The Blue Light (Grimm)
Short summary
A fairytale kingdom. A soldier who had served the King faithfully was dismissed after the war ended due to his wounds, left without pay or means to survive.
The soldier found shelter with a witch who made him work for three days. On the third day, she lowered him into a well to retrieve her blue light. When he refused to hand it over until safely on ground, she left him trapped. Smoking his pipe with the blue light, he accidentally summoned a magical dwarf who granted his every command.
The dwarf freed him and helped him get revenge on the King. Each night, the princess was magically brought to serve the soldier. Despite the King's attempts to track her, the soldier continued until a hidden shoe revealed his location. Captured and sentenced to death, the soldier requested one last smoke. He lit his pipe with the blue light, summoning the dwarf.
Strike down to earth that false judge there, and his constable, and spare not the King... The King was terrified; he threw himself on the soldier's mercy... gave him his kingdom
The soldier became the new king and married the princess.
Detailed summary
Division into chapters is editorial.
The dismissed soldier and the witchs bargain
A faithful soldier served his king for many years until the war ended and his wounds made further service impossible. The king dismissed him without pension, declaring that only those who currently served would receive wages.
Thou wilt 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
Wandering all day, the soldier entered a forest at evening and saw a light leading to a house where a witch lived. Desperate for shelter and food, he begged for lodging. The witch agreed to help him in exchange for work.
Three tasks and the discovery of the blue light
The witch assigned the soldier three tasks over three days. First, he dug around her garden but could not finish by evening. Second, he chopped wood and made it small. On the third day, she gave him the seemingly simple task of retrieving her blue light from an old dry well behind the house. The light burned blue and never went out.
The witch lowered the soldier into the well in a basket. He found the blue light and signaled to be drawn up. However, when he neared the edge, the witch reached down to take the light from him before he was safely out.
No, said he, perceiving her evil intention, I will not give thee the light until I am standing with both feet upon the ground. The witch fell into a passion, let him down again
The witch abandoned him in the well and departed. The soldier fell safely onto the moist ground, still holding the blue light, but saw no way to escape what seemed certain death.
The dwarfs power and the witchs fate
Resigned to his fate, the soldier decided to smoke his tobacco pipe one last time. He lit it at the blue light and began to smoke.
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
The dwarf appeared and asked for his commands, explaining that he must do everything the soldier commanded.
The soldier first commanded the dwarf to help him escape the well. The dwarf led him through an underground passage, showing him treasures the witch had hidden there. The soldier took as much gold as he could carry. Then he ordered the dwarf to bind the witch and bring her before a judge. Soon the witch came riding by on a wild tomcat, crying frightfully, and was hanged on the gallows. The dwarf explained he would appear whenever the soldier lit his pipe at the blue light.
Revenge through the princess
The soldier returned to town, stayed at the best inn, ordered fine clothes, and furnished a handsome room. He summoned the dwarf and declared his intention to take revenge on the king who had dismissed him and left him to hunger.
I have served the King faithfully, but he has dismissed me, and left me to hunger, and now I want to take my revenge... Late at night... bring her here in her sleep
The soldier ordered the dwarf to bring the king's daughter to him at night while she slept, to do servant's work. At midnight, the dwarf carried in the princess.
Aha! art thou there? cried the soldier, get to thy work at once! Fetch the broom and sweep the chamber... and made her pick them up again, and clean and brighten them
The princess performed all tasks silently with half-shut eyes until cockcrow, when the dwarf returned her to the palace. This continued for three nights. The princess told her father about strange dreams of being carried through streets and forced to serve a soldier.
The king devised plans to catch the culprit. First, he told the princess to fill her pocket with peas to leave a trail, but the crafty dwarf scattered peas throughout every street. Then the king instructed her to hide a shoe wherever she was taken. Despite the dwarf's warnings, the soldier insisted on proceeding, and the shoe was found in his house.
Trial, triumph, and reward
The soldier was arrested and imprisoned. In his haste to flee, he had forgotten his most valuable possessions - the blue light and gold - taking only one ducat. From his prison window, he saw a comrade and asked him to fetch a small bundle from the inn for one ducat.
Though the soldier had done nothing truly wicked, the judge condemned him to death. As he was led to execution, the soldier requested one final favor - to smoke a pipe.
That I may smoke one more pipe on my way. Thou mayst smoke three, answered the King, but do not imagine that I will spare thy life. Then the soldier pulled out his pipe and lighted it
When the soldier lit his pipe at the blue light, the dwarf appeared with a cudgel. The soldier commanded him to strike down the false judge, the constable, and the king who had treated him so poorly. The dwarf attacked like lightning, and all who were touched fell to earth. Terrified, the king begged for mercy and gave the soldier his kingdom and the princess as his wife.