Blue lamp

蓝灯
Blue lamp
Long ago, a soldier served the king faithfully for years. He was wounded in the war. After the war, the king thought he was useless and drove him away. The poor man didn’t know how to live. When he was going to return home, he passed by a forest. It was dark. He saw a light from an old witch’s house. He said to the old witch: “Give me a place to stay and some food. I’m starving to death.”
“Ok, but you must do something for me tomorrow.”
The next day, the witch took him beside a well. She said to him: “My blue lamp fell into the well, which is a magic lamp. I want you to help me get it.”
She lowered him into the well with a basket. He found the blue lamp and let the woman pull him up. When she pulled him up to the edge of the well and she stretched out her hand to take hold of the lamp. The soldier didn’t trust her and said “I will only give it to you once my feet touch the ground.” The witch was angry and let go of him. The soldier fell into the well. The poor soldier landed in the well without being injured. The lamp was still bright. He thought he would die. So he lit his tobacco pipe to enjoy the end of his life.
The smoke rose up and floated in the air and from it a little black man appeared and said. “Sir, what can I do for you? Can I help you?”
The soldier was astonished and said: “Good! Help me walk out of the well.”
The little man showed the soldier a little hole where the witch kept her treasure and then helped him get out. The soldier took some gold away. When they reached the ground, the soldier said to the little man. “There is nothing else that you need to do. You may go home.”
“Ok.” said the little man, “Whenever you light your tobacco pipe with the blue lamp, I will be here.” After this the man was gone. The soldier returned to the city and lived in the best hotel and bought some nice clothing. He called up the little man and said to him: “I served the king faithfully but he drove me away. Now I want to revenge on the king.”
“What can I do for you?” the little black man asked.
“Go to the palace and bring the daughter of the king to be my maid.”
“It is easy for me but dangerous for you.” said the little black man.
When the clock struck twelve the door was opened. The little black man brought the daughter of the king. The soldier ordered her to clean the room, polish his shoes and so on. The princess didn’t rebel.
When the day was dawning, the little black man sent her to the palace and put her on her bed.
In the morning of the next day, she visited her father and told him her dream. “I was carried by a man to wander about the streets into a soldier’s room. I cleaned the room and polished his shoes. Although it was a dream, I feel as tired as if it were real.”
“Maybe this is not just a dream.” The king said. “You carry a bag of beans and poke a hole in the bag. If you are taken away, the beans will spread on the ground, which will show the direction.”
The little black man heard this, so that night when he took the princess through the streets, he spread the beans all along the streets. The princess worked hard again until daybreak.
The next day the king sent some persons to spy but they went there in vain.
“We must think up some other ideas.” The king said to his daughter: “When you get into bed, don’t take off your shoes. Leave a shoe in the place where you stay. I will order a search for it.”
The little man told the soldier about this but the soldier said. “Do as I say.”
That night, the princess was brought again. She put a shoe under his bed before she was taken away. The next morning, the king ordered the city to be searched and found the shoe of the princess in the room of the soldier. So the soldier was put into prison. When he was lonely he lit the tobacco pipe with the blue lamp.
The little black man stood beside him again. “Don’t be afraid.” the little man said: “ No matter wherever they take you, I will follow.”
The following day, the soldier was sentenced to death. When he was taken to the gallows the soldier asked the king to permit him to smoke. The king agreed. The soldier took out his tobacco pipe, lit it with the blue lamp. The little man said: “Master, what can I do for you?”
“Hit these unfaithful judges and dispose the king.”
The little black man hit them the king knelt down and permitted him to be the king and made his daughter marry him .