[This tale came from the vicinity of Mecklenburg, was first published as no. 30 in the edition of 1815, and was renumbered 116 in the 1819 edition. About the Grimm Collection.]
There was once a soldier who had served his king faithfully for many years, but when the war was over and the soldier could no longer serve because of the many wounds he’d received, the king said to him, “You may go home; I don’t need you any longer. You won’t get any more money, for nobody receives pay unless he renders me services for it.” The soldier didn’t know how he’d earn his living, went away sorrowfully, and walked all day until in the afternoon he got into a forest. When night fell, he saw a light; he approached it and came to a house where a witch lived. “Please give me a night’s lodging and a little food and drink,” he said to her, “otherwise I shall perish.” “O ho!” she answered, “who gives a runaway soldier anything? Still, I’ll be charitable and take you in if you’ll do what I require.” “What do you require?” asked the soldier. “That you spade up my garden tomorrow morning.”
The soldier agreed and the next day worked as hard as he could, yet wasn’t able to finish it before evening. “I plainly see,” said the witch, “that you can’t continue your journey today. However, I’ll keep you another night, and for that you’re to split and chop up a cord of wood for me tomorrow.” The soldier needed the whole day for that, and in the evening the witch proposed that he stay another night. “Tomorrow you’re to do just a small job for me. Behind my house is an old dry well; my lantern has fallen into it; it burns with a blue light and doesn’t go out. You’re to bring it back up to me.” The next day the old woman led him to the well and let him down in a basket. He found the blue lantern and gave her a signal to pull him up again. She pulled him up, but when he was near the edge, she reached down with her hand and wanted to take the blue lantern away from him, “No,” he said, noticing her evil intentions, “I shan’t give you the lantern until I have both feet on the ground.” Then the witch flew into a rage, dropped him back down into the well, and went away.
The poor soldier fell onto the damp bottom without suffering any harm, and the blue lantern kept burning. But what good could that do him? He saw plainly that he couldn’t escape death. For a time he sat very sadly, then by chance he reached into his pocket and found his pipe that was still half filled. “This shall be your last treat,” he thought, took it out, lighted it from the blue lantern, and began to smoke. When the smoke had drifted about in the hole, a little black dwarf suddenly stood before him and asked, “Master, what do you command?” “What have I to command you?” replied the soldier much astonished. “I must do everything you command,” said the dwarf. “Good,” said the soldier. “Then first help me out of the well.”
The dwarf took him by the hand, led him through an underground passage and didn’t, however, forget to bring along the blue lantern. 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 up on earth, he said to the dwarf, “Now go and tie up the old witch and take her into court.” Before long she came riding by on a wild tomcat, as swift as the wind and yelling frightfully, nor was it long before the dwarf was back again. “It’s all fixed up,” he said, “and the witch is already hanging on the gallows. What more do you command, master?” asked the little fellow. “For the moment, nothing,” answered the soldier. “You may go home, but be right on hand if I call you.” “You need only light your pipe from the blue lantern,” said the dwarf, “and I’ll be in your presence immediately.” Thereupon he vanished before his eyes.
The soldier turned back to the city he’d come from. He entered the best inn and had fine clothes made for himself, then ordered the innkeeper to furnish a room for him as magnificently as possible. When it was ready and the soldier had moved in, he called the black dwarf and said, “I served the king faithfully, but he dismissed me and let me starve; now I want to take revenge for that.” “What am I to do?” asked the little fellow. “Late at night, when the king’s daughter is in bed, bring her here in her sleep. She shall perform maid’s service for me.” “That’s easy for me but a dangerous business for you,” said the dwarf. “If word of it gets out, it’ll go hard for you.” When it struck twelve, the door flew open and the dwarf carried in the king’s daughter. “Aha! Are you there?” cried the soldier. “Quick on the job! Go get the broom and sweep the room!” When she had finished, he ordered her to come to his easy chair and, sticking out his feet toward her, said, “Pull off my boots,” then threw them in her face. She had to pick them up, clean them and polish them. However, she did everything he ordered without resisting, silently and with half-closed eyes. At the first cockcrow the dwarf carried her back to the royal palace and put her back in her bed.
The next morning when the king’s daughter got up, she went to her father and told him that she had had a strange dream. “I was carried through the streets like a flash of lightning and taken to a soldier’s room; I had to serve him and wait on him like a maid, do all the dirty work, sweep the room, and polish his boots. It was just a dream, and still I’m as tired as if I’d really done it all.” “The dream might have been true,” said the king. “I’ll give you a piece of advice: fill your pocket with peas and make a little hole in the pocket. If you’re carried off again, they’ll fall out and leave a trail in the street.” While the king was speaking thus, the dwarf was standing by invisible and heard everything. At night he again carried the king’s sleeping daughter through the streets. To be sure, a certain number of peas fell out of her pocket but they couldn’t make a trail, for the cunning dwarf had beforehand strewn peas in all the streets. Again the king’s daughter had to perform maid’s service till cockcrow.
The next morning the king sent his people out to look for the trail, but it was hopeless, for in every street poor children were sitting and picking up peas and saying, “It rained peas last night.” “We must think up something else,” said the king. “Keep on your shoes when you go to bed, and before you come back from there, hide one of them. I’ll find it all right.” The black dwarf heard the plan, and when the soldier asked him to carry the king’s daughter there again, he advised against it, saying that he knew of nothing to counter this trick, and if the shoe was found in his room, it might go hard with him. “Do what I tell you,” replied the soldier, and the king’s daughter had to work like a maidservant the third night, too. But before she was carried back, she hid one shoe under the bed.
The next morning the king had the whole city searched for his daughter’s shoe. It was found at the soldier’s, and the soldier himself, who at the little fellow’s request had cleared out of town, was soon overtaken and thrown into prison. In his flight he’d forgotten the best thing he had, namely, the blue lantern and the gold, and had only one ducat left in his pocket. As he was standing by the window of his prison, now weighed down by chains, he saw one of his comrades walking by. He rapped on the pane, and when the other came up, he said, “Be so good as to bring me the little parcel that I left in the inn; I’ll give you a ducat for it.” His comrade ran there and brought him what he wanted.
As soon as the soldier was alone again, he lighted his pipe and summoned the black dwarf. “Don’t be afraid,” said the latter to his master. “Go where they lead you and let everything take its course. Only be sure to take the blue lantern along.” The next day the soldier was tried in court, and though he’d done nothing bad, the judge condemned him to death just the same. As he was being led out, he begged one last favor of the king. “What kind of a favor?” asked the king. “That I may smoke one more pipeful on the way.” “You may smoke three,” answered the king, “only don’t imagine that I shall make you a present of your life.” Then the soldier pulled out his pipe and lighted it from the blue lantern. By the time a few smoke rings had ascended, the dwarf was already standing there, had a little cudgel in his hand, and said, “What does my master command?” “Strike down the false justices there and their bailiffs, and don’t spare the king, either, who treated me so shabbily.” Then the dwarf zigzagged hither and thither like lightning, and whoever he as much as touched with his cudgel fell right to the ground and didn’t dare stir again. The king got frightened, asked for mercy, and just to save his life, gave the soldier his kingdom and his daughter in marriage.