
In a world of glittering mansions and grand banquets, a wealthy stranger arrives with a shocking blue beard that scares every woman he meets. Despite his grisly reputation—and rumors about his vanished wives—a pair of stunning sisters cannot help but be drawn into his orbit, and after an extravagant week of hunting, dancing, and feasting, the younger sister reluctantly becomes his wife. On his first long departure, he entrusts her with a ring of ornate keys, warning her never to enter one small, locked closet at the end of the gallery.
Alone in the sprawling house, the new bride is tempted by the mystery of the forbidden room while friends and neighbors gush over the treasure‑filled corridors. When she finally turns the tiny key, the darkness inside reveals a terrifying secret that shatters her curiosity and threatens her very safety. With the blood‑stained key clutched in her hand, she must decide how to confront the horror that lies hidden behind the blue‑bearded man's dark legacy.
Language
en
Duration
~10 minutes (10K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Chris Curnow, Matthias Grammel and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
Release date
2013-11-26
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1628–1703
A court insider turned storyteller, he helped shape the fairy tales many readers know today, including early literary versions of Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Puss in Boots, and Little Red Riding Hood. His stories brought folk tradition into elegant prose and gave the fairy tale a lasting place in European literature.
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