Coming Very Soon: Bluebeard Tales From Around the World

Bluebeard Tales From Around the World is almost here--in two weeks or less--and it's a monster in more ways than one. First, yes, it is about several monstrous, murderous men and some real monsters, too. And then it is physically a monster. This book comes in at an 822 page count. I didn't expect it to when I started it. Honestly, I thought it would be a little over half that, similar to Sleeping Beauties.

But then I kept researching. And reading. And thinking. And, no, I didn't put everything but the kitchen sink in here. I have many more files that were cut or omitted. But I put did put in it what fascinated me, what educated me, what entertained me.

I'm not going to copy the description down for this one because the Table of Contents alone is going to make this one of a long blog entry. To sum up, there are 88 tales, 20 of which I translated, some for the first time into English to the best of my knowledge. There are also 10 ballads as well as Hartland's original article about the tale, early academia stuff. Then I added six plays and several short stories and poems. The plays were a beast and the most unexpected, but they have played an important part of this tale's history, influencing it in ways that I haven't seen done by other theatrical productions of other tales.

So here's the Table of Contents for your viewing pleasure:

The Tales

1. Blue Beard (Lang/G.M.) France 12
2. Blue Beard (Mansion/Samber) France 18
3. Barbe Rouge France 23
4. The Girl Who Was Born with a Snake around Her Neck France 25
5. The Miller’s Daughter France 28
6. The Three Girls and the Three Cavaliers France 31
7. The Cobbler and His Three Daughters French Basque 35
8. Wine-Crust, the Blue-Beard of Flanders Belgium 37
9. The Robber Bridegroom Germany 42
10. Fitcher’s Bird Germany 46
11. The Hare’s Bride Germany 52
12. Our Lady’s Child Germany 54
13. Old Rinkrank Germany 58
14. Bluebeard Germany 61
15. The Castle of Murder Germany 63
16. The Tale of Knight Bluebeard Germany 65
17. King Bluebeard Germany 68
18. The Robber’s Bride Germany 70
19. The Robber and the Miller’s Twelve Daughters Germany 72
20. The Huntsman and the Miller’s Daughters Germany 73
21. The Castle of Robbers and Murderers Germany 75
22. Knight Goldbeard Switzerland 77
23. Luxehale’s Wives Italy 80
24. How the Devil Married Three Sisters Italy 107
25. Don Firriulieddu Italy 113
26. The Three Cauliflowers Italy 114
27. A Tuscan Bluebeard Italy 116
28. The Trimmatos; or, The Ogre with Three Eyes Greece 119
29. The Devil and the Fisherman’s Daughter Greece 126
30. The Thrice Accursed Greece 128
31. The Dragon Greece 129
32. The Story of a Turner Portugal 133
33. The Story of Mr. Fox (Halliwell) England 137
34. Mr. Fox (Chambers) England 139
35. Mr. Fox (Jacobs) England 141
36. Bloudie Jacke of Shrewsberrie, The Shropshire Bluebeard England 144
37. The Silk Nightcap England 157
38. Captain Murderer England 158
39. The Oxford Student England 161
40. Jack Otter England 162
41. The Girl Who Got Up the Tree England 163
42. The Lonton Lass England 165
43. The Lass ’At Seed Her Awn Graave Dug England 166
44. Bloody Baker England 168
45. Bobby Rag England 170
46. Mary, the Maid of the Inn England 172
47. Laula Wales 176
48. Sir John Cathcart and May Kennedy Scotland 177
49. The Widow and Her Daughters Scotland 179
50. The Poor Woman and Her Three Daughters Scotland 183
51. Peerifool Scotland 185
52. The History of Mr. Greenwood Scotland 188
53. A Giant Tricked Iceland 192
54. The Pig Denmark 199
55. The Old Dame and Her Hen Norway 203
56. The Sweetheart in the Wood Norway 208
57. The Lord of Rosendal Sweden 211
58. The Three Chests: The Story of the Wicked Old Man of the Sea Finland 213
59. Bluebeard Estonia 219
60. Greenbeard Lithuania 220
61. Maria Morevna Russia 223
62. The Bridegroom Russia 233
63. The Brigands and the Miller’s Daughter Poland 236
64. The Count’s Daughter Hungary 241
65. The Story of the Cannibal Innkeeper Romania 244
66. The Enchanted Pig Romania 246
67. Zerendac and Abu Freywar Palestine 255
68. The Robber and the Judge’s Daughter Egypt 259
69. Dodo, the Robber, and the Magic Door Nigeria 260
70. Leopard of the Fine Skin Gabon 262
71. The Spirit Who Was Cheated by the Sultan’s Son Tanzania 269
72. Irimu East Africa (Tanzania / Kenya) 272
73. The Story of the Cannibal’s Wonderful Bird South Africa 273
74. Story of the Third Calendar, Son of a King Arabian Nights 276
75. The Wimali Story Sri Lanka 285
76. Sulasa-Jataka India 287
77. The Brahman Girl That Married a Tiger India 290
78. The Tiger’s Bride India 296
79. Bopoluchi India 297
80. Jean-Parle Canada 300
81. A Pueblo Bluebeard United States 306
82. The Secret Room United States 307
83. The Devil’s Marriage United States 309
84. Blue-Beard United States 312
85. The Forbidden Chamber United States / Mexico 312
86. The Chosen Suitor British West Indies 315
87. Mr. Bluebeard Jamaica 317
88. Ímarasugssuaq, Who Ate His Wives Greenland 320

Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight
Child No. 4 Ballads

89. Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight Scotland 324
90. The Water o Wearie's Well Scotland 326
91. May Colven Scotland 328
92. May Collin Scotland 330
93. The Outlandish Knight England 334
94. The False Knight Outwitted Scotland 336
95. The Knight and the Chief’s Daughter Ireland 338
96. Pretty Colendee Missouri, United States 340
97. Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight Massachusetts, United States 342
98. Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight Michigan, United States 344

Early Academia

99. The Forbidden Chamber
by E. Sidney Hartland 348
100. Who Was the Original Bluebeard? 387

Short Fiction

101. Bluebeard’s Ghost
by William Makepeace Thackeray 392
102. Barbazure
by William Makepeace Thackeray 411
103. Bluebeard’s Keys
by Anne Thackeray Ritchie 419
104. The Ogre Courting
by Juliana Horatia Ewing 473
105. The History of Bluebeard’s Six Wives
by Sabilla Novello 477
106. The Seven Wives of Bluebeard
by Anatole France 507
107. Blue Beard
by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch 523
108. Bluebeard: A Musical Fantasy
by Kate Douglas Wiggin 531
109. The True Story of Bluebeard
by Lisa Ysaye Tarleau 555

Plays

110. Bluebeard: A Dramatic Tale, In Five Acts
by Ludwig Tieck 560
111. Blue-beard; or, Female Curiosity! A Dramatick Romance
by George Colman, the Younger 591
112. Blue Beard: An Extravaganza
Very Far from the Text of George Colman
by J. R. Planché and Charles Dance 617
113. Bluebeard; or, Dangerous Curiosity and Justifiable Homicide
by Francis Egerton, Earl of Ellesmere 642
114. Barbe-Bleue: Opéra-Bouffe en Trois Actes
Libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy
Music by Jacques Offenbach 655
115. Ardiane and Barbe Bleue or, The Useless Deliverance
by Maurice Maeterlinck 714

Poetry

116. The Blue-Beard Chambers of the Heart
by E. Spencer Miller 760
117. Blue Beard excerpted from Bitter-Sweet
by Josiah Gilbert Holland 763
118. Blue-Beard's Closet
by Rose Terry Cooke 771
119. Blue Beard: A Comic Version
by Philip Abraham 773
120. Blue-Beard: A Poem with Tableau
by Theodore P. Cook 774
121. Bluebeard
by Hallam, Lord Tennyson 779
122. How the Helpmate of Blue-Beard Made Free with a Door
by Guy Wetmore Carryl 781
123. The Story of Blue Beard: A Student’s Ballad
by An Anonymous Elementary School Student 784
124. Bluebeard
by Edna St. Vincent Millay 788

Appendix

Bibliography of Primary Sources 790
Bibliography of Secondary Sources 796
Additional Variants Available in English 798
Tale Type Index 804
Index 807