A little story/quiz

Okay, here's a little story I came across while reading the book 'The Pigman' in highschool.

Once you're done the story, there's a small question at the end, so pay attention to it.

There was a river that existed between two bodies of land (we'll call them land A and land B). A single bridge connected the two lands, but on this bridge there roamed a murderer. There was also a boatman that charged people to ride across the river. He stayed far from the bridge.

On land A there lived a husband and wife, in a cottage. On land B, there lived a very handsome single man - we'll call him Bill.

Whenever the husband went away on business, the wife would sneak over to land B, to fool around with Bill.

One particular night, the husband was leaving rather late. The wife did not want to be unfaithful. She knew if her husband left, she'd cheat on him again. So she kept asking her husband if she could tag along with him. He refused, saying that she'd be bored and she'd complain. Ultimately, the husband left without the wife. She was left alone, and after hours of agonising over the matter, she put on a jacket and left the house. When she reached the river, the boatman charged her for a ride across the water. She gave him all the money she had, and a half an hour later, she was in the arms of Bill. Now, Bill knew she had a husband, but he didn't care. He used her over and over again.

The sun was slowly coming up, and the wife knew her husband would be home any second, so she made way to leave. Bill came out of the door with her, since he had work to get to. Bill bade the wife farewell, got into his car, and drove off. The wife came to the river, where the boatman was. She asked for a ride, but since she had no money left, he refused to take her across. She begged and pleaded, but he wouldn't shift his position.

The wife glanced up at the bridge in the distance, and it looked quite deserted. So, thinking it was safe, she began making way across it.

Now, you can guess what happened.

The murderer had his way.

The wife was killed.

(the end)

Now, on to the question. I want you to list here the names (in order of most to least) of whom you think was at fault for the wife's death. The characters are, The Wife, The Husband, Bill the Lover, The Boatman, and the Murderer.
(if you know how this works, don't give it away)

Once a few of you have answered, I'll tell you why I asked of such a thing.

murderer, wife, boatman, bill, husband I guess.
Sounds right in my head any way.

Nici

husband, bill, wife, boatman, murderer

The only one truly at fault for the wife's death was the murderer.

Lydia O, you need to list the names, otherwise your post is invalid.

And, the story wasn't written in the old days, lol.

1. The Murderer
2. The Wife
3. The Boatman
4. Bill the Lover
5. The Husband

If you feel that way then don't participate in this, otherwise you're just stepping on the whole point of this thread.

Wife, bill, murderer, husband, boatman

No one else?

Okay, to all those who answered, here was the purpose of this little story. Each character represents a certain desire - a preference in life. I will list what each character represents, and the order you listed them is the order in which those desires are important to you, and remember, it could be a subconcious thing.

The Wife: Fun
The Husband: Love
The boatman: Magic
The murderer: Money
The lover (bill): Sex

When I first read the story, here was the order I chose; the wife, the murderer, the lover, the boatman, the husband... so that would mean that for me, the most important thing in life is Fun, followed by the rest, in the exact same order I chose.

I found it rather interesting, and true in my case.