Ⅰ

    Once there was a veryrich man. He lived in a beautiful house, and had a beautiful garden. The richman had a blue beard: so he was called "Blue Beard."

    Near the rich man’shouse there lived a poor woman. She had three sons, and two beautiful girls.The name of one of the girls was Ann; the name of the other was Fatima. Blue Beard wanted to marryone of the girls; but the girls did not want to marryBlue Beard.

    Ann and Fatima did notwant to marry the rich man becausehis beard was blue. Blue Beard had married many wives, but his wives had goneaway. No one knew where his other wives had gone. The girls did not want to marry Blue Beard and become his wife, because no oneknew where his other wives had gone. So their mother said to Blue Beard,"My girls do not want to marryyou."

    Then Blue Beard said," Come and live in my house for some days." So they went and lived inBlue Beard’s house. It was a very beautiful house, and Blue Beard was good tothem in many ways.

    Fatima said, "His beard is blue, but he is not a bad man. He is verygood in some ways. So I will marry him."

    So Fatimamarried Blue Beard and went to live in the beautiful house.

    Some days went by.Then Blue Beard said, "I shall go on a journey.’ Then he gave Fatima the keys of all the rooms in the house. He said,"This is the key of that little room; do not open the door of it. …Saythat you will not open the door of the little room!"

    Fatima said, "I will not open the door of that little room."

    Then Blue Beard wentaway.

    When Blue Beard wasaway, all Fatima’s friends came to see her. She showed them the rooms, and whata beautiful house it was; but she did not open the door of the little room.

    The friends went away.Then Fatima said, "Shall I open the door of that little room now? Why didhe say, "Do not open it’? I want to see what is in the little room."

    Ⅱ

    Fatima took the key;she went to the door of the little room, and opened it. In the room she saw allBlue Beard’s other wives. They were dead!

    The key fell from herhand. When she took it up there was a red mark on it.

    She shut the door.Then she took the key to her room. She said, "Blue Beard will see the markon the key; he will know that I have opened the door of the little room, and hewill kill me, as he killed all the other wives." She rubbed the key with acloth, but the mark did not go away. She washed the key in hot water, but themark was not washed away. She rubbed the key on a stone, but she could not rubthe mark away.

    Blue Beard came back.He called Fatima, and said, "Give me my keys." Fatima gave him theother keys; but she did not give him the key of the little room. He said,"Where is the key of the little room?" She said, "I will bringit." She went and brought it; and he saw the red mark. He said, "Youhave opened the door of the tittle room. Now you shall die."

    She fell at hisfeet:" Give me some hours to live," she said.

    He said, "I willgive you one hour."

    Fatima had threebrothers. Her brothers had said, "We shall come and see you today;"but they had not come. She said, "If my brothers come in this hour theywill save me."

    Her sister Ann was inthe house. She called to her, "Sister Ann, Sister Ann, go to the windowand see if my brothers are coming."

    Sister Ann went to thewindow; she said, "I see no one coming."

    Fatima waited alittle; then she cried, " Sister Ann, Sister Ann, do you see anyonecoming?"

    Sister Ann said,"I do not see anyone; no one is coming."

    Blue Beard called,"Fatima!"

    Fatima said,"Sister Ann, Sister Ann, is anyone coming?"

    "I see a littledust," said Sister Ann, "very far away."

    Blue Beard called,"Fatima, come down."

    "Sister Ann,Sister Ann," Said Fatima, "is there anyone in the dust?"

    "I see men in thedust," said Sister Ann.

    Blue Beard called,"An hour has gone by. Come down, Fatima, and I shall kill you."

    " Sister Ann,Sister Ann, are three men in the dust?"

    Blue Beard called,"An hour has gone by. If you do not come down, I shall come up."

    "I see threemen," said Sister Ann.

    "They are mybrothers!" said Fatima.

    Fatima said, "Sister Ann, Sister Ann, call to them to come and save me."

    Blue Beard called."I am coming up," he said.

    "Sister Ann, callto them, Sister Ann!"

    Blue Beard came to thedoor.

    The door opened: BlueBeard caught Fatima’s arm.

    The three brotherscame in, and killed Blue Beard.

    So Fatima was saved.

    蓝胡子

    （一）

    从前，有一位富翁，他住着漂亮的房子，还有一座美丽的花园。这位富翁留着一副蓝胡子，因此，大家叫他“蓝胡子”。

    在富翁的房子附近住着一个穷女人，她有三个儿子和两个漂亮的女儿。一个女儿的名字叫安，另一个女儿叫法蒂玛。蓝胡子想要娶其中的一个女儿为妻，但是，两个女儿都不愿和蓝胡子结婚。

    安和法蒂玛不愿同这位富翁结婚，是因为他的胡子是蓝色的。蓝胡子已经娶了很多妻子，但他的妻子都不见了，谁也不知道他的那些妻子哪儿去了。这俩姑娘不愿和蓝胡子结婚，当他的妻子，因为没人知道他的妻子的去向。因此，她们的母亲对蓝胡子说：“我的女儿不想和你结婚。”

    这时，蓝胡子说：“来我家住几天吧。”于是，她们来到蓝胡子家住下。这房子真漂亮，蓝胡子处处对她们都特别好。

    法蒂玛说：“他的胡子是蓝色的，但他不是一个坏人，在有些地方，他是很好的，所以我愿嫁给他。”

    于是，法蒂玛和蓝胡子结婚了，住到了这所漂亮的房子里。

    几天过去了。蓝胡子说：“我要去旅行。”然后，他把这座房子里所有的房间钥匙都给了法蒂玛，他说：“这一把钥匙是那间小屋的，千万别打开那间屋子的门……你说，你一定不会打开小屋子的门！”

    法蒂玛就说：“我决不会打开那间小屋的门。”

    于是，蓝胡子就走了。

    当蓝胡子不在家时，法蒂玛的所有朋友都来看她。她带朋友们观看了许多房间，房子确实很豪华。但是，她没有打开那间小屋的门。

    朋友们都走了，她自言自语道：“现在，我能打开那间小屋吗？他为什么说，‘不能打开它？’我想看看小屋里究竟有什么东西。”

    （二）

    法蒂玛拿了钥匙，她来到小屋门前，把门打开了。在屋里，她发现了蓝胡子的所有妻子，她们都是死的！

    钥匙从她的手里掉了下去，当她捡起钥匙时，发现钥匙上有一个红记号。

    她把门关上，然后，拿着钥匙回到她的房间。她说：“蓝胡子会发现钥匙上的记号，还会知道小屋的门已经打开过，他一定会象杀害其他妻子一样，杀了我。”她就用布去擦钥匙上的记号，但是擦不掉，她用热水洗钥匙，记号还是洗不掉，她又在石头上磨钥匙，可是记号仍旧去不了。

    蓝胡子回来了，他叫来法蒂玛，说：“把钥匙给我。”法蒂玛把其它的钥匙给了他，但是，小屋的钥匙没给，他问道：“小屋的钥匙哪儿去了？”她说：“我去拿。她就去把钥匙拿来，他发现了红记号，说：“你已经开过小屋的门，现在你得死。”

    她跪在他的面前说，“让我再活几个小时吧！”

    他说：“我给你一小时时间。”法蒂玛有三个兄弟，她的兄弟说过：“我们今天一定来看你。”但是，他们还没有来。她想：“如果我的兄弟这一小时来到，他们就能搭救我。”

    她的姐姐安在家。她对姐姐喊：“安姐姐、安姐姐，到窗户那儿看看兄弟们来了没有。”

    安姐姐来到窗户向外张望，她说：“我没看见有人来。”

    法蒂玛等了一会儿，然后她喊：“安姐姐，安姐姐，你没有发现有人来？”

    安姐姐说：“我没看见任何人，没有一个人来。”

    蓝胡子喊：“法蒂玛！”

    法蒂玛说：“安姐姐，安姐姐，有没有人来？”

    “我发现很远地方有一小团尘土，”安姐姐说。

    蓝胡子又喊：“法蒂玛，下来。”

    “安姐姐，安姐姐，”法蒂玛问，“尘土里有人吗？”

    “我发现尘土中有人，”安姐姐说。

    蓝胡子叫喊起来：“一个钟头已经到了，下来，法蒂玛，我要杀了你。”

    “安姐姐，安姐姐，尘土中有三个男人吗？”

    蓝胡子喊：“一个钟头过去了，如果你不下来，我就上去啦。”

    “我看到有三个人，”安姐姐说。

    “他们是我的兄弟！”法蒂玛说。

    法蒂玛说：“安姐姐，安姐姐，叫他们来救我。”

    蓝胡子在喊叫着。“我上来了，”他说。

    “安姐姐，快叫他们，安姐姐！”

    蓝胡子走到了屋子门口。

    门打开了，蓝胡子抓住法蒂玛的胳膊。

    三个兄弟进来了，杀死了蓝胡子。

    这样，法蒂玛得救了。 (来源：英语聊天室 http://chat.EnglishCN.com)