The Blue Light [Grimm Fairy Tale]

On tonight's podcast, we'll be looking at The Blue Light, a German folk tale brought to us by the masters of the medium, the brothers Grimm.

This version of the story comes from Children's and Household Tales, 7th Edition, published in 1857. It's an Aarne-Thompson type 562 folk tale, which means it derives many of it's features, and it's basic structure from a story you might recognize -- Aladdin and his magic lamp.

This version tells of a soldier, who after being slighted by his King and trusting in the hospitality of a witch, comes into contact with a Black Dwarf -- who changes his life for the more interesting.

The Dwarf is almost a story in and of itself. The original template comes to us from Norse Mythology. These Dwarves had pale skin, dark hair and were more closely related to Vampires than the jolly, bearded folks we've grown to love. They were even allergic to sunlight. One Dwarf in particular, Alviss, tried to claim the hand of Thor's daughter, but waited a bit too long and was turned to stone for his troubles.

As for the concept of "Black Dwarves," the Norse liked to use the words for Dark Elves, Black Elves and Dwarves fairly interchangeably, which has lead some scholars to wonder whether they were all the same creature.

This particular story doesn't answer that question, but it does try to teach us the value of wells, riches, revenge a single ducet.

I hope you enjoy.

Background music provided by: https://soundcloud.com/michel-escaillas/classik-electro

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