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The Blue Light (fairy tale)

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For other uses, see Blue Light (disambiguation).
The Blue Light
Folk tale
NameThe Blue Light
Also known asDas blaue Licht
Aarne–Thompson groupingATU 562 (The Spirit in the Blue Light)
CountryGermany
Published inGrimms' Fairy Tales

The Blue Light is a Brothers Grimm fairy tale about a soldier who finds a magical object that provides him a supernatural helper. Many of the features from Hans Christian Andersen's later work The Tinderbox and from the story of Aladdin and his magic lamp originate with this version. Other tales of this type include The Three Dogs and The Tinderbox.[1]

Synopsis

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A soldier has been discharged from the king's service because of his wounds. The soldier leaves the castle and, as night falls, he requires somewhere to stay. Encountering the home of a witch, he asks her for lodging. The witch agrees on condition that he spade her garden the next day. This takes so long that he must stay another night, and in return she asks him to chop her wood. Once again, he must stay another night.

The soldier summons the Spirit in the Blue Light at the bottom of the well. Illustration by George Cruikshank for Grimm's Goblins, by Edgar Taylor (1823).

The following day, she requests that he go into a well and retrieve her blue light for her. He is in the process of doing so, but realizes he is being tricked and will be trapped in the well as soon as he gives it to her. He keeps the light for himself, not knowing what it is, but she leaves him in the well. He decides to smoke one last time and lights his pipe with the blue light. A dwarf comes to grant him whatever he wishes. He first asks to be led out of the well, then for the witch to be taken to jail and hanged.

To retaliate against the king, the soldier commands the dwarf to bring him the princess so she can act as his maid. When she wakes up, the princess tells her father of her strange "dream", which the king believes could have actually happened. He has the princess fill her pocket with peas and put a little hole in it so that if she actually is carried away they will be able to follow the path.

The dwarf, however, notices, and spreads peas all over the city so that the peas lead to everywhere and cannot pin it on the soldier. The next night, she plans on hiding her shoe in the home to which she is taken. The dwarf warns against this to the soldier, but he does not heed it. The next day, the princess's shoe is found in his quarters and he is taken to jail. He sends his friend to get the blue light and as his final request asks for a last smoke of his pipe. The dwarf appears and kills the henchmen; the soldier also demands the king's life, but spares him after he begs for mercy. The soldier marries the princess and takes the throne.

Analysis

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Tale type

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The tale is classified in the Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index as tale type ATU 562, "The Spirit in the Blue Light".[2][3][4][5] In the Index, the story is situated next to two similar tale types: ATU 560, The Magic Ring, and ATU 561, Aladdin.[6][7][8][9] All of these stories deal with a down-on-his-luck and impoverished boy or soldier, who finds a magical item (ring, lamp, tinderbox) that grants his wishes. In this regard, German folklorist Hans-Jörg Uther, in his revision of the international index, published in 2004, remarked that the similarities between the three tale types make it hard to differentiate them.[10] On the other hand, per Stith Thompson's The Folktale, in type 562, Thompson remarked that, despite the great similarities between types 561 and 562, the "essential difference" lies in the accidental loss of the object by the hero.[11] Similarly, Czech scholar Karel Horálek [cs] distinguishes the three types in that, in type 560, the hero is helped by animals (the snake gives the ring and the dog and the cat retrieve the stolen object); type 561 does away with the animals, leaving the hero to recover the stolen lamp with the second object, and, finally, type 562 inserts another person that helps the hero.[12]

Motifs

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The magical object

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The hero finds the magical object in an underground room: a fire steel or a tinder box,[13] but it can also be a book of the dark arts or a flute.[14] The blue light in Hungarian tales is sometimes replaced by a tobacco pipe.[15]

References

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  1. ^ D. L. Ashliman, "The Blue Light: Folktales of Aarne–Thompson–Uther Type 562"
  2. ^ Aarne, Antti; Thompson, Stith. The types of the folktale: a classification and bibliography. Folklore Fellows Communications FFC no. 184. Helsinki: Academia Scientiarum Fennica, 1961. p. 204.
  3. ^ Uther, Hans-Jörg (2004). The Types of International Folktales: A Classification and Bibliography, Based on the System of Antti Aarne and Stith Thompson. Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, Academia Scientiarum Fennica. pp. 330–331. ISBN 978-951-41-0963-8.
  4. ^ Ashliman, D. L. A Guide to Folktales in the English Language: Based on the Aarne-Thompson Classification System. Bibliographies and Indexes in World Literature, vol. 11. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1987. p. 123. ISBN 0-313-25961-5.
  5. ^ D. L. Ashliman, "The Grimm Brothers' Children's and Household Tales (Grimms' Fairy Tales)"
  6. ^ Ranke, Kurt (1966). Folktales of Germany. Routledge & K. Paul. p. 214. ISBN 978-81-304-0032-7.
  7. ^ Ranke, Kurt (2016) [1977]. "Alad(d)in (AaTh 561)" [Aladdin (ATU 561)]. In Rolf Wilhelm Brednich; Heidrun Alzheimer; Hermann Bausinger; Wolfgang Brückner; Daniel Drascek; Helge Gerndt; Ines Köhler-Zülch; Klaus Roth; Hans-Jörg Uther (eds.). Enzyklopädie des Märchens Online (in German). Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter. pp. 245–246. doi:10.1515/emo.1.059. AaTh 561 hat eine starke Affinität zu den benachbarten Märchentypen AaTh 560 (Zauberring) und AaTh 562 (Geist im blauen Licht). [[Type] AaTh 561 has a strong affinity with the neighbouring types AaTh 560 ("Magic Ring") and AaTh 562 ("Spirit in the Blue Light").]
  8. ^ Thompson, Stith (1977). The Folktale. University of California Press. pp. 70–72. ISBN 0-520-03537-2.
  9. ^ van den Berg, Paula (1997). "De tondeldoos". In Ton Dekker; Jurjen van der Kooi; Theo Meder (eds.). Van Aladdin tot Zwaan kleef aan. Lexicon van sprookjes: ontstaan, ontwikkeling, variaties (in Dutch) (first ed.). Kritak: Sun. p. 366. De typen at 560 ('The Magic Ring'), 561 ('Aladdin en de wonderlamp') en 562 zijn nauw aan elkaar verwant en worden vaak door elkaar gemengd. [Types 560, 561 and 562 are greatly connected and many times are contaminated.]
  10. ^ Uther, Hans-Jörg (2004). The Types of International Folktales: A Classification and Bibliography, Based on the System of Antti Aarne and Stith Thompson. Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, Academia Scientiarum Fennica. pp. 328, 330, 331. ISBN 978-951-41-0963-8.
  11. ^ Thompson, Stith. The Folktale. University of California Press. 1977. p. 72. ISBN 0-520-03537-2
  12. ^ Horálek, K. (1974). "Folk Poetry: History And Typology". In Arthur S. Abramson (ed.). Linguistics and Adjacent Arts and Sciences: Part 2. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 741-808 [778]. doi:10.1515/9783110821659-004. In the fairy tale about the magic ring [AT 560 The magic ring] it is necessary for the hero to win the gratitude not only of the donor of the talisman (this is generally a serpent), but also of a dog and a cat (not of other animals) because these two animals are alloted [sic] a special task at the end of the fairy tale, i.e. to help the hero to recover the stolen talisman. (...) In the fairy tale about Aladdin [AT 561 Aladdin's lamp] the situation is substantially different: the task of the dog and the cat would be superfluous here because besides the magic lamp the hero is in possession of another talisman with the help of which he recovers the lamp and also conjures up palace and princess. In type AT 562 [The spirit in the blue light], which is derived from the Aladdin fairy tale, the motif of the second talisman is missing, while the task of the helper is performed here by the hero's friend.
  13. ^ Thompson, Stith (1977). The Folktale. University of California Press. p. 72. ISBN 0-520-03537-2.
  14. ^ van den Berg, Paula (1997). "De tondeldoos". In Ton Dekker; Jurjen van der Kooi; Theo Meder (eds.). Van Aladdin tot Zwaan kleef aan. Lexicon van sprookjes: ontstaan, ontwikkeling, variaties (in Dutch) (first ed.). Kritak: Sun. p. 366.
  15. ^ Grimm, Jacob & Grimm, Wilhelm; Taylor, Edgar; Cruikshank, George (illustrator). Grimm's Goblins: Grimm's Household Stories. London: R. Meek & Co.. 1877. p. 294.
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