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4Co |
THE BL UE LIGHT. |
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witch is already hanging on the gallows. Now, master, what is your pleasure ?"
" At this moment, nothing," replied the soldier; "you can go home, but be at hand to answer when I call you."
" It is not necessary to call me," he said ; " you have only to light your pipe at the blue light and I shall immediately stand before you." Then he vanished from his eyes.
The soldier went back into the town from which he had wandered. He took up his abode at the best inn, ordered new clothes, and desired the landlord to have a room furnished for him as elegantly as possible.
When it was ready, and he had taken possession of it, he summoned the little man and said to him, " I have served the king faithfully for many years, but he sent me away and left me to starve, therefore now I will have my revenge."
" What am I to do ?" asked the mannikin.
" Late in the evening," he replied, " when the princess is in bed and asleep, fetch her from the castle and bring her here; she ehall be my maid-servant."
Then said the little man, " For me this is a very trifling task, and I will do it; but for you it is a very dangerous thing to do, for if it should be found out, you will suffer for it."
As the clock struck twelve the door sprung open, and the little man appeared carrying the king's daughter. "Aha! there you are," cried the soldier, " fresh to your work; go and fetch the broom and sweep the floor." When this was finished he called her to his chair, stretched out his foot towards her, and said, " Pull off my boot." When she had done so he threw it in her face, and told her to pick it up and clean and polish it She did all that he told her without resistance, mutely, and with half-closed eyes. At the first cockcrow the little man carried her back to the castle, and placed her again in her bed.
The next morning, when she rose, she went to her father and told him she had such a wonderful dream! She said she had dreamed that she was carried through the streets as quick as lightning to a room in which was a soldier, who made her wait upon him, and do all kinds of menial work, such as sweeping the room and cleaning his boots. " It was only a dream," she said, "and yst I feel as tired as if I had really done it all." |
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