A New History of Bluebeard 1806

8/14/2019 A New History of Bluebeard 1806

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ANfEW HISTORY

OB

BLUE BEARD.WRITTEN BY

. GAFFER BLACK BEARD.For the Amusement ef Little LACK,

BEARD, and his PRETTYsi STERS.

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from


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Capital Letters.

ABCDEFGHIJKLMN O P QJl S T U V

W X Y Z.Double Letters.

Points.


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A New Hiftory ofBLUE BEARD.

ONCE upona time there tired*

a great way off, an old manwho had two daughters,thenameofthe eldeft was Fatima, the youngeftIrene. Irene was a very pretty girl,but Fatima was beauty itfelf ; andfo very good befides, that every bodyloved her : you may fee her introdu-ced to a gentleman, to whom (hewas going to be married, her fatherhaving given his content, had notthe fame of her beauty reached dieears of a very great man, I mould


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cruel over-bearing nobleman, andhad been married to feveral ladiee,of whom nobody knew what wasbecome : but a* he was very rich,and lived in a grand caftle, of whichI here prefent you with the draw-ing ; he fome how or other, was ne-ver long without a wife. This no-bleman, whofe name was Abomeli-


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on account of hisbeardbeing of thatcolor, being determined to fee her,under a pretence of buf?nefs paidthe father of Fatima avifit. PoorFatima ! fhe little thought the greatAbomelique wascome to her father'*cottage on her account ; but fo itwas, he came attended like a king,(you may fee him in the pilure)the father of Fatima (landing at thedoor to receive hina as foon asht


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[8]

entered the houfe the old man enter-tained him in the beft manner liecould, and ordered his tu t -daugh-ters to drefs themfelves in their beft,and wait upon him ; who, beinggood girls, foon did as they werebid ; no fooncrdid Blue Beard feeFatima than he foil violently in lovewith her. I ihould not fay love,for it \vas that kind of love a wolf

a lamb - fo


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[9]without any more ado, he told herfather the reafon of his coming, of-fering to make her his wife ; andthat himfelf, and his other daugh-ter, (hould go and live with him atthe Caftle.

The father was quite delightedwith the offer, efpecially as BlueBeard told him he {hould be thern after of all his Haves, and nexthimfelf in

power.Irene too tho't

ihe {hould like it vaftly ; " what afine thing," faid (lie to herfelf, " itwill be to have fine rooms to walkin when the weather is bad $ andgardens to range in when the weath-er is fine; well, I almoft wi(h he hadfallen in love with me, for I don'tthink the reat Abomelique wouldbe fo ugly, if. it was not for his mon-


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Cftrous great Blue Beard; Such wasthe thought of Irene. As to poorFatima (he fainted away, whichfrightened Blue Beard, who wouldhave been glad to have found her a-greeable to his wi(hes,however withmuch ado they brought her to her-felf when Blue Beard left her, pro-mifing to come the next day, andfetch her in ftate to the Caftle : af-ter he was gone nothing ran in thefather's head but how he (hould en-joy himfelf at the Caftle. As toIrene, (lie could not help pityingher ftfter, who was in a fad taking.

Fatima had a real love for Selim,to whom her father had promifedhis confent in marriage. You feepromifes with fome, like pye-cruft,is made to be broken. Ah !


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[11 ]old raan, you Uttle think about theevil that hangs over your daughter'shead. As Fatirna knew flic fhouldbe forced to go witk Blue Beard,(he wrote immediately to Selim.Now only think what a fine thingit is to be a fcholar, for if Fatimacould not have wrote to her lover,nobody elfe would have done it forher, and what would have been theconfequence you will find by andby ; fo above all things learn to readyourbook,that yourdaddy andmam-rtiy may learn you to write too >well as foon as ihe had finished herletter, fhe gave it to a trufty mef-fenger, who fet off full fpeed andfoon arrived at Selim's houfe. Imud nowreturu to Blue Beard,whocould not get a wink of ileep aU


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night, fo much did he think of hisintended bride : fo, no fooner hadthe fun gilded the mountain's topsthan he was up, and the proceflionwas ordered to move towards tfievillage ; you can think what a finefight it was, firft came two trum-peters, then two kettle-drums, thentwo French horns, then two menwith fine filken flags, then fome ofhis black flares armed with bows


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rand arrows ; next came the great.Abomelique himfelf, riding on anelephant, under a fine filken cano-py ; next followed another elephantrichly drefled, with a fine feat onhis back, with a filken canopy overit, for Fatima and her fifter ; a fineArabian horfe followed, led by ablack flave, for her father ; a bandof mufic following ; then his (lavesarmed with bows and arrows, clo-fed the proceflion. Blue Beardbrought fome fine clothes along withhim for Fatima and her fifter, whichthe father infifted upon her wearing.It was in vain for her to tell himfiie could not be happy, as her heartwas given to Selim ; he knew thatBlue Beard was very rich, and likemany others, he thought happinefs


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confided in wealth ; fo, fays he,have him you muft, and have himyou (hall : Abomeliqiie, at the fametime, wok all manner of pains tofyJeafe her; for, befide the fineclothes, he brought her jewels anddiamonds in profufion, and promif-ed fhe fhould want for nothingwften fhe got to the caftle.

After being drefTcd inf a verygrand manner fhe was pu! or ratherforced into her feat on the elephant'sback along with her fifter Irene ^the ladies round about, who cameto the fight, could fcarce keep fromenvying her, forgetting that very fineclothes may hide a very heavy hear!,as it did now. No fooner was thecompany feated than the mufie be-gan to play, and off the great Abom-


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cliquemarched in triumph with hisprize. Her lover Selim no Iboner

received her letter,than knowing notime was to be loft, went directly tohis brother,whocommanded a troop,who promifed to aflift him to theutmoft ; fo it was agreed to mudertheir men, and to fet off immediate-ly for the father, and bring Fatimaaw*y : or, if Blue B;ard had alrea-dy got her,

to force her from him,who by now had arrived at his Caf-tie. Sure nothing could equal thprejoicings made to welcome her. TBme Beard cpnduclcidher to a finefeat in a magnificent garden, whererefreshments were placed and fomcof the females were ordered to danceto entertain her j but for all this (lipwas dill mehnrholy : as to her fa/-


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.[16]thcr he was as merry as a grig, pnl-ling about the women, and drivingabout the men ; and Irene wouldhave been merry could me have feerther fifter fo. Blue Beard having amind to leave her a little to herfelf,pretended he had bufmefs of the ut-moft importance to tranfat,told herhe muft leave her till the evening,giving her at the fame time the keysof all the

apartmentsof the Caftle,

telling her, as (he was miftrefs of theplace to go freely into any of them,except that room, the door of whichwas in the Blue Chamber ; and ofwhich this key, fet with diamonds,opens the lock; upon your life don'tgo into that chamber, giving Fatimathe keys ; and then with a look thatfrightened her fadly, left her ; as


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Cfoon as he was gone, Irene cried,now is not that kind of him to giveyou the keys to go where you pleafe ?No, my dear fifter, faid Fatima, Ihad much rather he had kept them;you find I am forbid going into oneroom, did not you hear him fay,my life depended on it.

I don't think any thing of that,faid Irene, I long to fee that cham-ber in particular ; come don't mopefo, if you had not feen Selim firft,you might be very happy, for fettingafide his beard I don't think Abom-elique fo very ugly ; now as hewon't be at home till evening, praydo let us go over the Caftle, I longto have a rummage. It was a longwhile before Irene could perfuadeher fitter to go ; however ihe agreed


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Cat

length, and away they went j itwould tire your patience if 1 toldyou all the fine things they faw, inone of the rooms there was a fineguitar hanging up, which Fatimatook down, and began playing up-on to divert her melancholy :

Irene would not let her fitter playupon it long, for (he was impatientto fee the reft of the chambers,when at

length theyarrived at the

blue one, this was the grandeft ofall, it was lined with looking glafies,ornamented with fine blue enamel-led frames , here you might feeyourfelf from head to foot ; themantle piece was fuppoited by pil-lars of the fineft blue china ; andthough it was called the BlueChamber, it might as well have


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[been called the Golden one as thfloor was lined with it, two glafschandeliers hung from the ceilingby chains of gold. In fhort, nothingwas wanting to make this the fineftroom that ever was feen : in themiddle of this chamber flood thedoor of that they were forbid to en-ter : well, fifter Fatima, fays Irene,I am quite delighted with ibis place,I (hould like to fee the next cham-ber vaftly, I dare fay it muft be fi-ner ftill ; cofne, what fay you to it,fhall we look at it, there is nobodyhere to fee us, and you know weneed not tell of ourfelves.

Dear fifter, faid Fatima, praydon't afk me, I dread the thoughtof it, let us be fatisfied with whatwe have feen, and return ; indeed


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C 20]I begin to be tired with the ramblewe have had j.^well, my dear filter,faid Irene, we may not have fuchanother opportunity a great while,if you wont go in, let us juft openthe door, and only look in, furethere can be no great harm in that.J could like to pleafe you, fays Fa-tima, but I am fadly afraid : Pho !cried Irene, don't be afraid beforeyou are hurt ; come, fear nothing.Fatima, to pleafe her, took the keyall fparkling with diamonds, andput it to the lock, when the doorflew open in an inftant, and difcov-cred fuch a difmal fcene, that Fati-ma inftantly fainted away, the wallswere lined with the (keletons, andthe floor was flrewed with thelimbs of the dead wives the cruel


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c 21 ]Blue Beard had already murdered*which were fwimming in theirblood, into which, when Fatimafainted, flie dropt the key. At oneend of this difmal room flood thefigure of death holding a dart, andover him was wrote, in charactersof blood, The punijhment of curisf-ity. Mercy on me ! faid Fatima,as foon as (he recovered, what willbecome of me. Abomelique willfurely find me out, and ne doubtferve me as he has done the poorcreatures we have juft feen.

Come, deer fifter, faid Irene, letus get away, I am very forry I per-fuaded you to open the door ,Where is the key gone, fays Fati-ma, 'tis not in the door ? Perhapsit is dropt, fays Irene : and fo it


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[22]was fure enough, and what waworfe, into the blood : {he took itup, locked th door, and wiped theblood from off her hands, but infpite of all they could do, theycould not wipe it from the key.Now you mufl know this key wa*the gift of a fairy to Blue Beard 5and when poor Fatima found {hecould not -clean it, {he cried bitter-ly, and Irene could not help cryingtoo. You know, my dear, 'tis afaying, one trouble feldom comesalone ; and that was the cafenow ; for while they were think-ing what they {hould do, a blackflare entered to tell them Abome-lique was returned, and expectedthem in the grand faloon. Thiswas terrible news for Fatima, who


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[23]gave herfelf up for loft ; however,go fhe muft.Now as they were going, Fatr-ma fays to Irene, my dear fifter, yef-terday I wrote to Selim, and as Imake no doubt but he received theletter, this day I hoped to fee him ;pray do you go to the top of thetower, and if he mould be coming,beckon him with your handker-chief to make hafte. Away wentIrene with a heavy heart ; whileFatima, with a heavier one, wentto meet Blue Beard ; who, as foonas he faw her, cried out, ' WellMadam, how have you entertainedyourfelf ? don't you think there arelights in the Caftle worth lookingat ?' ' Yes replied Fatima, fighing,' ihere are indeed !'-' But why


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[25]So faying he feized her by thehair of her head : when, falling on

her knees, me befought him tofpare her life ; but he was a mon-fier not to be moved. When (hefound he was determined to killher, (he begged him to grant hera little time to fay her prayers. Hebid her go, but not be long or hewould fetch her.

Getting up into her chamber,Ihe called for her fifter, and afkedher if (he faw any thing. No*dear fifter, faid Irene, nothing butthe dreary common and the iky.Are you mod done ? faid Blue-Beard ; yes, cried Fatima ; whencalling again to Irene, fhe faid,fifter, what do you fee ? Nothing,

but a flock of


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[26]Are you not a coming ? faid BlueBeard, in a furiier voice than be-fore ; yes dire&ly, faid Fatima ;when

callingto her fifter, (he 2 Iked

her if fhe faw nothing ? yes, criedIrene, I fee a


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[27]Chamber, while hejr Oirieks wereenough to pierce the heart of ftone.He had not dragged her fgr, beforehe heard the found of feet


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[29]Selim took pofleflion of the

Caflle, gave the flaves their liberty,and married Fatima. Selim's bro-ther fell in love with and marriedIrene, and they all lived together.


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A New History of Bluebeard 1806

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Transcript of A New History of Bluebeard 1806