Charles Perrault's Bluebeard

Charles Perrault's 17th century fairytale is set in France. A wealthy and powerful chevalier with a blue-black beard has been married six times but all his wives have died.

His new young wife is entrusted with all the keys of the castle while he goes off to war, with strict injunctions on pain of death not to open one special room.

During the absence of her lord the "forbidden fruit" is too tempting to be resisted, she opens the door and finds the dead bodies of her husband's six former wives. She drops the key in her terror and cannot remove the stain of blood from it.

When Blue Beard returns she is discovered and he orders her to prepare for her death. Fortunately, her brothers arrive in the nick of time to save her and put Bluebeard to death.