Bluebeard is a French folktale written by
Charles Perrault and first published in 1697. Bluebeard is a rich ugly
aristocrat with a blue beard (no way) who has been married several times,
however no one knows what has become of his previous wives and he is widely
avoided by local girls. He visits a neighbour and wants one of his
two daughters to marry him. They both initially refuse, but he eventually
persuades the younger sister to marry him and she comes to live with him
in his castle. He announces he has to go abroad and gives his new wife a bunch
of keys to all the rooms in the castle, which contain his treasures, however he
tells her not to use one key which unlocks a small room under the castle. She
promises, so naturally she goes straight to this room as soon as he leaves and
shock horror finds her husbands former wives hanging from hooks on the walls,
she panics, drops the key in blood and then gets the hell out of there. She
tells her sister, Anne, what's going on (as she's visiting) and plans to flee
but Bluebeard comes home early. He sees the blood and knows his wife has broken
her vow. He wants to behead her on the spot but lets her have a half hour to
say her prayers with her sister. Mistake. Just as he's about to kill them,
their two brothers arrive and kill Bluebeard. As he had no heirs, his new wife
inherits his wealth and they all live happily ever after. The character of
Bluebeard may have been based on a real aristocrat called Gilles de Retz, who was a self-confessed serial killer
of children. Lovely.
On a completely unrelated note, I would like to thank
Wikipedia for all their support over the years, how ever unreliable it may
sometimes be.
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