Life, 1901-03-07 · page 5 of 20
Life — March 7, 1901 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "The Facts in the Case of Blue-beard" This page illustrates a satirical retelling of the classic "Bluebeard" fairy tale. The elaborate decorative illustration shows the forbidden closet's grotesque contents—the previous wives' heads and bodies—rendered in Art Nouveau style. The accompanying text presents the story as social commentary on marriage, with a moral explicitly stated at bottom: "Wives, we must allow, / Who to their husbands will not bow, / A stern and dreadful lesson learn." The satire critiques both the husband's tyranny and the wife's disobedience, using the Gothic horror tale to mock Victorian marriage dynamics. The final attribution to "Guy Wetmore Carryl" suggests this is a humorous poetic reinterpretation rather than literal endorsement of spousal submission—likely ironic commentary on restrictive marital conventions of the era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Facts in the Case of Blue-beard. MAIDEN from the Bosphorus, with sas bright as ph Once wed the wealthy baililf of the caliph of Kelat. Though dili Considering Ih be that, When business would necessitate a journey he would hesitate, But, fearing to disgust her, he trust her with his keys, Remarking to her prayerfully: “I beg you'll use them carefully, ty ‘twas his duty to would Don't look what I deposit in that closet, if you please!" It may be mentioned casually that blue as lapis lazuli He dyed his hair, his lashes, his mous- taches and his beard, And just bee he did it, he aroused his wife Mer she dissembl but) she trembled when he neared, This feeling insalubrious soon made her most lugubrious, She asked 185 And bitterly she missed her elder sister’ f she might write her to come down and spend a night or two Her nd answered rightly politely: Yes, you can 1” and Blue- beard the Monday following, his alous feeling swallowing, Stowed all his clothes together in a leather- bound valise, And, feigning reprehensibly, he started out, ostens' By trave of Gre His wife made but a cursory inspection of th The kitchen and the airy a bore, As well ax big or scanty rooms, and billiard, bath and anterooms, Tut not that interdicted atl restricted Jittle d toh rma bit of Smyrna and pursery, ttle da ry were For, all her curiosity awakencd by the closet he So carefully had hidden and forbidden her to se This damsel disobedient did something in- expedient, And in the keyhole tiny tuened the shiny back impulsiv aloud convulsively : y, and shrieked rly he'd wedded and be- ded met her ey And turning row darkest fears wei ed, For Blue-beard stood behind her, come to find her on the sly. A, much terrified, her Perceiving she was fated to be soon decay tated, too, She telegraphed her brothers and some others what she feared, ct Anne looked out for them, in readiness to shout for them, Whenever in the distance with assistance they appeared. But only from her battlement she saw some dust that cattle meant. ‘The ordinary story isn't But here’s the truth unqu: band wasn't nollified. Her head is in bis bloody little study with the rest ! The hus- Tux Mo Wives, we must allow, Who to their husbands will not bow, A stern and dreadful lesson learn When, ay you've read, they're cut in turn. Guy Wetmore Carryl. comicbooks.com