Tale Summary
There once was a man who was incredibly rich, far richer than any other. He had a downfall in his appearance: a blue beard that no women liked to look at. He wished to marry one of two daughters, and since they both did not want to marry him, he devised a plan to invite them to his country house with their mother. He then marries the younger daughter Fatima. Bluebeard leaves one day and warns Fatima not to enter a certain room, for a punishment awaits her if she does. She enters the door and finds the dead bodies of all of Bluebeard’s past wives. Bluebeard finds out that she had entered this room and states that he will kill her, and she will join his past wives. Before he has a chance to kill her, Fatima’s two brothers enter and kill bluebeard. Fatima remarries and gives bluebeard's riches to others and she lives happily ever after.
Fairy Tale Title
Bluebeard
Fairy Tale Author(s)/Editor(s)
Louey Chisholm
Fairy Tale Illustrator(s)
Katharine Cameron
Common Tale Type
Maiden-killer
Tale Classification
ATU 312
Page Range of Tale
pp. 6-12
Full Citation of Tale
“Bluebeard.” In Fairyland: Tales Told Again. Chisholm, Louey, illustrated by Katharine Cameron, New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1904, pp. 6-12.
Original Source of the Tale
Charles Perrault
Tale Notes
The maiden in this tale triumphs over her oppressor with her brothers’ help and lives a long happy life. Although this is a children’s book, the author has included the gory scene in which Fatima, Bluebeard’s wife, discovers the severed heads of her husband’s former wives when she unlocks the room he has forbidden her to visit. There is one color illustration that depicts Fatima calling to her sister Anne to ask if their brothers are on the way to save her.
Research and Curation
Austin Weingart, 2020
Book Title
In Fairyland: Tales Told Again
Book Author/Editor(s)
Louey Chisholm
Illustrator(s)
Katharine Cameron
Publisher
T. C. & E. C. Jack and G.P. Putnam's Sons
Date Published
1904
Decade Published
1900-1909
Publisher City
London
New York
Publisher Country
United Kingdom
United States
Language
English
Rights
Public Domain
Digital Copy
Available at the CU Digital Library
Book Notes
This book contains a preface that introduces a framing narrative, however, the narrative is never addressed again throughout the book. Through the preface, in which a young girl named Sunflower speaks with her mother, we discover that the tales contained within this book are targeted towards children. Sunflower praises her mother’s story telling because she “leave[s] out all the not interesting bits you know and make me understand what the story is all about.”
More like this tale
“Mr. Fox.” Fairy Gold : A Book of Old English Fairy Tales Chosen by Ernest Rhys, Ernest Rhys, London: J.M. Dent & Co.; New York : E.P. Dutton & co., 1907, pp. 49-50.
“Blue Beard.” The Arthur Rackham fairy book : a book of old favourites with new illustrations, Arthur Rackham, Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott., 1933, pp. 143-152.
“Blue Beard.” Histories or Tales of Past Times Written for Children Told By Mother Goose with Morals, Charles Perrault, edited by J. Saxon Childers, London: The Nonesuch Press., 1925, pp. 30-40.
“Blue Beard.” The Sleeping Beauty and Other Fairy Tales from the Old French, Quiller-Couch, A. T, New York: Hodder and Stoughton, 1910, pp. 27-46.
“Blue Beard.” Old French Fairy Tales, Charles Perrault, Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1899, pp. 126-137.
