Blue Beard

Once there was a very rich man. He lived in a beautiful house, and had a beautiful garden. The rich man had a blue beard: so he was called  “Blue Beard”.

Near the rich man's house there lived a poor woman. She had three sons and two beautiful girls. The name of one of the girls was Ann; the name of the other was Fatima. Blue Beard wanted to marry one of the girls, but the girls did not want to marry Blue Beard.

Ann and Fatima did not want to marry the rich man because his beard was blue. Blue Beard had married many wives, but his wives had gone away. No one knew where his other wives had gone. The girls did not want to marry Blue Beard and become his wife, because no one knew where his other wives had gone. So their mother said to Blue Beard, “My girls do not want to marry you.”

Then Blue Beard said, “Come and live in my house for some days.” So they went and lived in Blue Beard's house. It was a very beautiful house, and Blue Beard was good to them in many ways.

Fatima said, “His beard is blue, but he is not a bad man. He is very good in some ways. So I will marry him.”

So fatima married Blue Beard, and went to live in the beautiful house. Some days went by. Then Blue Beard said, “I shall go on a journey.” Then he gave Fatima the keys of all the rooms in the house. He said, “This is the key of that little room; do not open the door of it. … Say that you will not open the door of the little room!”

Fatima said, “I will not open the door of that little room.” Then Blue Beard went away. When Blue Beard was away, all Fatima's friends came to see her. She showed them the rooms, and what a beautiful house it was; but she did not open the door of the little room.

The friends went away. Then Fatima said, “Shall I open the door of that little room now? Why did he say, 'Do not open it'? I want to see what is in the little room.”

Fatima took the key; she went to the door of the little room, and opened it. In the room she saw all Blue Beard's other wives. They were dead!

The key fell from her hand. When she took it up there was a red mark on it.

She shut the door. Then she took the key to her room. She said, “Blue Beard will see the mark on the key, he will know that I have opened the door of the little room, and he will kill me, as he killed all the other wives.” She rubbed the key with a cloth, but the mark did not go away. She washed the key in hot water, but the mark was not washed away. She rubbed the key on a stone, but she could not rub¹ the mark away.

Blue Beard came back. He called Fatima, and said, “Give me my keys.” Fatima gave him the other keys; but she did not give him the key of the little room. He said, “Where is the key of the little room?” She said, “I will bring it.” She went and brought it; and he saw the red mark. He said, “You have opened the door of the little room. Now you shall die.”

She fell at his feet: “Give me some hours to live,” she said.

He said, “I will give you one hour.”

Fatima had three brothers. Her brothers had said, “We shall come and see you today,” but they had not come. She said, “If my brothers come in this hour they will save me.”

Her sister Ann was in the house. She called to her, “Sister Ann, Sister Ann, go the the window and see if my brothers are coming.”

Sister Ann went to the window; she said, “I see no one coming.”

Fatima waited a little; then she cried, “Sister Ann, Sister Ann, do you see anyone coming?”

Sister Ann said, “I do not see anyone; no one is coming.”

Blue Beard called, “Fatima!”

Fatima said, “Sister Ann, Sister Ann, is anyone coming?”

“I see a little dust,” said Sister Ann, “very far away.”

Blue Beard called, “Fatima, come down.”

“Sister Ann, Sister Ann,” said Fatima, “is there anyone in the dust?”

“I see men in the dust,” said Sister Ann.

Blue Beard called, “An hour has gone by. Come down, Fatima, and I shall kill you.”

“Sister Ann, Sister Ann, are three men in the dust?”

Blue Beard called, “An hour has gone by. If you do not come down, I shall come up.”

“I see three men,” said Sister Ann.

“They are my brothers!” said Fatima.

Fatima said, “Sister Ann, call to them to come and save me.”

Blue Beard called, “I am coming up,” he said.

“Sister Ann, call to them, Sister Ann!”

Blue Beard came to the door.

The door opened: Blue Beard caught Fatima's arm.

The three brothers came in, and killed Blue Beard.

So Fatima was saved.



I. Translation for Reference(参考译文)

蓝胡子

从前，有一位非常富有的人，他住在漂亮的房子里，还有一座美丽的花园，这个富翁长着一副蓝色的胡子，因此人们都称呼他为“蓝胡子”。

在这个富翁的房子附近住着一个贫穷的女人，她有三个儿子，还有两个美丽的女儿，一个叫安，另一个叫芬蒂玛，蓝胡子想要娶其中的一个女儿，但是两个女儿都不愿嫁给他。

安和芬蒂玛不愿嫁给这位富翁，是因为他的胡子是蓝色的。蓝胡子已经娶了很多妻子，但他的妻子都已不知去向，没有人知道他的那些妻子哪儿去了。这两姑娘不愿和蓝胡子结婚，成为他的妻子，因为谁也不知道他的妻子的去向。因此她们的母亲对蓝胡子说：“我的女儿们不想嫁给你。”

于是，蓝胡子说：“那么来我家住几天吧，”她们于是到蓝胡子的家里住了下来。那是一所非常漂亮的房子，蓝胡子处处讨好她们。

芬蒂玛说，“他的胡子是蓝色的，但是他这个人却并不坏，在很多方面都很出色，所以我愿嫁给他。”

于是芬蒂玛嫁给了蓝胡子，并且住进了那所漂亮的房子。过了几天，蓝胡子说：“我要去旅行，”说着，他就把这所房子里所有房间的钥匙都给了芬蒂玛。他说：“这是那间小屋子的钥匙，千万不要打开那间小屋的门，……你发誓，你一定不打开那间小屋子的门！”

芬蒂玛于是说：“我不会打开那间小屋子的门。”

随后，蓝胡子就走了。

蓝胡子走了之后，芬蒂玛所有的朋友都来看她。她带朋友们观看了所有的房间，这的确是一所漂亮的房子，但她没有打开那间小屋的门。

朋友们走了以后，她自言自语说：“现在我能打开那间小屋的门吗？他为什么说'不能打开呢'？我想看看小屋子里究竟有什么东西。”

芬蒂玛拿了钥匙，走到小屋门前，把门打开了，在屋里，她看到了蓝胡子以前的所有妻子，她们都死了！

钥匙从她的手里掉了下去，当她捡起钥匙时，发现钥匙上有了一个红记号。

她关上了门，然后，把钥匙拿回到她的房间，她对自己说：“蓝胡子一定会发现钥匙上的记号，还会知道我已经打开过小屋的门，他一定会像杀害其他妻子一样，杀了我。”她用布去擦钥匙上的记号，但是擦不掉。她用热水洗，还是洗不掉。她又在石头上磨，可是记号依旧还在。

蓝胡子回来了，他叫来芬蒂玛，说：“把钥匙给我。”芬蒂玛把其他的钥匙给了他，但是没给他小屋的钥匙，他问道：“小屋的钥匙哪儿去了？”她说：“我去拿。”她把钥匙拿来，他发现了红记号，说：“你已经开过小屋的门，现在你得死。”

她跪在蓝胡子的面前：“让我再活几个小时吧！”

他说：“我给你一小时时间。”

芬蒂玛有三个兄弟，她的兄弟说过：“今天我们会来看你。”但是，他们还没有来，她想：“如果我的兄弟们能在这一小时赶来，他们就能搭救我了。”

她的姐姐安在她家。她对姐姐喊：“安姐姐，安姐姐，到窗户那儿看看兄弟们来了没有。”

安姐姐来到窗边，她说：“我没有看见有人来。”

芬蒂玛等了一会儿，又喊道：“安姐姐，安姐姐，你有没有看见有人来？”

安姐姐说：“我没有发现任何人，没有一个人来。”

蓝胡子喊：“芬蒂玛！”

芬蒂玛说：“安姐姐，安姐姐，有没有人来？”

“我看到很远处有一小团尘土，” 安姐姐说。

蓝胡子又喊：“芬蒂玛，下来。”

“安姐姐，安姐姐，”芬蒂玛问，“尘土里有人吗？”

“有人，” 安姐姐说。

蓝胡子叫喊起来：“一个钟头过了，下来，芬蒂玛，我要杀了你。”

“安姐姐，安姐姐，尘土中是不是有三个男人？”

蓝胡子喊：“一个钟头过去了，如果你不下来，我就上去啦！”

“我看到有三个人，”安姐姐说。

“他们是我的兄弟！”芬蒂玛说。

芬蒂玛说：“安姐姐，安姐姐，叫他们来救我。”

蓝胡子喊叫着：“我上来了。”

“安姐姐，快叫他们，安姐姐！”

蓝胡子走到屋子门口。

门打开了，蓝胡子抓住芬蒂玛的胳膊。

三个兄弟进来了，杀死了蓝胡子。

就这样，芬蒂玛得救了。



II. Exercise Choose the correct answer to the following questions.

Exercises:

1.    Why didn't Ann and Fatima want to marry Blue Beard?

A.      Because his beard was blue.

B.      Because his former wives were missing² and no one knew where they had gone.

C.      Because their mother refused to marry them to Blue Beard.

D.      Both A and B.




2.    Why did Fatima finally marry Blue Beard?

A.      Because her mother had already agreed.

B.      Because Blue Beard had already agreed.

C.      Because Fatima believed that Blue Beard was a good man.

D.      All of the above.




3.    Which of the following statements³ in NOT true?

A.      Blue Beard gave Fatima the keys of all the rooms but the one of the little room.

B.      Fatima promised not to open the door of that little room.

C.      She didn't open the door of the little room when her friends come to see her.

D.      She was very curious about the little room.




4.    When Fatima finally opened the door of the little room, _______.

A.      She was too frightened to hold the key

B.      A red mark appeared immediately

C.      She found all Blue Beard's other wives alive

D.      Blue Beard came back at once




5.    When Fatima saw the red mark on the key, _______.

A.      She paid no attention to it

B.      She realized Blue Beard would know what she did

C.      She managed to rub the mark away

D.      She painted the red mark blue




6.    When Blue Beard came back and asked for his keys, _______.

A.      Fatima gave him all the keys at once

B.      Fatima only gave him the key to the little room

C.      Fatima didn't give him the key to the little room in the end

D.      Fatima hid the one with red mark at first




7.    Why did Fatima ask for some hours to live when Blue Beard decided⁴ to kill her?

A.      Because she wanted to see her Sister Ann.

B.      Because she missed her brothers and her mother very much.

C.      Because she thought that Blue Beard might free her some hours later.

D.      Because she was still hopeful⁵ to be saved.




8.    Which of the following statements if true?

A.      When Blue Beard wanted to kill Fatima no one stayed with her.

B.      It took Fatima's three brothers less than one hour to come to save her.

C.      Blue Beard wanted to kill both Fatima and sister Ann.

D.      Fatima was almost killed by Blue Beard, when her brother came in.




9.    Blue Beard was _______.

A.      Pretending to be a kind man

B.      Kind and friendly

C.      Cruel

D.      Both A and C




III. New Words and Expressions 生词和词组

1). beard n. 胡子

2). Journey n. 旅行



Key to Exercise(练习答案)

1:D 2:C 3:A 4:A 5:B 6:D 7:D 8:D 9:D