There was once a man of great wealth who owned fine houses in both the city and the country, ate from gold and silver plate, and rode in gilded carriages. He should have been the most desirable bachelor in the land. But there was something about him that made people uneasy — he had a beard that was blue. Not grey, not black, but an unnatural, unsettling shade of blue that gave his face a sinister cast. Women who looked at him felt a chill they could not explain.

Worse still, he had been married several times before, and nobody knew what had become of his previous wives. They had simply... disappeared. When asked, Bluebeard would smile sadly and change the subject. His neighbours whispered, but whispers were all they were — Bluebeard was rich, and wealth has a way of silencing questions.

He turned his attention to a neighbouring family with two beautiful daughters. Neither girl wanted to marry him. The blue beard repelled them, and the mystery of the vanished wives frightened them. But Bluebeard was persistent. He invited the entire family to spend a week at his country estate, where he laid on feasts, hunting parties, concerts, and endless entertainment.

By the end of the week, the younger daughter had convinced herself that his beard was not really so blue after all, and that a man of such wealth and generosity could not possibly be dangerous. She agreed to marry him.

The wedding was lavish. The bride moved into Bluebeard's magnificent estate. For several weeks, she was happy — or at least, she told herself she was. Bluebeard was attentive, generous, and charming. The house was filled with beautiful things. There was only one shadow over her new life, and it came in the form of a single instruction.