LII. THE BLUE LIGHT.1 THERE was once an old soldier who had served the king for many years, during the wars. But at last the army was broken up, and old Martin was summarily discharged. Unfortunately he knew no trade but fighting; and how he was to get his living he could not tell. On his journey home, while he was trudging on in a very melancholy mood, he came, one evening, to a thick forest, into which he entered, but he had not walked far when he espied a light, towards which he bent his steps; he soon arrived at a little cottage, where no one lived but an old woman who was a witch. The old soldier begged for a night's lodging, and something to eat and drink ; she at first refused, but at last she said, "I will take pity on you, but you must dig over the whole of my garden for me in the morning." The soldier agreed to this, and the next day he dug the garden all over very carefully, and worked at it until the evening, when his employer would have sent him away; but he said, "I am so tired that I must ask to be allowed to stay over the night." At first she would not consent; but at last she agreed, on condition that he should chop up a cart-load of wood for her the next day. The old soldier chopped the wood as he was desired, but he was not done till evening, and then he found himself so tired, that he begged a third night's rest; which the witch granted, on his promising next day to fetch her the blue light from the bottom of the well. When morning came the witch led him to the well, tied him It is hardly needful to point out the curious resemblance between this German story of Grimm's, and the tale of "Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp," in the Arabian Nights. to a long rope, with which she let him down; and when he got down he found the blue light, and made a signal for her to draw him up again. She pulled him up so near to the top that she could reach him with her hands, and then desired him to give her the blue light, intending, however, as soon as she had got possession of it, to let him fall down again to the bottom: but old Martin guessed her wicked thoughts, and said, "Oh, no! I shall not give you the blue light until I find my feet again on firm ground." At this she became very angry, and dashed the soldier, light and all, down to the bottom of the well. The poor soldier lay for a while in despair, in the dark damp mud below, for he saw that his end was near. But his pipe was in his hand, which was still half full, and he thought to himself, “I will now smoke you out; it will be the last pleasure I shall have." So he lighted it at the blue light, and began to smoke; and when the smoke began to rise in clouds around him, all at once a little black mannikin appeared and asked him, “Master, what do you want with me?""How should I want anything of you?" answered the soldier. The mannikin said, "I must serve you in everything, as lord of the blue light."—" Then, before all things, help me out of this well!"-On which the black man took him by the hand and drew him up, and the blue light with him. When they were out of the well, the soldier said, "Now kill the old witch, that she may not play the same tricks again!" When the dwarf had done this, they opened her treasures; and Martin loaded himself with gold and went his way. Then the little man said, "If you should need me again, light your pipe at the blue light, and I will come to you. The soldier went straight to the best inn in the first town he came to, ordered some fine clothes to be made, and a handsome room to be got ready for him. When all this was done, he called the mannikin to him, and said, "The king dismissed me and left me to hunger and want; I will no longer do his service: bring me his daughter here this evening, that she may attend upon me."-"That is a difficult thing," said the little But away he went, took the princess, and brought her to the soldier. Next day he carried her back; and, as soon as she saw her father, she said, "I had a strange dream last night; I thought I was carried away through the air to an old soldier's house, and was obliged to be his servant." Then the king told her to fill her pocket with peas, and make a hole in it; so that, if it were as she said, and the whole was not a man. dream, the peas might fall out, and leave the marks in the streets, as she passed along. She did so; but the dwarf had heard it, and, when evening came, and the soldier said he must bring him the princess again, he strewed peas all over the town, so that the few that fell from her pocket might not leave any trace; and the people of the town had nothing to do but pick up peas all next day, wondering, at the same time, where they had all come from. When the princess told her father what had happened to her the second time, he said, “Take one of your shoes with you, and hide it in the place you are taken to." The little man, however, heard this too; and, when the soldier told him to bring the king's daughter again, he said, "I have no power to help you this time; it will be an unlucky thing for you if this is found out, as I think it will." The old soldier, however, would have his own way. "Then," said the dwarf, "make the best of your way out of the city-gates very early in the morning, as soon as I have taken the princess back." The princess, as her father bid her, hid one shoe in the soldier's room; and, next morning, the king gave orders that it should be sought for all over the town, and at last it was found in the old soldier's room. The soldier had, meantime, run away; but he was soon followed and caught, and thrown into a strong prison. There he lay in chains and fetters; and, what was worst of all, he had, in the hurry of his flight, left behind him the blue light, and all his gold; and he had nothing left in his pocket but a small ducat. While he was standing sorrowfully at the prison-window, he saw one of his old comrades passing by; so he called out to him, and said, "If you will bring me a little bundle which I left in the inn, Í will reward you with a ducat." His comrade soon returned with the blue light and the gold; on which the prisoner lit his pipe. The black dwarf appeared. "Do not fear," said the little man to him; "keep up your courage at the trial, and leave every thing to take its course; only take the blue light with you! I he The trial soon came on; he was adjudged guilty, and was ordered to be hung on the gallows. As he was led away, asked of the king one favour. "What is it?" said he. "That may be allowed to smoke one pipe more on the way.""Three, if you like!" said the king. Then he kindled his pipe at the blue light, when the black mannikin immediately stood before him, and asked him what his orders were. "Beat all these people to pieces," said he; "and, as for the |