Sister Anne

The wife ran upstairs and called to her sister.

"Sister Anne! Sister Anne! Please go up to the top of the tower and look out. My brothers promised to visit me today. If you see them, wave to them — tell them to hurry!"

Sister Anne climbed to the top of the tower. Every few minutes, the wife called up to her.

"Sister Anne, do you see anyone coming?"

"I see nothing," Anne called back. "Only dust and green fields."

Downstairs, Blue Beard shouted louder and louder.

"Come down this moment, or I will come up to get you!"

"Just one more moment, please!" the wife called back. Then quietly to her sister: "Anne, sister Anne, do you see anyone?"

"I see a cloud of dust," said Anne. "But I think it is only sheep."

"Come down NOW!" Blue Beard roared, and the whole house shook.

The wife came slowly down the stairs, crying, with her hair loose around her shoulders.

"Nothing will help you now," said Blue Beard. He grabbed her hair with one hand and raised his sword with the other.

"Wait — just one moment to pray," she begged.

"No," he said. "Pray to God now — quickly."

He lifted the sword.

At that exact moment, there was a loud knock at the gate. Then another. Then the gate burst open. Two horsemen rode in at full speed, drew their swords, and ran straight at Blue Beard. They were the wife's brothers — one a soldier in the cavalry, the other in the infantry. Blue Beard turned and ran, but the brothers caught him before he could escape. They killed him on the spot.

The wife sat on the floor, too weak to stand. She could not even rise to welcome her brothers. They came to her and held her until she stopped shaking.