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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 
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