once there was a very rich man. he lived in a beautiful house, and had a beautiful garden. the rich man had a blue beard: so he was called “blue beard”。
从前，有一位非常富有的人，他住在漂亮的房子里，还有一座美丽的花园，这个富翁长着一副蓝色的胡子，因此人们都称呼他为“蓝胡子”。
near the rich man's house 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 marry one of the girls, but the girls did not want to marry blue beard.
在这个富翁的房子附近住着一个贫穷的女人，她有三个儿子，还有两个美丽的女儿，一个叫安，另一个叫芬蒂玛，蓝胡子想要娶其中的一个女儿，但是两个女儿都不愿嫁给他。
ann and fatima did not want to marry the rich man because his beard was blue. blue beard had married many wives, but his wives had gone away. no one knew where his other wives had gone. the girls did not want to marry blue beard and become his wife, because no one knew where his other wives had gone. so their mother said to blue beard, “my girls do not want to marry you.”
安和芬蒂玛不愿嫁给这位富翁，是因为他的胡子是蓝色的。蓝胡子已经娶了很多妻子，但他的妻子都已不知去向，没有人知道他的那些妻子哪儿去了。这两姑娘不愿和蓝胡子结婚，成为他的妻子，因为谁也不知道他的妻子的去向。因此她们的母亲对蓝胡子说：“我的女儿们不想嫁给你。”
then blue beard said, “come and live in my house for some days.” so they went and lived in blue beard's house. it was a very beautiful house, and blue beard was good to them in many ways.
于是，蓝胡子说：“那么来我家住几天吧，”她们于是到蓝胡子的家里住了下来。那是一所非常漂亮的房子，蓝胡子处处讨好她们。
fatima said, “his beard is blue, but he is not a bad man. he is very good in some ways. so i will marry him.”
芬蒂玛说，“他的胡子是蓝色的，但是他这个人却并不坏，在很多方面都很出色，所以我愿嫁给他。”
so fatima married 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. … say that you will not open the door of the little room！”
于是芬蒂玛嫁给了蓝胡子，并且住进了那所漂亮的房子。过了几天，蓝胡子说：“我要去旅行，”说着，他就把这所房子里所有房间的钥匙都给了芬蒂玛。他说：“这是那间小屋子的钥匙，千万不要打开那间小屋的门，……你发誓，你一定不打开那间小屋子的门！”
fatima said, “i will not open the door of that little room.” then blue beard went away. when blue beard was away, all fatima's friends came to see her. she showed them the rooms, and what a beautiful house it was; but she did not open the door of the little room.
芬蒂玛于是说：“我不会打开那间小屋子的门。”随后，蓝胡子就走了。蓝胡子走了之后，芬蒂玛所有的朋友都来看她。她带朋友们观看了所有的房间，这的确是一所漂亮的房子，但她没有打开那间小屋的门。
the friends went away. then fatima said, “shall i open the door of that little room now? why did he say, 'do not open it'? i want to see what is in the little room.”
朋友们走了以后，她自言自语说：“现在我能打开那间小屋的门吗？他为什么说'不能打开呢'？我想看看小屋子里究竟有什么东西。”