Bluebeard

Bluebeard, nickname of the chevalier Raoul in a story by Charles Perrault. In the story Bluebeard's seventh wife, Fatima, yielding to curiosity, opens a locked door and discovers the slain bodies of her predecessors. She is saved from death by the timely arrival of her brothers, for whose coming her sister Anne has been watching from a tower. Breton tradition links Bluebeard with the seigneur de Retz, but the story occurs in the folklore of several countries.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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