Charles Perrault - Bluebeard: A Tale. The scariest fairy tale

Blue Beard

Once upon a time there lived a man who had a lot of all sorts of good things: he had beautiful houses in the city and outside the city, gold and silver dishes, embroidered chairs and gilded carriages, but, unfortunately, this man had a blue beard, and this beard gave him such an ugly and menacing appearance that all the girls and women used to say, as soon as they saw him, God bless him.

One of his neighbors, a lady of noble origin, had two daughters, perfect beauties. He wooed one of them, without specifying which one, and leaving it to the mother herself to choose his bride. But neither one nor the other agreed to be his wife: they could not decide to marry a man who had a blue beard, and only quarreled among themselves, sending him to each other. They were embarrassed by the fact that he already had several wives and no one in the world knew what happened to them.

Bluebeard, wanting to give them the opportunity to get to know him better, took them along with their mother, three or four of their closest friends and several young people from the neighborhood to one of his country houses, where he spent a whole week with them. The guests walked, went hunting and fishing; the dancing and feasting did not stop; there was no trace of sleep at night; everyone had fun, came up with funny pranks and jokes; in a word, everyone was so good and cheerful that the youngest of the daughters soon came to the conviction that the owner’s beard was not so blue at all and that he was a very amiable and pleasant gentleman. As soon as everyone returned to the city, the wedding was immediately celebrated.

After a month, Bluebeard told his wife that he was obliged to be away for at least six weeks on very important business. He asked her not to be bored in his absence, but, on the contrary, to try in every possible way to unwind, invite her friends, take them out of town if she wanted, eat and drink sweetly, in a word, live for her own pleasure.

Here,” he added, “are the keys to the two main storerooms; here are the keys to gold and silver dishes, which are not placed on the table every day; here from chests with money; here from the boxes with precious stones; here, finally, is the key with which you can unlock all the rooms. But this small key unlocks the closet, which is located below, at the very end of the main gallery. You can unlock everything, enter everywhere; but I forbid you to enter that closet. My prohibition on this matter is so strict and formidable that if you happen - what God forbid - to unlock it, then there is no such misfortune that you should not expect from my anger.

Bluebeard's wife promised to follow his orders and instructions exactly; and he, having kissed her, got into the carriage and set off.

The young woman’s neighbors and friends did not wait for an invitation, but all came on their own, so great was their impatience to see with their own eyes the countless riches that were rumored to be in her house. They were afraid to come until her husband left: his blue beard frightened them very much. They immediately went to inspect all the chambers, and there was no end to their surprise: everything seemed magnificent and beautiful to them! They got to the storerooms, and there was something they didn’t see there! Lush beds, sofas, rich curtains, tables, tables, mirrors - so huge that you could see yourself in them from head to toe, and with such wonderful, extraordinary frames! Some frames were also mirrored, others were made of gilded carved silver. Neighbors and friends incessantly praised and extolled the happiness of the mistress of the house, but she was not at all amused by the spectacle of all these riches: she was tormented by the desire to unlock the closet below, at the end of the gallery.

So strong was her curiosity that, not realizing how impolite it was to leave guests, she suddenly rushed down the secret staircase, almost breaking her neck. Having run to the door of the closet, she, however, stopped for a moment. Her husband's prohibition came to her mind. “Well,” she thought, “I will be in trouble for my disobedience!” But the temptation was too strong - she could not cope with it. She took the key and, trembling like a leaf, unlocked the closet.

At first she couldn’t make out anything: the closet was dark, the windows were closed. But after a while she saw that the entire floor was covered in dried blood and in this blood were reflected the bodies of several dead women tied along the walls; these were Bluebeard's former wives, whom he killed one after another. She almost died on the spot from fear and dropped the key from her hand.

Finally she came to her senses, picked up the key, locked the door and went to her room to rest and recover. But she was so frightened that she could not completely come to her senses.

She noticed that the key to the closet was stained with blood; She wiped it once, twice, three times, but the blood did not go away. No matter how she washed it, no matter how much she rubbed it, even with sand and crushed bricks, the blood stain remained! This key was magical, and there was no way to clean it; the blood came off on one side and came out on the other.

That same evening Bluebeard returned from his journey. He told his wife that he had received letters on the road, from which he learned that the matter for which he had to leave had been decided in his favor. His wife, as usual, tried in every possible way to show him that she was very happy about his speedy return.

The next morning he asked her for the keys. She handed them to him, but her hand trembled so much that he easily guessed everything that had happened in his absence.

Why, he asked, is the key to the closet not with the others?

“I must have forgotten it upstairs on my table,” she answered.

Please bring it, do you hear! - said Bluebeard. After several excuses and delays, she was finally supposed to bring the fatal key.

Why is this blood? - he asked.

“I don’t know why,” answered the poor woman, and she turned pale as a sheet.

You do not know! - picked up Bluebeard. - Well, I know! You wanted to go into the closet. Okay, you will go in there and take your place next to the women you saw there.

She threw herself at the feet of her husband, cried bitterly and began to ask him for forgiveness for her disobedience, expressing the most sincere repentance and grief. It seems that a stone would have been moved by the prayers of such a beauty, but Bluebeard had a heart harder than any stone.

“You must die,” he said, “and now.”

If I really have to die,” she said through tears, “then give me a minute of time to pray to God.”

“I give you exactly five minutes,” said Bluebeard, “and not a second more!”

He went downstairs, and she called her sister and said to her:

My sister Anna (that was her name), please go up to the very top of the tower, see if my brothers are coming? They promised to visit me today. If you see them, give them a sign to hurry up.

Sister Anna climbed to the top of the tower, and the poor unfortunate thing shouted to her from time to time:

Sister Anna, don't you see anything?

And sister Anna answered her:

Meanwhile, Bluebeard, grabbing a huge knife, shouted with all his might:

Come here, come, or I'll come to you!

Just a minute,” his wife answered and added in a whisper:

And sister Anna answered:

I see the sun is getting clearer and the grass is turning green.

Go, go quickly,” yelled Bluebeard, “or else I’ll come to you!”

I'm coming! - the wife answered and again asked her sister:

Anna, sister Anna, don't you see anything?

“I see,” answered Anna, “a large cloud of dust is approaching us.”

Are these my brothers?

Oh no, sister, this is a flock of sheep.

Will you finally come! - Bluebeard yelled.

Just a little second,” his wife answered and asked again:

Anna, sister Anna, don't you see anything?

I see two horsemen galloping here, but they are still very far away. “Thank God,” she added after a while. - These are our brothers. I give them a sign to hurry up as soon as possible.

But then Bluebeard made such a racket that the very walls of the house began to tremble. His poor wife came down and threw herself at his feet, all torn to pieces and in tears.

“This will serve no purpose,” said Bluebeard, “your hour of death has come.”

With one hand he grabbed her by the hair, with the other he raised his terrible knife... He swung at her to cut off her head... The poor thing turned her faded eyes to him:

Give me one more moment, just one moment, to gather my courage...

No no! - he answered. - Entrust your soul to God!

And he already raised his hand... But at that moment there was such a terrible knock at the door that Bluebeard stopped, looked back... The door opened at once, and two young men burst into the room. Drawing their swords, they rushed straight at Bluebeard.

He recognized his wife's brothers - one served in the dragoons, the other in the horse huntsmen - and immediately sharpened his skis; but the brothers caught up with him before he could run behind the porch.

They pierced him through with their swords and left him dead on the floor.

Bluebeard's poor wife was barely alive herself, no worse than her husband: she did not even have enough strength to rise and embrace her deliverers.

It turned out that Bluebeard had no heirs, and all his property went to his widow. She used one part of his wealth to marry her sister Anna to a young nobleman who had long been in love with her; with the other part she bought captain's ranks for her brothers, and with the rest she herself married a very honest and good man. With him, she forgot all the grief that she endured as Bluebeard's wife.

Charles Perrault

Translation by Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev

Illustrations by Mikhail Abramovich Bychkov

We present to your attention a fairy tale by the famous French storyteller Charles Perrault, translated by Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev with wonderful illustrations by Mikhail Bychkov.

Once upon a time there lived a man who had a lot of all sorts of good things: he had beautiful houses in the city and outside the city, gold and silver dishes, embroidered chairs and gilded carriages, but, unfortunately, this man had a blue beard, and this beard gave him such an ugly and menacing appearance that all the girls and women used to say, as soon as they saw him, God bless him.

One of his neighbors, a lady of noble origin, had two daughters, perfect beauties. He wooed one of them, without specifying which one, and leaving it to the mother herself to choose his bride. But neither one nor the other agreed to be his wife: they could not decide to marry a man who had a blue beard, and only quarreled among themselves, sending him to each other. They were embarrassed by the fact that he already had several wives and no one in the world knew what happened to them.

Bluebeard, wanting to give them the opportunity to get to know him better, took them with their mother, three or four of their closest friends and several young people from the neighborhood to one of his country houses, where he spent a whole week with them. The guests walked, went hunting and fishing; the dancing and feasting did not stop; there was no trace of sleep at night; everyone had fun, came up with funny pranks and jokes; in a word, everyone was so good and cheerful that the youngest of the daughters soon came to the conviction that the owner’s beard was not so blue at all and that he was a very amiable and pleasant gentleman. As soon as everyone returned to the city, the wedding was immediately celebrated.

After a month, Bluebeard told his wife that he was obliged to be away for at least six weeks on very important business. He asked her not to be bored in his absence, but, on the contrary, to try in every possible way to unwind, invite her friends, take them out of town if she wanted, eat and drink sweetly, in a word, live for her own pleasure.

“Here,” he added, “the keys to the two main storerooms; here are the keys to gold and silver dishes, which are not placed on the table every day; here from chests with money; here from boxes with precious stones; here, finally, is the key with which you can unlock all the rooms. But this small key unlocks the closet, which is located below, at the very end of the main gallery. You can unlock everything, enter everywhere; but I forbid you to enter that closet. My prohibition on this matter is so strict and formidable that if you happen - what God forbid - to unlock it, then there is no such misfortune that you should not expect from my anger.

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Let's remember the plot of this fairy tale Charles Perrault, first published in 1697. Once upon a time there lived a very rich gentleman, but because of his blue beard, which made him ugly and scary, he could not find a girlfriend in life. He was seduced by the daughters of a respectable lady who lived next door. He wooed them, was refused, but showed persistence: he arranged a whole week of entertainment for them and all the respectable neighboring youth in his castle. The action was a success, and the youngest daughter gave in. We had a wedding and the honeymoon went great. The young woman was happy, but her husband got ready for business and “asked her to have a good time in his absence, invite her friends, go with them to a country castle, if she wants, and do whatever she pleases everywhere.” The husband only forbade visiting one room in the castle, threatening with terrible punishment. The wife invited her friends, and while they were jealous of her wealth, walking around the castle, she rushed to the forbidden room. What did she see there? “The entire floor was covered in coagulated blood, which reflected the corpses of several women hanging on the walls.” These were previous wives Bluebeard, killed by him. Out of fear, she dropped the key, staining it with blood. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t wash it off. The suddenly returning husband, seeing the key, understood everything and suggested that his wife quickly prepare for death. Fortunately, her brothers arrived and everything ended well - they killed the villain, and his wife, having inherited his untold wealth, successfully remarried and even sponsored her sister and brothers.

Sado without Maso

The real prototype of Bluebeard is often considered the richest Baron and Marshal of France Gilles de Rais. In 1440 he was executed for terrible crimes. Having sold his soul to the devil and becoming an alchemist and warlock, he performed monstrous rituals, during which children were tortured and killed. De Rais himself took part in them Active participation, and also engaged in sodomy and necrophilia. The baron confessed to about 800 murders, but the judges decided that there were about 150. There was no more terrible figure in the history of France.

But at the same time, Gilles de Rais was almost a national hero. He earned the title of marshal for his courage in Hundred Years' War. Moreover, he was the closest ascetic Joan of Arc and accompanied her in almost all battles. It was he who was entrusted with the honorable mission of delivering oil for anointing Charles VII during his coronation in Reims in 1429. But in the early 30s he retreated from valiant deeds, lived alternately in his castles, of which he had more than Bluebeard, and indulged in all kinds of bad things. He surrounds himself with a private army, a huge retinue and even a staff of priests. His lifestyle and trips are similar to that of a royal. And in the forbidden rooms of castles, terrible things happen.

Marshal of France Gilles de Rhine Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Unlike the fabulous Bluebeard, de Rais killed not his wives, but his children. And he sent his only wife to a monastery. Why did Perrault “award” the hero with a blue beard and why do we identify him with Baron de Rais? One might assume that the great storyteller came up with a blue beard for the hero in the same way as a red cap for a peasant girl and boots for a cat. IN folk tales, on the basis of which they are written, the cat performs feats barefoot, and the girl’s head is not covered. “In the memory of people, Re remained a legendary monster. In the land where he lived, this memory mixed with the legend of Bluebeard,” Georges Bataille explains this collision, famous philosopher and the author of the most comprehensive book on Gilles de Rais. In his opinion, between the hero of the fairy tale and the real baron “there is nothing in common.” And this seems to be true.

Fathers and Sons

Much closer to Perrault's tale is the legend of Comoros - King of Brittany, who reigned in the 6th century. He married someone Trithymia, later becoming a Catholic saint. When she became pregnant, she had a vision of the king's former seven wives, whom he had killed. They persuaded her to run away. Komor caught up with his wife and, having learned about the pregnancy, cut off her head. And the father with the help Saint Gildas resurrected her. Therefore, the saint is often depicted without a head - she holds it in her hands. In this legend, only the forbidden room is missing, but it looks like a fairy tale more history Gilles de Rais.

But why does Comoros kill his wives upon learning of their pregnancy? This motif is found very widely in mythology. Ancient Greek god Kronos predicted that his son would overthrow him. To avoid this, he swallowed newly born children. But instead of one of them, his mother slipped him a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes. Kronos swallowed him, the child escaped and then actually overthrew his father and became the main god on Olympus. It was Zeus. But he also received a prophecy that he would be overthrown by his son. To maintain power, Zeus ate his wife when she became pregnant. As a result, he inherited from her... pregnancy. But a girl was born, though she looked like her husband. It was Athena. She emerged from the split head of Zeus immediately in combat gear - in a helmet, with a shield and a spear.

Kronos, devouring children. Public Domain.

But among the fairy tales there is no exact prototype of “Bluebeard”. There are fairy tales with forbidden rooms in which people are killed, dismembered, and then resurrected. But unlike Perrault, this is done not only by husbands, but also by animals, robbers or some non-humans and messengers from another world. Experts believe that the main thing in them is not the image of the husband, but the chaos that occurs in the forbidden room. This is what the heroine of the fairy tale sees Brothers Grimm“A strange bird” that was beheaded and then saved: “In the middle of the room there was a huge basin full of blood, and in it lay the bodies of people cut into pieces, and next to the basin there was a stump of wood and a shiny ax was placed near it.”

There are many similar pictures in fairy tales different nations, including ours. Vladimir Propp, the most influential expert on fairy tales in the world, saw this as a phenomenon of so-called temporary death. It was carried out during initiation: a person was killed, cut into pieces, then reassembled and resurrected. It is clear that this was done for fun, but under the influence of hallucinogens or other psychotechniques, the initiate took it literally. To be more sure that executions were carried out on him, they could cut off his finger, inflict several scars, and leave other signs of violence. As a result, the initiate was reborn as a new, different person. Such serious rituals with dismemberment and a shift in consciousness were usually carried out during initiation into shamans. They often took place in a forbidden room - like in a fairy tale. In special men's houses where this was done, there were often such rooms. This was observed among archaic peoples who practiced such rituals even in the 19th-20th centuries. In time immemorial, the ancestors of the so-called also did this. civilized peoples. Fragments of memories of this remain in fairy tales.

Of course, all this reading is not very suitable for children in our tough times. But you need to remember this, because social psychologists say: what happened once can happen again. And today wild customs are already being revived. In Syria, terrorists eat the hearts of killed enemies, and in Denmark they publicly kill and dissect animals in front of children. Children's books are already full of stories about euthanasia, violence, homosexuality, and drug addiction. In Sweden, writers are proud that they have learned to portray children as evil and unpleasant. Should we follow this path or open other books?

IN nearest numbers read about what fairy tales you should educate your children on.

AND Once upon a time there was a man who had beautiful houses both in the city and in the countryside, gold and silver dishes, chairs decorated with embroidery, and gilded carriages. But, unfortunately, this man had a blue beard, and it gave him such an ugly and terrible appearance that there was not a woman or a girl who did not run away when she saw him.

One of his neighbors, a noble lady, had two daughters of wondrous beauty. He asked to marry one of them and allowed his mother to choose the one she would agree to give for him. Both did not want to marry him and abandoned him in favor of the other, unable to choose as a husband a man with a blue beard. They were also disgusted by the fact that this man had already been married several times, and no one knew what happened to his wives.

To establish a closer acquaintance, Bluebeard invited them, along with their mother and three or four best friends, and several young men who were their neighbors, to one of his country houses, where the guests stayed for a whole week. All the time was occupied with walks, hunting and fishing trips, dancing, feasts, breakfasts and dinners; no one thought of sleeping, and every night the guests indulged in all sorts of jokes - in a word, everything worked out so well that it began to seem to the youngest daughter that the owner of the house’s beard was no longer so blue and that he himself was a very decent person. As soon as we returned to the city, the wedding was decided.

A month later, Bluebeard told his wife that he needed to go to the village for at least six weeks for the sake of important business; he asked her to have fun during his absence; told her to call her girlfriends, so that if she wanted, she could take them out of town; so that everywhere she eats the most delicious things. “Here,” he said, “are the keys to both large storerooms; here are the keys to the gold and silver dishes, which are not served every day; here are the keys to the chests where my gold and silver are kept; here are the keys to the caskets where my precious stones lie; here is the key that unlocks all the rooms in my house. And this small key is the key to the room at the end of the lower large gallery. Open all the doors, go everywhere, but I forbid you to enter this small room, and I forbid you so strictly that if you happen to open the door there, you can expect everything from my anger.”

She promised to strictly observe everything that was ordered to her, and he hugged his wife, got into his carriage and left.

Neighbors and girlfriends did not wait for messengers to be sent for them, but they themselves hurried to the newlywed - they were so impatient to see all the riches of her house, and while her husband was there, they did not dare to visit her - because of his blue beard, which they were afraid. So they immediately began to examine the rooms, small rooms, dressing rooms, which surpassed each other in beauty and wealth. Then they moved to the storerooms, where they could not stop admiring the beauty of countless carpets, beds, sofas, cabinets, tables and mirrors, in which they could see themselves from head to toe and the edges of which - some of glass, others of gilded silver - were more beautiful and more magnificent than anything they had ever seen. Without ceasing to envy, they all the time extolled the happiness of their friend, who, however, was not at all interested in the sight of all these riches, for she was impatient to go open the small room downstairs.

She was so overcome by curiosity that, not considering how impolite it was to leave her guests, she went down the secret staircase, and with such haste that two or three times, as it seemed to her, she almost broke her neck. She stood at the door to the small room for several minutes, remembering the ban that her husband had imposed, and reflecting that misfortune might befall her for this disobedience; but the temptation was so strong that she could not defeat it: she took the key and tremblingly opened the door.

At first she didn't see anything because the shutters were closed. After a few moments, she began to notice that the floor was covered in dried blood and that in this blood were reflected the bodies of several dead women hanging on the walls: all of these were the wives of Bluebeard, who married them and then killed them. She thought that she would die of fear, and dropped the key that she had taken out of the lock.

Having recovered a little, she picked up the key, locked the door and went up to her room to recover at least a little; but she didn’t succeed, she was so excited.

Noticing that the key to the small room was stained with blood, she wiped it two or three times, but the blood did not come off; No matter how much she washed it, no matter how much she rubbed it with sand and a sand stone, the blood still remained, because the key was magic, and there was no way to completely clean it off: when the blood was cleaned off on one side, it appeared on the other.

Bluebeard returned from his journey that same evening and said that he had received letters from the road informing him that the matter for which he was traveling had been resolved in his favor. His wife did everything possible - just to prove to him that she was delighted with his imminent return.

The next day he demanded the keys from her, and she gave them to him, but her hands were shaking so much that he easily guessed everything that had happened. “Why,” he asked her, “is the key to the small room missing along with the other keys?” “Probably,” she said, “I left it upstairs, on my table.” “Don’t forget,” said Bluebeard, “to give it to me as soon as possible.”

Finally, after various excuses, I had to bring the key. Bluebeard, looking at him, said to his wife: “Why is there blood on this key?” “I don’t know,” answered the unhappy wife, pale as death. "Do not know? - asked Bluebeard. - I know. You wanted to go into the small room. Well, madam, you will enter it and take your place there next to the ladies you saw there.”

She threw herself at her husband’s feet, crying, asking him for forgiveness and, by all indications, sincerely repenting of her disobedience. Beautiful and sad, she would have touched even a rock, but Bluebeard had a heart harsher than the rock. “You must die, madam,” he told her, “and immediately.” “If I have to die,” she answered, looking at him with eyes full of tears, “give me at least a few minutes to pray to God.” “I give you seven minutes,” answered Bluebeard, “but not a moment more.”

Left alone, she called her sister and said to her: “My sister Anna (for that was her sister’s name), I ask you, go up the tower and see if my brothers are coming: they promised to visit me today; and if you see them, give them a sign to hurry up.” Sister Anna climbed the tower, and the poor thing, in anguish, called out to her from time to time: “Anna, sister Anna, can’t you see anything?” And sister Anna answered her: “You can’t see anything, only the sun is scorching and the grass is shining in the sun.”

Meanwhile, Bluebeard was already holding big knife in his hand and shouted at the top of his lungs: “Come here quickly, otherwise I’ll come to you myself.” “One more minute, please,” the wife answered and quietly called out to her sister: “Anna, sister Anna, can’t you see anything?” And sister Anna answered: “You can’t see anything, only the sun is scorching and the grass is glistening in the sun.”

“Go quickly,” shouted Bluebeard, “or I’ll get up myself.” “I’m coming,” the wife answered, and then called out to her sister: “Anna, sister Anna, can’t you see anything?” - “I see,” answered the sister, “a large cloud of dust, it is rushing towards us...” - “Are these my brothers?” - “Alas, no, sister, I see a herd of sheep...” - “When will you come?” - Bluebeard shouted. “Just a minute,” the wife answered, and then called out to her sister: “Anna, sister Anna, can’t you see anything?” “I see,” she answered, “two horsemen, they are galloping here, but they are still far away!” - "God bless! - she exclaimed after a few moments. - These are my brothers. I give them a sign to hurry up.”

Then Bluebeard screamed so loudly that the whole house shook. The poor thing came down from the tower and threw herself at his feet, all in tears, with disheveled hair. “It won’t do any good,” said Bluebeard, “you’ll have to die.” And, grabbing her by the hair, he raised the knife and was ready to cut off her head. The poor woman, turning to him and looking at him with deadened eyes, asked to give her one more minute to prepare for death. “No, no, entrust your soul to God,” he said, raising his hand... At that moment there was such a terrible knock on the door that Bluebeard stopped. The door opened, and immediately two men entered, who, drawing their swords, rushed straight at Bluebeard...

He recognized his wife's brothers, a dragoon and a musketeer, and, fleeing from them, started to run, but they chased him so quickly that they caught him before he could jump out onto the porch. They pierced him through with their swords, and he fell dead. The poor woman herself was barely alive, and she didn’t even have the strength to get up and hug her brothers.

It turned out that Bluebeard had no heirs and that his wife, therefore, should get all his wealth. She used some of them to marry her sister Anna to a young nobleman who had loved her for a long time; the other part is to give her brothers the captain's rank, and the rest is to marry one good man who helped her forget that difficult time when she was Bluebeard's wife.

Once upon a time there lived a man who had a lot of all sorts of good things: he had beautiful houses in the city and outside the city, gold and silver dishes, embroidered chairs and gilded carriages, but, unfortunately, this man had a blue beard, and this beard gave him such an ugly and menacing appearance that all the girls and women used to say, as soon as they saw him, God bless him.

One of his neighbors, a lady of noble origin, had two daughters, perfect beauties. He wooed one of them, without specifying which one, and leaving it to the mother herself to choose his bride. But neither one nor the other agreed to be his wife: they could not decide to marry a man who had a blue beard, and only quarreled among themselves, sending him to each other. They were embarrassed by the fact that he already had several wives and no one in the world knew what happened to them.

Bluebeard, wanting to give them the opportunity to get to know him better, took them with their mother, three or four of their closest friends and several young people from the neighborhood to one of his country houses, where he spent a whole week with them. The guests walked, went hunting and fishing; the dancing and feasting did not stop; there was no trace of sleep at night; everyone had fun, came up with funny pranks and jokes; in a word, everyone was so good and cheerful that the youngest of the daughters soon came to the conviction that the owner’s beard was not at all so blue and that he was a very amiable and pleasant gentleman. As soon as everyone returned to the city, the wedding was immediately celebrated.

After a month, Bluebeard told his wife that he was obliged to be away for at least six weeks on very important business. He asked her not to be bored in his absence, but, on the contrary, to try in every possible way to unwind, invite her friends, take them out of town if she wanted, eat and drink sweetly, in a word, live for her own pleasure.

“Here,” he added, “the keys to the two main storerooms; here are the keys to gold and silver dishes, which are not placed on the table every day; here from chests with money; here from boxes with precious stones; here, finally, is the key with which you can unlock all the rooms. But this small key unlocks the closet, which is located below, at the very end of the main gallery. You can unlock everything, enter everywhere; but I forbid you to enter that closet. My prohibition on this matter is so strict and formidable that if you happen - what God forbid - to unlock it, then there is no such misfortune that you should not expect from my anger.

Bluebeard's wife promised to strictly carry out his orders and instructions; and he, having kissed her, got into the carriage and set off. The young woman’s neighbors and friends did not wait for an invitation, but all came on their own, so great was their impatience to see with their own eyes the countless riches that were rumored to be in her house. They were afraid to come until her husband left: his blue beard frightened them very much. They immediately went to inspect all the chambers, and there was no end to their surprise: everything seemed magnificent and beautiful to them! They got to the storerooms, and there was something they didn’t see there! Lush beds, sofas, rich curtains, tables, tables, mirrors - so huge that you could see yourself in them from head to toe, and with such wonderful, extraordinary frames! Some frames were also mirrored, others were made of gilded carved silver. Neighbors and friends incessantly praised and extolled the happiness of the mistress of the house, but she was not at all amused by the spectacle of all these riches: she was tormented by the desire to unlock the closet below, at the end of the gallery.

So strong was her curiosity that, not realizing how impolite it was to leave guests, she suddenly rushed down the secret staircase, almost breaking her neck. Having run to the door of the closet, she, however, stopped for a moment. Her husband's prohibition came to her mind. “Well,” she thought, “I will be in trouble for my disobedience!” But the temptation was too strong - she could not cope with it. She took the key and, trembling like a leaf, unlocked the closet. At first she couldn’t make out anything: the closet was dark, the windows were closed. But after a while she saw that the entire floor was covered in dried blood and in this blood were reflected the bodies of several dead women tied along the walls; these were Bluebeard's former wives, whom he killed one after another. She almost died on the spot from fear and dropped the key from her hand. Finally she came to her senses, picked up the key, locked the door and went to her room to rest and recover. But she was so frightened that she could not completely come to her senses.

She noticed that the key to the closet was stained with blood; She wiped it once, twice, three times, but the blood did not go away. No matter how she washed it, no matter how much she rubbed it, even with sand and crushed bricks, the blood stain remained! This key was magical, and there was no way to clean it; the blood came off on one side and came out on the other.

That same evening Bluebeard returned from his journey. He told his wife that he had received letters on the road, from which he learned that the matter for which he had to leave had been decided in his favor. His wife, as usual, tried in every possible way to show him that she was very happy about his speedy return. The next morning he asked her for the keys. She handed them to him, but her hand trembled so much that he easily guessed everything that had happened in his absence.

“Why,” he asked, “isn’t the key to the closet with the others?”

“I must have forgotten it upstairs on my table,” she answered.

- Please bring it, do you hear! - said Bluebeard.

After several excuses and delays, she was finally supposed to bring the fatal key.

- Why is there blood? - he asked.

“I don’t know why,” answered the poor woman, and she herself turned pale as a sheet.

- You do not know! - picked up Bluebeard. - Well, I know! You wanted to go into the closet. Okay, you will go in there and take your place next to the women you saw there.

She threw herself at her husband’s feet, wept bitterly and began to ask him for forgiveness for her disobedience, expressing the most sincere repentance and grief. It seems that a stone would have been moved by the prayers of such a beauty, but Bluebeard had a heart harder than any stone.

“You must die,” he said, “and now.”

“If I really have to die,” she said through tears, “then give me a minute of time to pray to God.”

“I give you exactly five minutes,” said Bluebeard, “and not a second more!”

He went downstairs, and she called her sister and said to her:

- My sister Anna (that was her name), please go up to the very top of the tower, see if my brothers are coming? They promised to visit me today. If you see them, give them a sign to hurry up. Sister Anna climbed to the top of the tower, and the poor unfortunate thing shouted to her from time to time:

- Sister Anna, don’t you see anything?

And sister Anna answered her:

Meanwhile, Bluebeard, grabbing a huge knife, shouted with all his might:

- Come here, come, or I’ll come to you!

“Just a minute,” his wife answered and added in a whisper:

And sister Anna answered:

“I see the sun is getting clearer and the grass is turning green.”

“Go, go quickly,” yelled Bluebeard, “or else I’ll come to you!”

- I'm coming! - the wife answered and again asked her sister:

- Anna, sister Anna, don’t you see anything?

“I see,” answered Anna, “a large cloud of dust is approaching us.”

- Are these my brothers?

- Oh, no, sister, this is a flock of sheep.

- Will you finally come? - Bluebeard yelled.

“Just a little second,” his wife answered and asked again:

- Anna, sister Anna, don’t you see anything?

“I see two horsemen galloping here, but they are still very far away.” “Thank God,” she added after a while. - These are our brothers. I give them a sign to hurry up as soon as possible.

But then Bluebeard made such a racket that the very walls of the house began to tremble. His poor wife came down and threw herself at his feet, all torn to pieces and in tears.

“This will serve no purpose,” said Bluebeard, “your hour of death has come.”

With one hand he grabbed her by the hair, with the other he raised his terrible knife... He swung at her to cut off her head... The poor thing turned her faded eyes to him:

- Give me one more moment, just one moment, to gather my courage...

- No no! - he answered. - Entrust your soul to God!

And he raised his hand... But at that moment there was such a terrible knock at the door that Bluebeard stopped, looked back... The door opened at once, and two young men burst into the room. Drawing their swords, they rushed straight at Bluebeard.

He recognized his wife's brothers - one served in the dragoons, the other in the mounted rangers - and immediately sharpened his skis; but the brothers caught up with him before he could run behind the porch. They pierced him through with their swords and left him dead on the floor.

Bluebeard's poor wife was barely alive herself, no worse than her husband: she did not even have enough strength to rise and embrace her deliverers. It turned out that Bluebeard had no heirs, and all his property went to his widow. She used one part of his wealth to marry her sister Anna to a young nobleman who had long been in love with her; with the other part she bought captain's ranks for her brothers, and with the rest she herself married a very honest and good man. With him, she forgot all the grief that she endured as Bluebeard's wife.