Days went by; the young girl invited her friends to the castle and showed them round all the rooms except the one at the end of the corridor.
"Why shouldn't I see inside the little room? Why? Why is it forbidden?" Well, she thought about it so much that she ended up bursting with curiosity, until one day she opened the door and walked into the little room. Of all ghastly horrors! Inside, hanging on the walls were the bodies of Bluebeard's wives: he had strangled them all with his own hands. Terror stricken, the girl ran out of the room, but the bunch of keys slipped from her grasp. She picked them up without a glance and hurried to her own room, her heart thumping wildly in her chest. Horrors! She was living in a castle of the dead! So that is what had happened to Bluebeard's other wives! The girl summoned up her courage and she noticed that one of the keys-the very key to the little room-was stained with blood.
"I must wipe it clean, before my husband comes back!" she said to herself. But try as she would, the blood stain wouldn't wash away. She washed, she scrubbed and she rinsed it; all in vain, for the key was still red. That very evening, Bluebeard came home. Just imagine the state his poor wife was in!
Bluebeard did not ask his wife for the keys that same evening, but he remarked, "You look a little upset, darling. Has anything nasty happened?" "Oh, no! No!" "Are you sorry I came back so soon?" "Oh, no! I'm delighted!" But that night, the bride didn't sleep a wink. The next day, Bluebeard said, "Darling, give me back the keys," and his wife hurriedly did so. Bluebeard remarked: "There's one missing, the key to the little room!" "Is there?" said the young girl shaking, "I must have left it in my room!" "All right, go and get it." But when Bluebeard's wife put the key into his hand, Bluebeard turned white and in a deep hoarse voice demanded: "Why is this key stained with blood?" "I don't know." stammered his wife.
"You know very well…"
