\nabout to cut off her head. The poor wife turned towards him, and fixing\nupon him her dying eyes, implored him to allow her one short moment to\ncollect herself. \"No, no,\" said he; \"recommend thyself heartily to\nHeaven.\" And lifting his arm----At this moment there was so loud a\nknocking at the gate, that Blue Beard stopped short. It was opened, and\ntwo horsemen were immediately seen to enter, who, drawing their swords,\nran straight at Blue Beard. He recognized them as the brothers of his\nwife--one a dragoon, the other a musqueteer, and, consequently, fled\nimmediately, in hope to escape; but they pursued him so closely, that\nthey overtook him before he could reach the step of his door, and,\npassing their swords through his body, left him dead on the spot. The\npoor wife was almost as dead as her husband, and had not strength to\nrise and embrace her brothers.\n\n[Illustration: Death of Blue-Beard]\n\nIt was found that Blue Beard had no heirs, and so his widow remained\npossessed of all his property. She employed part of it in marrying her\nsister Anne to a young gentleman who had long loved her; another part,\nin buying captains' commissions for her two brothers, and with the rest\nshe married herself to a very worthy man, who made her forget the\nmiserable time she had passed with Blue Beard.\n\n    Provided one has common sense,\n    And of the world but knows the ways,\n    This story bears the evidence\n    Of being one of bygone-days.\n    No husband now is so terrific,\n    Impossibilities expecting:\n    Though jealous, he is still pacific,\n    Indifference to his wife affecting.\n    And of his beard, whate'er the hue,\n    His spouse need fear no such disaster;\n    Indeed, 'twould often puzzle you\n    To say which of the twain is master.\n\n[Illustration: decoration]\n\n\n\n\n             RICHARD CLAY & SONS, LIMITED,\n                    LONDON & BUNGAY.\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[1] Gueridons, _i. e._ stands to place lights or china upon.\nThe word is now used to signify any small round table with one foot; but\nthe old-fashioned stand, which was higher than a table, and its top not\nbigger than a dessert-plate, is occasionally to be met with.\n\n[2] Looking-glasses with frames of the same material were much\nin vogue at that period. Of silver-framed mirrors some magnificent\nspecimens remain to us at Knowle Park, Kent.","title":"The Story of Blue-Beard","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":2066}