The Blue Light (fairy tale)

"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.

The dwarf appears and kills the henchmen; the soldier also demands the king's life, but spares him after he begs for mercy.

[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.

[12] 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.