Blue Beard

I read "Blue Beard" written by Charles Perrault.

"You must die, madam," said he, "and that at once."

"Since I must die," answered she, looking upon him with her eyes all bathed in tears, "give me some little time to say my prayers."

"I give you," replied Blue Beard, "half a quarter of an hour, but not one moment more." 

 Once upon a time, there was a very wealthy man who had fine houses, both in town and country. He had money, but he had an blue beard too, so the women and children avoided him so much.

 One day he thought of taking one of the sisters, a beautiful daughter of a neighbor's house, as his new wife. But neither of them could make up their minds to marry him. Because he had a blue beard and nobody knew what had become of his six ex-wives. But he wanted to marry so much, and through a plan, he has changed their perception of him into the better perception. So he could decided to marry with one of sister immediately.

 They got married. And one day, there was a time when he could not stay home for a long time. He told his wife that she could go into all the rooms in the house, except for a little closet during his not staying. But while he was gone, his wife had strong desire to go to that forbidden place by him. The desire was so strong that she opened that little closet. There, she found the bodies of his six ex-wives.

 When he returned from long his journey, she gave him key back with so trembling hands that he could easily guess what it happened. He was so angry that he immediately tried to kill her as he did to ex-wives. But he gave her a little time, as she wished. But that time had passed, and she was more pale than dead and begged him for forgiveness. Unfortunately, he was taking hold of her hair with one hand to kill her. At this moment there was such a loud knocking at the gate. . .

I was in difficulty with reading this story. Because many of the words in this story is the words that I didn't know the meaning. But I think I learned a lot from reading this book. As for the content, I can't decide whether this ending was a happy ending or not. But I am really glad that his new wife was not killed by him. I think her brothers and young sister (or old sister) were very worried about her.

Words

・cease [síːs] ～をやめる、中止する

・tremble [trε'mbəl ] 〔恐怖・怒りなどで〕身震いする

・chamber [tʃéimbər ] 部屋、寝室

・sabre [séibə] サーベル、軍刀

・thou [ðáu] 汝、そなた、神

・dragoon [drəgúːn] 近世ヨーロッパの竜騎兵

・musketeer [mʌ̀skətíər] マスケット銃兵

・ mistress  権力を持つ女性の長、女主人