BLUE BEARD.

GENTLEMAN had two daughters, Anne and
Fatima. A rich man asked that one of the girls
should marry him. But he was ugly and had a blue beard,
and Anne said she could not love sucha man. But Fatima
said she was sorry for him, and consented to be his wife.
The truth was she wanted to be mistress of his fine house.
One day Blue Beard said to his wife, “I am going away
for a year, and will give you the keys of the house. You
may open every door but the one to which this is the key.”
She promised never to use it, and he kissed her good-bye
and went away.

Anne and Fatima spent much time in wondering what
could be in that room they were forbidden to enter, and
one night Fatima took the key and opened the door. She
saw the heads of five ladies, cut off, and hanging to the

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