Once there was a very rich man who lived in a beautiful house with a beautiful garden. He had a blue beard, so he was called "Blue Beard."
Near his house lived a poor woman with three sons and two beautiful daughters: Ann and Fatima. Blue Beard wanted to marry one of them, but the girls refused because of his blue beard and because his previous wives had mysteriously disappeared.
Their mother told Blue Beard, "My girls do not want to marry you." He then invited them to stay at his house for a few days. The house was magnificent, and Blue Beard treated them kindly. Fatima reconsidered, thinking, "His beard is blue, but he is not a bad man. He is very good in some ways. So I will marry him."
Fatima married Blue Beard and moved into the beautiful house. After some days, Blue Beard announced a journey. He gave Fatima the keys to all the rooms, pointing to one small key: "This is the key to that little room; do not open its door. Promise you will not open it!" Fatima promised.
After Blue Beard left, Fatima's friends visited. She showed them the house but kept her promise about the little room. Once alone, her curiosity grew: "Why did he say, 'Do not open it'? I want to see what is inside."
She took the key, opened the door, and was horrified to find the dead bodies of Blue Beard's former wives. The key fell from her hand. When she picked it up, a red mark had appeared on it. She tried desperately to clean the key with a cloth, hot water, and by rubbing it on a stone, but the mark remained.
Blue Beard returned and asked for his keys. Fatima gave him all but the small key. When pressed, she brought it, and he saw the red mark. "You have opened the door. Now you shall die," he declared.
Fatima begged for time. He gave her one hour. She hoped her three brothers, who had promised to visit that day, would save her. Her sister Ann was in the house. Fatima repeatedly asked Ann to look out the window for her brothers.
As Blue Beard grew impatient, Ann finally saw a cloud of dust in the distance, then men within it, and finally three men. "They are my brothers!" Fatima cried. Blue Beard stormed up to the room and grabbed Fatima's arm just as the door burst open. Her three brothers rushed in and killed Blue Beard. Fatima was saved.