The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories Quiz

Answer: The bodies of her husband's previous wives

In this take on the Charles Perrault folk tale "Bluebeard", a young bride is taken in as the fourth wife of a rich man and it soon becomes apparent that the marriage is not going to be a lasting one. After several instances of forewarning and bad vibes, she allows herself to be whisked off to her new husband's castle. A pianist, the bride doesn't take to her new castle abode, especially when the piano inside is compromised by the sea out the window; she has to ask to have a tuner come in and fix it regularly. Before the husband heads to New York on a six-week business trip, she's left with the keys and told to have free run of the castle-- every room except one at the foot of the west tower. A blind piano tuner is hired.

It takes little time for the bride to start exploring and, in an attempt to uncover more about her new husband and sate her curiosity, she decides it won't hurt to check his forbidden room. It does. In this literal chamber of horrors she finds the dead bodies of her husband's three prior wives, all tortured. She drops the key in a pool of blood and that ends up being her undoing. After she tells her piano-tuner, her husband returns home and asks to see the keys. He places the bloody one on her forehead, leaving a mark, and tells her that she shall be decapitated. Fortunately, before her head can roll, she's saved by her mother who rides in on a horse and shoots her executioner with a revolver.

The widow inherits the money, marries the blind piano-tuner, and forever holds the mark on her forehead.

Answer: A white rose

In this story, Beauty's father drives back from his lawyer's and his car breaks down on the side of the road. In the hope that he may find someone with a phone, he stumbles into a courtyard and makes his way into a castle marked with a gold lion knocker. After settling in and being led around the house by a King Charles Spaniel, he uses the phone and calls for help; a truck arrives in an hour to take care of his vehicle. As he leaves, however, the owner of the castle, the beastly Mr. Lyon, catches Beauty's father stealing a white rose for his daughter and insists that he bring the girl to the mansion.

Beauty heads to the castle and enjoys dinner with her rugged, mysterious beast-man and after several days comes to realize that he is an odd fellow. When her father's money issues are solved she's called to London, but promises the beast she'll be back before winter's end. She forgets.

As spring dawns, Beauty is visited by the Spaniel who, apparently, has run all the way to retrieve her. When she reaches the Beast he seems emaciated and no longer like his former self. When she promises that she has returned for him he takes on an almost human appearance. The two of them wed shortly after, residing in the castle.

Answer: Her father loses a game of cards

In this story, the narrator, the daughter of a Russian farmer, travels with her father to Southern Europe where they come across a mysterious Beast who challenges them to some games of cards. Her father loses it all; while he has a wonderful hand, the Beast's is better. His valet retrieves her in the morning.

When the girl arrives she is told that her host has one wish-- she can return to her father with all of the money he lost (and more) if she reveals her body to him. She stubbornly refuses his terms and is sent to her cell for the night; this back and forth occurs several times with her refusal always coming out.

When her captor asks her on a hunt he reveals his true form to her and, humbled, she strips to her skin as he goes hunting by the river. When they return to the castle she is allowed to stay in a luxurious room and spies through a magical mirror to see that her father has reclaimed his riches. She is allowed to leave but she decides to stay, joining The Beast in his chamber and offering herself to him. He purrs loud enough to damage the castle and, as he licks her skin off with his sandpaper tongue, her furs are revealed underneath.

Answer: Figaro

This story is narrated by none other than the puss himself-- an orange tom cat named Figaro who takes up residence with a young man in Bergamo, becoming a faithful and, somehow, all-knowing companion and confidante. When Puss seeks the scratching of a young lady bundled in black, she reveals her face and his master falls in love. Unfortunately, the girl is, typically, locked away in a tower guarded by an old hag (who hates cats) who watches her for her older husband.

Figaro's master decides to serenade his lover, romancing her while she watches from her window; this works only until her captor shuts her in. The next day a plan forms-- the Master and his cat shall pose as rat-catchers and the Missus' cat will place dead rats throughout the tower. This works; the hag hates rats more than cats and she leaves them to it. The next day, the Master poses as a doctor as his lover's husband tumbles down the stairs, breaking his neck. The old hag is sent away and later paid off as the Master and Missus marry into the inheritance. The titular Puss marries the Missus' cat and kittens are had. All ends well.

Answer: Birds

In this tale, a young woman recounts her journey into a labyrinthine forest where a folk creature known as the Erl-King draws wild animals to him with his song. She gets trapped in the same song, almost like a bird, and falls in love with him. His house in the woods contains many caged birds, and it isn't long before she realizes that they are his past lovers, transformed with his natural powers and trapped forever.

While brushing his hair by the fire, the maiden braids it and strangles him to death, freeing the birds and herself from their entrapment.

Answer: As fair as the sky

In this short story, a Count and Countess ride horses on a snowy day. Coming along the path, the Count wishes for a daughter as white as snow, red as blood, and black as a raven, and she appears. The Countess is immediately jealous, and takes off various items of clothing in an attempt to get the girl to fetch them so that they can flee. None of this works until the Countess asks her to pick her a rose.

When the girl reaches down it pricks her and she dies.

Answer: Les Amoureux

This story, set in Romania, features a Countess who also happens to be the vampiric daughter of Nosferatu, slain when she was a young child. Residing in a hollowed out town, she now lures men into her lair to feed on them. One day, while reading her tarot cards, she comes across a reading involving Les Amoureux-- The Lovers-- for the first time and she contemplates its meaning.

Elsewhere, a young, virginal British soldier begins a biking excursion through the Romanian uplands, ending up in her village and being summoned to her abode. He's fed dinner by an old crone and led to the lady's room where, withered and in need of sustenance, she struggles to seduce the pure boy. After she pricks her finger and bleeds for the first time, she dies that night as the sun begins to rise. The soldier returns to his regiment shortly thereafter, and to war.

Answer: Grandma

In this story, Little Red Riding Hood heads into the forest to go to grandmother's house but a were-wolf attacks. Luckily, armed with her father's knife, she chops off the wolf's paw as it heads into the forest. She gets to grandma's house and finds the woman feverish, not due to sickness but due to a missing hand; the wolf's paw in her basket falls out and reveals itself to be her grandmother's missing appendage.

When the girl screams the neighbours arrive and discover the grandmother to be a witch; she's stoned to death.

Answer: Little Red Riding Hood

A young woman named Little Red Riding Hood is swallowed by the forest on her way to Grandma's house, and she comes across a man with a compass who prods her into a contest-- they will both head to Grandma's and, if he wins, using his compass to find the way there off the beaten path, she will give him a kiss.

He carries her basket and they head on their way. The man arrives first, revealing himself to the grandmother as a big bad wolf before eating her, hiding her bones under the bed. The girl arrives soon after and discovers the truth.

However, she seductively decides to give in to the wolf, burning their clothes in the fireplace and preventing him from becoming human again.

Answer: Nuns

In this final tale, a young girl, raised by wolves and found by man, is discovered to be a problem child. Unable to accustom herself to human ways, she's left by nuns in the house of a werewolf referred to as The Duke who is rarely seen. Over the course of several years she comes into her own, discovering more about her body and self while conversing with her own reflection.

As she ages, she explores and eventually comes to have feelings for The Duke and, when he's shot with a silver bullet by the local congregation, she brings him back to his chambers to lick the wounds.