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A NEW HISTORY OF BLUE BEARD.
WRITTEN BY GAFFER BLACK BEARD.
For the Amusement of Little LACK BEARD, and his PRETTY SISTERS.
Adorned with Cuts.
From Sidney's Press, NEW-HAVEN.
1806
A New History of BLUE BEARD.
Once upon a time there lived, a great way off, an old man who had twodaughters, the name of the eldest was Fatima, the youngest Irene. Irenewas a very pretty girl, but Fatima was beauty itself; and so very goodbesides, that every body loved her: you may see her introduced to agentleman, to whom she was going to be married, her father havinggiven his consent, had not the fame of her beauty reached the ears ofa very great man, I should have said tyrant, for he was a very cruelover-bearing nobleman, and had been married to several ladies, of whomnobody knew what was become: but as he was very rich, and lived in agrand castle, of which I here present you with the drawing; he some howor other, was never long without a wife. This nobleman, whose name wasAbomelique, but generally called Blue Beard, on account of his beardbeing of that color, being determined to see her, under a pretence ofbusiness paid the father of Fatima a visit. Poor Fatima! she littlethought the great Abomelique was come to her father's cottage on heraccount; but so it was, he came attended like a king, (you may see himin the picture) the father of Fatima standing at the door to receivehim; as soon as he entered the house the old man entertained himin the best manner he could, and ordered his two daughters to dressthemselves in their best, and wait upon him; who, being good girls,soon did as they were bid; no sooner did Blue Beard see Fatima than hefell violently in love with her. I should not say love, for it was thatkind of love a wolf has for a pretty innocent lamb; so without anymore ado, he told her father the reason of his coming, offering to makeher his wife; and that himself, and his other daughter, should go andlive with him at the Castle.
The father was quite delighted with the offer, especially as Blue Beardtold him he should be the master of all his slaves, and next himself inpower. Irene too tho't she should like it vastly; "what a fine thing,"said she to herself, "it will be to have fine rooms to walk in whenthe weather is bad, and gardens to range in when the weather is fine;well, I almost wish he had fallen in love with me, for I don't thinkthe great Abomelique would be so ugly, if it was not for his monstrousgreat Blue Beard;" Such was the thought of Irene. As to poor Fatima shefainted away, which frightened Blue Beard, who would have been gladto have found her agreeable to his wishes, however with much ado theybrought her to herself when Blue Beard left her, promising to comethe next day, and fetch her in state to the Castle: after he was gonenothing ran in the father's head but how he should enjoy himself at theCastle. As to Irene, she could not help pitying her sister, who was ina sad taking.
Fatima had a real love for Selim, to whom her father had promised hisconsent in marriage. You see promises with some, like pye-crust, ismade to be broken. Ah! silly old man, you little think about the evilthat hangs over your daughter's head. As Fatima knew she should beforced to go with Blue Beard, she wrote immediately to Selim. Now onlythink what a fine thing it is to be a scholar, for if Fatima could nothave wrote to her lover, nobody else would have done it for her, andwhat would have been the consequence you will find by and by; so aboveall things learn to read your book, that your daddy and mammy may learnyou to write too; well as soon as she had finished her letter, she gaveit to a trusty messenger, who set off full speed and soon arrived atSelim's house. I must now return to Blue Beard, who could not get awink of sleep all night, so much did he think of his intended bride:so, no sooner had the sun gilded the mountain's tops than he was up,and the procession was ordered to move towards the village; you canthink what a fine sight it was, first came two trumpeters, then twokettle-drums, then two French horns, then two men with fine silkenflags, then some of his black slaves armed with bows and arrows; nextcame the great Abomelique himself, riding on an elephant, under a finesilken canopy; next followed another elephant richly dressed, with afine seat on his back, with a silken canopy over it, for Fatima and hersister; a fine Arabian horse followed, led by a black slave, for herfather; a band of music following; then his slaves armed with bows andarrows, closed the procession. Blue Beard brought some fine clothesalong with him for Fatima and her sister, which the father insistedupon her wearing. It was in vain for her to tell him she could notbe happy, as her heart was given to Selim; he knew that Blue Beardwas very rich, and like many others, he thought happiness consistedin wealth; so, says he, have him you must, and have him you shall:Abomelique, at the same time, took all manner of pains to please her;for, beside the fine clothes, he brought her jewels and diamonds inprofusion, and promised she should want for nothing when she got to thecastle.
After being dressed in a very grand manner she was put or rather forcedinto her seat on the elephant's back along with her sister Irene; theladies round about, who came to the sight, could scarce keep fromenvying her, forgetting that very fine clothes may hide a very heavyheart, as it did now. No sooner was the company seated than the musicbegan to play, and off the great Abomelique marched in triumph withhis prize. Her lover Selim no sooner received her letter, than knowingno time was to be lost, went directly to his brother, who commanded atroop, who promised to assist him to the utmost, so it was agreed tomuster their men, and to set off immediately for the father, and bringFatima away: or, if Blue Beard had already got her, to force her fromhim, who by now had arrived at his Castle. Sure nothing could equal therejoicings made to welcome her.--Blue Beard conducted her to a fineseat in a magnificent garden, where refreshments were placed and someof the females were ordered to dance to entertain her; but for all thisshe was still melancholy; as to her father he was as merry as a grig,pulling about the women, and driving about the men; and Irene wouldhave been merry could she have seen her sister so. Blue Beard havinga mind to leave her a little to herself, pretended he had business ofthe utmost importance to transact, told her he must leave her till theevening, giving her at the same time the keys of all the apartments ofthe Castle, telling her, as she was mistress of the place to go freelyinto any of them, except that room, the door of which was in the BlueChamber; and of which this key, set with diamonds, opens the lock; uponyour life don't go into that chamber, giving Fatima the keys; and thenwith a look that frightened her sadly, left her; as soon as he wasgone, Irene cried, 'now is not that kind of him to give you the keys togo where you please?' 'No, my dear sister,' said Fatima, 'I had muchrather he had kept them; you find I am forbid going into one room, didnot you hear him say, my life depended on it.'
'I don't think anything of that,' said Irene, 'I long to see thatchamber in particular; come don't mope so, if you had not seen Selimfirst, you might be very happy, for setting aside his beard I don'tthink Abomelique so very ugly; now as he won't be at home till evening,pray do let us go over the Castle, I long to have a rummage.' It was along while before Irene could persuade her sister to go; however sheagreed at length, and away they went; it would tire your patience if Itold you all the fine things they saw, in one of the rooms there was afine guitar hanging up, which Fatima took down, and began playing uponto divert her melancholy.
Irene would not let her sister play upon it long, for she was impatientto see the rest of the chambers, when at length they arrived at theblue one, this was the grandest of all, it was lined with lookingglasses, ornamented with fine blue enamelled fra
mes; here you might seeyourself from head to foot; the mantle piece was supported by pillarsof the finest blue china; and though it was called the Blue Chamber,it might as well have been called the Golden one as the floor waslined with it, two glass chandeliers hung from the ceiling by chains ofgold. In short, nothing was wanting to make this the finest room thatever was seen: in the middle of this chamber stood the door of thatthey were forbid to enter: 'well, sister Fatima,' says Irene, 'I amquite delighted with this place, I should like to see the next chambervastly, I dare say it must be finer still; come, what say you to it,shall we look at it? there is nobody here to see us, and you know weneed not tell of ourselves.'
'Dear sister,' said Fatima, 'pray don't ask me, I dread the thought ofit, let us be
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