Once upon a time... in the fair land of France, there lived a very powerful
lord, the owner of estates, farms and a great splendid castle, and his name was
Bluebeard. This wasn't his real name, it was a nickname, due to the fact he had
a long shaggy black beard with glints of blue in it. He was very handsome and
charming, but, if the truth be told, there was something about him that made
you feel respect, and a little uneasy...
Bluebeard often went away to war, and when he did, he left his wife in
charge of the castle... He had had lots of wives, all young, pretty and noble.
As bad luck would have it, one after the other, they had all died, and so the
noble lord was forever getting married again.
"Sire," someone would ask now and again, "what did your wives die of?"
"Hah, my friend," Bluebeard would reply, "one died of smallpox, one of a
hidden sickness, another of a high fever, another of a terrible infection...
Ah, I'm very unlucky, and they're unlucky too! They're all buried in the castle
chapel," he added. Nobody found anything strange about that. Nor did the sweet
and beautiful young girl that Bluebeard took as a wife think it strange either.
She went to the castle accompanied by her sister Anna, who said:
"Oh, aren't you lucky marrying a lord like Bluebeard?"
"He really is very nice... and when you're close, his beard doesn't look as
blue as folk say!" said the bride, and the two sisters giggled delightedly.
Poor souls! They had no idea what lay in store for them!...
