About Bluebeard
Once upon a time, there lived a man who was six feet tall, with a blue beard that reached his waist. He was called Bluebeard. This man was wealthy, but he never gave alms to the poor. He never set foot in church. It was said that Bluebeard had been married seven times, but no one knew what had happened to his seven wives.Eventually, the bad rumors about Bluebeard reached the King of France himself. The king immediately sent a large number of soldiers and ordered them to capture this man. The chief judge, dressed in a red robe, accompanied them to interrogate him. For seven years, they searched for him through forests and mountains, but Bluebeard hid from them in an unknown place.
The soldiers and the chief judge in the red robe returned to the king, and then Bluebeard reappeared. He became even fiercer and more terrifying than before. It got to the point where no one dared to come within seven miles of his castle.
One morning, Bluebeard was riding across a field on his powerful black horse, followed by his dogs—three Great Danes, huge and strong as oxen. At that moment, a young and beautiful girl was passing by.
Without a word, the villain grabbed her by the waist, lifted her up, placed her on his horse, and took her to his castle.
"I want you to be my wife. You will never leave my castle."
And so, the girl was forced to become Bluebeard's wife. From then on, she lived as a prisoner in the castle, enduring mortal suffering and shedding tears. Every morning at dawn, Bluebeard would mount his horse and ride off with his three dogs, huge and strong as oxen. He would only return home for dinner. His wife would spend entire days by the window, gazing into the distance at her native fields, filled with sorrow.
Sometimes, a shepherdess would sit beside her, as gentle as an angel and so beautiful that her beauty gladdened the heart.
"My lady," she would say, "I know what you are thinking. You do not trust the servants and maids in the castle—and you are right. But I am not like them; I will not betray you. My lady, tell me of your sorrow."
The lady remained silent. But one day, she finally spoke:
"Shepherdess, beautiful shepherdess, if you betray me, may God and the Holy Virgin punish you. Listen. I will tell you of my sorrow. Shepherdess, day and night, I think of my poor father, my poor mother. I think of my two brothers, who have been serving the King of France in a foreign land for seven years now. Shepherdess, beautiful shepherdess, if you betray me, may God and the Holy Virgin punish you."
"My lady, I will not betray you. Listen. I have a talking jaybird; it does whatever I command. If you wish, it can fly to your two brothers, who have been serving the King of France in a foreign land for seven years, and tell them everything."
"Thank you, shepherdess. Let us wait for the right moment."
From that day on, Bluebeard's young wife and the lovely shepherdess became very close. But they never spoke again, fearing that the treacherous servants might betray them.
One day, Bluebeard said to his wife:
"Tomorrow morning, at dawn, I am leaving on a long journey. Here are seven keys for you. The six large ones open doors and cabinets in the castle. You may use these keys. But the seventh, the smallest key, opens the door to that closet over there. I forbid you to enter there. If you disobey, I will find out, and then you will be in trouble."
The next morning, at the crack of dawn, Bluebeard galloped off on his black horse, followed by his three Great Danes, huge and strong as oxen.
For three whole months, Bluebeard's wife obeyed her husband's order. She only opened the rooms and cabinets of the castle with the six large keys, but a hundred times a day, she thought: "I wish I knew what's in that closet."
But this could not last forever.
"Ah, come what may!" she said one fine day. "I will see what's in there! Bluebeard will never find out."
No sooner said than done. She called the lovely shepherdess, took the key, and unlocked the forbidden door.
Holy Virgin! Eight iron hooks! On seven of them hung seven dead women!
Bluebeard's wife tried to lock the door again. But as she did, the key fell to the floor. The lovely shepherdess picked it up. And—oh, woe!—the little key was stained with blood.
After locking the door, the lovely shepherdess and her mistress spent the entire day until sunset trying to clean the bloodstain from the key. They scrubbed it with vinegar, horsetail, and salt, and washed it with hot water. Nothing helped. The more the poor women scrubbed the stain, the redder it became and the more visible it appeared on the iron.
Finally, the key spoke in a human voice:
"Scrub, women. Scrub as much as you like. The stain on me will never fade. And in seven days, Bluebeard will return."
Then the lovely shepherdess said to her mistress:
"My lady, it is time to send my talking jaybird. Caw! Caw! Caw!"
At her call, the jaybird flew in through the window.
"Caw! Caw! Caw! Lovely shepherdess, what do you want from me?"
"Jaybird, fly to foreign lands. Fly to where the army of the King of France is stationed. There, tell my lady's two brothers: 'Hurry, hurry, ride to the aid of your sister, a prisoner in Bluebeard's castle.'"
That very night, the talking bird flew faster than the wind and, by sunrise, had done as she was commanded.
Seven days later, Bluebeard returned to his castle on the same black horse, accompanied by his three dogs, huge and strong as oxen.
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