The Story of Blue-Beard

by Charles Perrault

"The Story of Blue-Beard" by Charles Perrault is a French folktale first published in 1697. A wealthy nobleman with a dark history of vanished wives takes a new bride. When he leaves her alone in his palace with keys to every room but one forbidden chamber, her curiosity becomes overwhelming. What she discovers behind the locked door reveals a horrifying secret that puts her own life in mortal danger, leading to a desperate race against time.