<h2><SPAN name="link2H_4_0050" id="link2H_4_0050"></SPAN> THE BLUE LIGHT </h2>
<p>There was once upon a time a soldier who for many years had served the
king faithfully, but when the war came to an end could serve no longer
because of the many wounds which he had received. The king said to him:
‘You may return to your home, I need you no longer, and you will not
receive any more money, for he only receives wages who renders me service
for them.’ Then the soldier did not know how to earn a living, went away
greatly troubled, and walked the whole day, until in the evening he
entered a forest. When darkness came on, he saw a light, which he went up
to, and came to a house wherein lived a witch. ‘Do give me one night’s
lodging, and a little to eat and drink,’ said he to her, ‘or I shall
starve.’ ‘Oho!’ she answered, ‘who gives anything to a run-away soldier?
Yet will I be compassionate, and take you in, if you will do what I wish.’
‘What do you wish?’ said the soldier. ‘That you should dig all round my
garden for me, tomorrow.’ The soldier consented, and next day laboured
with all his strength, but could not finish it by the evening. ‘I see well
enough,’ said the witch, ‘that you can do no more today, but I will keep
you yet another night, in payment for which you must tomorrow chop me a
load of wood, and chop it small.’ The soldier spent the whole day in doing
it, and in the evening the witch proposed that he should stay one night
more. ‘Tomorrow, you shall only do me a very trifling piece of work.
Behind my house, there is an old dry well, into which my light has fallen,
it burns blue, and never goes out, and you shall bring it up again.’ Next
day the old woman took him to the well, and let him down in a basket. He
found the blue light, and made her a signal to draw him up again. She did
draw him up, but when he came near the edge, she stretched down her hand
and wanted to take the blue light away from him. ‘No,’ said he, perceiving
her evil intention, ‘I will not give you the light until I am standing
with both feet upon the ground.’ The witch fell into a passion, let him
fall again into the well, and went away.</p>
<p>The poor soldier fell without injury on the moist ground, and the blue
light went on burning, but of what use was that to him? He saw very well
that he could not escape death. He sat for a while very sorrowfully, then
suddenly he felt in his pocket and found his tobacco pipe, which was still
half full. ‘This shall be my last pleasure,’ thought he, pulled it out,
lit it at the blue light and began to smoke. When the smoke had circled
about the cavern, suddenly a little black dwarf stood before him, and
said: ‘Lord, what are your commands?’ ‘What my commands are?’ replied the
soldier, quite astonished. ‘I must do everything you bid me,’ said the
little man. ‘Good,’ said the soldier; ‘then in the first place help me out
of this well.’ The little man took him by the hand, and led him through an
underground passage, but he did not forget to take the blue light with
him. On the way the dwarf showed him the treasures which the witch had
collected and hidden there, and the soldier took as much gold as he could
carry. When he was above, he said to the little man: ‘Now go and bind the
old witch, and carry her before the judge.’ In a short time she came by
like the wind, riding on a wild tom-cat and screaming frightfully. Nor was
it long before the little man reappeared. ‘It is all done,’ said he, ‘and
the witch is already hanging on the gallows. What further commands has my
lord?’ inquired the dwarf. ‘At this moment, none,’ answered the soldier;
‘you can return home, only be at hand immediately, if I summon you.’
‘Nothing more is needed than that you should light your pipe at the blue
light, and I will appear before you at once.’ Thereupon he vanished from
his sight.</p>
<p>The soldier returned to the town from which he came. He went to the best
inn, ordered himself handsome clothes, and then bade the landlord furnish
him a room as handsome as possible. When it was ready and the soldier had
taken possession of it, he summoned the little black manikin and said: ‘I
have served the king faithfully, but he has dismissed me, and left me to
hunger, and now I want to take my revenge.’ ‘What am I to do?’ asked the
little man. ‘Late at night, when the king’s daughter is in bed, bring her
here in her sleep, she shall do servant’s work for me.’ The manikin said:
‘That is an easy thing for me to do, but a very dangerous thing for you,
for if it is discovered, you will fare ill.’ When twelve o’clock had
struck, the door sprang open, and the manikin carried in the princess.
‘Aha! are you there?’ cried the soldier, ‘get to your work at once! Fetch
the broom and sweep the chamber.’ When she had done this, he ordered her
to come to his chair, and then he stretched out his feet and said: ‘Pull
off my boots,’ and then he threw them in her face, and made her pick them
up again, and clean and brighten them. She, however, did everything he
bade her, without opposition, silently and with half-shut eyes. When the
first cock crowed, the manikin carried her back to the royal palace, and
laid her in her bed.</p>
<p>Next morning when the princess arose she went to her father, and told him
that she had had a very strange dream. ‘I was carried through the streets
with the rapidity of lightning,’ said she, ‘and taken into a soldier’s
room, and I had to wait upon him like a servant, sweep his room, clean his
boots, and do all kinds of menial work. It was only a dream, and yet I am
just as tired as if I really had done everything.’ ‘The dream may have
been true,’ said the king. ‘I will give you a piece of advice. Fill your
pocket full of peas, and make a small hole in the pocket, and then if you
are carried away again, they will fall out and leave a track in the
streets.’ But unseen by the king, the manikin was standing beside him when
he said that, and heard all. At night when the sleeping princess was again
carried through the streets, some peas certainly did fall out of her
pocket, but they made no track, for the crafty manikin had just before
scattered peas in every street there was. And again the princess was
compelled to do servant’s work until cock-crow.</p>
<p>Next morning the king sent his people out to seek the track, but it was
all in vain, for in every street poor children were sitting, picking up
peas, and saying: ‘It must have rained peas, last night.’ ‘We must think
of something else,’ said the king; ‘keep your shoes on when you go to bed,
and before you come back from the place where you are taken, hide one of
them there, I will soon contrive to find it.’ The black manikin heard this
plot, and at night when the soldier again ordered him to bring the
princess, revealed it to him, and told him that he knew of no expedient to
counteract this stratagem, and that if the shoe were found in the
soldier’s house it would go badly with him. ‘Do what I bid you,’ replied
the soldier, and again this third night the princess was obliged to work
like a servant, but before she went away, she hid her shoe under the bed.</p>
<p>Next morning the king had the entire town searched for his daughter’s
shoe. It was found at the soldier’s, and the soldier himself, who at the
entreaty of the dwarf had gone outside the gate, was soon brought back,
and thrown into prison. In his flight he had forgotten the most valuable
things he had, the blue light and the gold, and had only one ducat in his
pocket. And now loaded with chains, he was standing at the window of his
dungeon, when he chanced to see one of his comrades passing by. The
soldier tapped at the pane of glass, and when this man came up, said to
him: ‘Be so kind as to fetch me the small bundle I have left lying in the
inn, and I will give you a ducat for doing it.’ His comrade ran thither
and brought him what he wanted. As soon as the soldier was alone again, he
lighted his pipe and summoned the black manikin. ‘Have no fear,’ said the
latter to his master. ‘Go wheresoever they take you, and let them do what
they will, only take the blue light with you.’ Next day the soldier was
tried, and though he had done nothing wicked, the judge condemned him to
death. When he was led forth to die, he begged a last favour of the king.
‘What is it?’ asked the king. ‘That I may smoke one more pipe on my way.’
‘You may smoke three,’ answered the king, ‘but do not imagine that I will
spare your life.’ Then the soldier pulled out his pipe and lighted it at
the blue light, and as soon as a few wreaths of smoke had ascended, the
manikin was there with a small cudgel in his hand, and said: ‘What does my
lord command?’ ‘Strike down to earth that false judge there, and his
constable, and spare not the king who has treated me so ill.’ Then the
manikin fell on them like lightning, darting this way and that way, and
whosoever was so much as touched by his cudgel fell to earth, and did not
venture to stir again. The king was terrified; he threw himself on the
soldier’s mercy, and merely to be allowed to live at all, gave him his
kingdom for his own, and his daughter to wife.</p>
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