THE STORY
OF
BLUE BEARD
BLUE BEARD
Once on a timethere was a man whohad fine town andcountry houses, goldand silver plate, embroideredfurniture,and coaches gilt allover; but unfortunately,
Once on a timethere was a man whohad fine town andcountry houses, goldand silver plate, embroideredfurniture,and coaches gilt allover; but unfortunately,
this man hada blue beard, whichmade him look sougly and terrible, thatthere was not a womanor girl who didnot run away fromhim. One of hisneighbours, a ladyof quality, had twodaughters, who were
perfectly beautiful.He proposed to marryone of them, leavingher to choose whichof the two she wouldgive him. Neitherof them would havehim; and they senthim from one to theother, not being ableto make up their
minds to marry a manwho had a blue beard.What increased theirdistaste to him was,that he had hadseveral wives already,and nobody knewwhat had become ofthem.
Blue Beard, in orderto cultivate their
Blue Beard, in orderto cultivate their
acquaintance,took them,with their mother,three or four of theirmost intimate friends,and some young personswho resided inthe neighbourhood, toone of his countryseats, where theypassed an entire week.Nothing was thought
of but excursions,hunting and fishing,parties, balls, entertainments,collations;nobody went to bed;the whole night wasspent in merry gamesand gambols. Inshort, all went off sowell, that the youngestdaughter began to
find out that the beardof the master of thehouse was not as blueas it used to be, andthat he was a veryworthy man. Immediatelyupon their returnto town themarriage took place.At the end of a monthBlue Beard told his
wife that he wasobliged to take ajourney, which wouldoccupy six weeks atleast, on a matter ofgreat consequence;that
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