Reading Notes: Lang European Fairy Tales II: Blue Beard

I am doing some week 15 assignments here during dead week to fill in some missing points. Because I read the first Lang unit last week and enjoyed it so much, I decided to read the second Lang unit this week. Of the stories that I read here are my notes over "Blue Beard" which I found quite exciting!

Blue Beard was very rich, but considered ugly and terrifying for having a blue beard

I would like to research to see if this is a reference to something else, because it is so strange

He also had had many wives previously and no one knew what happened to them
One of his neighbors had two daughters and he wanted to marry one of them
Neither of them wanted to marry him and kept playing him off on the other
To persuade them, Blue Beard invited the family and many others to one of his estates and they partied for a week
After that, the younger sister decided he wasn't so bad and they were married
Blue Beard has to go away on business so he gives all of his keys to his wife and tells her to have a party with all of her friends and use all of the nice furniture and dishes, but not to open one specific door.
She throws the party but can't help opening the forbidden door
Inside she finds the dead bodies of Blue Beards other wives
Scared, she leaves and locks the door, but the key gets bloodon it that is magic and impossible to wash off
When Blue Beard returns from his travels (early?) he asks for the keys and eventually sees the blood
He knows what has happened and says that his wife must join the other women now
She asks for a moment to say her prayers
When alone, she asks her sister to climb up and see if her brothers are approaching

Apparently he sister is in the house

Blue Beard keeps calling to his wife and threatening her is she doesn't come down but she is waiting for her brothers to come save her
She delays as long as she can and then goes down to Blue Beard
When he is just about to kill her, there is a loud knock at the gate and he starts to run away but her brothers bust through the door, and kill Blue Beard
She becomes the mistress of all of his estate and uses her money to let her didter marry the bou that she has been in love with, gets her brothers captains commissions, and gets herself married off to a nice man

Bibliography

The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang, illustrated by H. J. Ford

Photo by makamuki0 via Pixabay

Comments

Introduction

Hello! My name is Cat and although this will be a blog about mythology and folklore, today I want to tell you all a little bit about myself and my summer. So, to start off I am a civil engineering student here at the University of Oklahoma. I will be graduating in December, but I will be staying on for another year to complete my master’s degree, also in civil engineering but with a focus on structural engineering. Civil engineering includes the design of buildings, infrastructure, water supply systems, waste water treatment systems, and traffic control systems to name a few. Over this summer I had the opportunity to work as an intern for a civil engineering company and learned a lot from the experience. I learned to design pump stations, outline drainage areas, how to do the runoff calculations for inlets, culverts and drainage ditches, and a bunch of stuff about low impact development, but most importantly I learned that I don’t like doing any of those things. Admi

Famous Last Words: Migraines

Hey there! As you may have guessed already because this is an extra credit post, I fell behind last week. This time partially due to procrastination and partially due to a migraine. It was great. Let me tell you about it. I had been feeling really great all week, getting my work done, not too stressed, and like usual I was planning to do the three weekend assignments on Sunday. Yes, I know I shouldn't wait until the last day to do them. Yes, I know this whole thing could have been avoided by doing them early, but hey, hind sight, spilled milk, you know the drill. Plus, I didn't have any other homework due on Monday, unlike usual, so I thought I would have plenty of time. (Here is where the ominous music should play.) However, that afternoon I started having a migraine attack. This quickly spiraled into me sitting and staring at the wall until it stopped later that night. Sadly, I didn't get much work done, as you can imagine. Luckily I am back on my feet today, alth

Week 2 Story: The Stone Woman

Author's note: I wrote this story after reading Pygmalion and wanting to develop on the statues story. So this story gives the statue a back story, and rewrites some of the original tale, in the form of my character named Ivory. I hope you enjoy it. In ancient Greece there was a woman named Ivory that had grown up in a village far from any city. Her family farmed the land around their home and raised livestock. When she was older, her father would take her with him on the long journey to the city when it was time to sell their crops at the market. One year at the market, Ivory met the most beautiful man she had ever seen. This man’s name was Deveron, and he was known widely for his charm and beauty. Soon after they met, Deveron and Ivory fell in love and were married. They built a small home on the land Ivory’s family owned and continued to farm the land and live good lives that seemed to be blessed by the gods. They were so happy in their love and in their life that th

Mythology Blog

Search This Blog