“I am coming,” answered his wife; and then she cried: “Anne, sister Anne, dost thou not see any one coming?”
“I see,” replied sister Anne, “a great dust, which comes on this side.”
“Are they my brothers?”
“Alas! no, my dear sister, I see a flock of sheep.”
“Will you not come down?’ roared Blue Beard.
“One moment longer,” said his wife, and then she cried out: “Anne, sister Anne, dost thou see nobody coming?”
“I see,” said she, “two horsemen, but they are yet a great way off.”
“God be praised!” replied the poor wife joyfully; “they are my brothers; I will make them a sign, as well as I can, for them to make haste.”
Then Blue Beard bawled out so loud that he made the whole house tremble. The distressed wife came down and threw herself at his feet, all in tears, with her hair about her shoulders.
“That will not help you,” says Blue Beard; “you must die;” then, taking hold of her hair with one hand, and lifting up the sword with the other, he was going to cut off her head. The poor lady, turning to him and looking at him with dying eyes, begged him to give her one little moment more.