There was once upon a time a soldier who for many years had served the king faithfully, but when the war came to an end could serve no longer because of the many wounds which he had received. The king said to him: ‘You may return to your home, I need you no longer, and you will not receive any more money, for he only receives wages who renders me service for them.’ Then the soldier did not know how to earn a living, went away greatly troubled, and walked the whole day, until in the evening he entered a forest. When darkness came on, he saw a light, which he went up to, and came to a house wherein lived a witch. ‘Do give me one night’s lodging, and a little to eat and drink,’ said he to her, ‘or I shall starve.’ ‘Oho!’ she answered, ‘who gives anything to a run-away soldier? Yet will I be compassionate, and take you in, if you will do what I wish.’ ‘What do you wish?’ said the soldier. ‘That you should dig all round my garden for me, tomorrow.’ The soldier consented, and next day laboured with all his strength, but could not finish it by the evening. ‘I see well enough,’ said the witch, ‘that you can do no more today, but I will keep you yet another night, in payment for which you must tomorrow chop me a load of wood, and chop it small.’ The soldier spent the whole day in doing it, and in the evening the witch proposed that he should stay one night more. ‘Tomorrow, you shall only do me a very trifling piece of work. Behind my house, there is an old dry well, into which my light has fallen, it burns blue, and never goes out, and you shall bring it up again.’ Next day the old woman took him to the well, and let him down in a basket. He found the blue light, and made her a signal to draw him up again. She did draw him up, but when he came near the edge, she stretched down her hand and wanted to take the blue light away from him. ‘No,’ said he, perceiving her evil intention, ‘I will not give you the light until I am standing with both feet upon the ground.’ The witch fell into a passion, let him fall again into the well, and went away.
从前有一位士兵，多年来一直忠心耿耿地为国王效力，但当战争结束时，由于身受多处重伤，他已无法继续服役。国王对他说：‘你可以回家去了，我不再需要你了，你也不会再领到任何薪水，因为只有为我提供服务的人才能领取报酬。’于是这位士兵不知该如何谋生，心中十分忧虑地离开，一直走到傍晚，走进了一片森林。夜幕降临时，他看见一处光亮，便朝那走去，来到一所房子前，里面住着一位女巫。他对她说：‘请让我借宿一晚，并给我一点吃的和喝的，否则我就要饿死了。’女巫答道：‘哦！谁会施舍给一个逃兵呢？不过我会大发慈悲收留你，但你要答应我的要求。’士兵问：‘您有什么要求？’女巫说：‘明天你替我把花园四周都挖一遍。’士兵答应了，第二天便竭尽全力地劳作，但直到傍晚仍未完成。‘我看出来了，’女巫说，‘你今天确实做不了更多了，但我再留你住一晚。作为报酬，明天你必须为我砍一车柴，还要把柴剁碎。’士兵花了一整天砍柴，到了晚上，女巫提议让他再多住一晚。‘明天，你只需帮我做一件极小的事。我家后面有一口干涸的旧井，我的灯掉进去了，它发出蓝光，永不熄灭，你要把它捞上来。’第二天，老妇人带他来到井边，用篮子把他放下去。他找到了那盏蓝灯，示意把她拉上去。她确实把他拉了上来，但当他快到井口时，她伸出手想从他手中夺走蓝灯。‘不行，’他察觉到了她的恶意，说道，‘除非我双脚都站在地上，否则我不会把灯给你。’女巫勃然大怒，将他重新扔回井里，然后扬长而去。
The poor soldier fell without injury on the moist ground, and the blue light went on burning, but of what use was that to him? He saw very well that he could not escape death. He sat for a while very sorrowfully, then suddenly he felt in his pocket and found his tobacco pipe, which was still half full. ‘This shall be my last pleasure,’ thought he, pulled it out, lit it at the blue light and began to smoke. When the smoke had circled about the cavern, suddenly a little black dwarf stood before him, and said: ‘Lord, what are your commands?’ ‘What my commands are?’ replied the soldier, quite astonished. ‘I must do everything you bid me,’ said the little man. ‘Good,’ said the soldier; ‘then in the first place help me out of this well.’ The little man took him by the hand, and led him through an underground passage, but he did not forget to take the blue light with him. 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 above, he said to the little man: ‘Now go and bind the old witch, and carry her before the judge.’ In a short time she came by like the wind, riding on a wild tom-cat and screaming frightfully. Nor was it long before the little man reappeared. ‘It is all done,’ said he, ‘and the witch is already hanging on the gallows. What further commands has my lord?’ inquired the dwarf. ‘At this moment, none,’ answered the soldier; ‘you can return home, only be at hand immediately, if I summon you.’ ‘Nothing more is needed than that you should light your pipe at the blue light, and I will appear before you at once.’ Thereupon he vanished from his sight.
那位可怜的士兵跌落在湿润的地上，毫发未伤，那盏蓝光仍在燃烧，可这对他又有何用？他清楚地知道自己无法逃脱死亡的命运。他悲伤地坐了一会儿，忽然在口袋里摸到了他的烟斗，里面还剩下半斗烟草。‘这就当作我最后的享受吧，’他想道，掏出烟斗，借着蓝光点燃，开始抽了起来。当烟雾在洞穴中缭绕时，一个黑色的小矮人突然出现在他面前，说道：‘主人，您有何吩咐？’‘我的命令？’士兵惊讶地回答。‘您的一切指令我都必须照办，’小个子说。‘好，’士兵道，‘首先，帮我把你从这口井里带出去。’小矮人牵起他的手，领他穿过一条地下通道，但他也没忘记带上那盏蓝光。路上，小矮人向他展示了女巫收集并藏匿在那里的财宝，士兵尽可能多地拿走了黄金。当他们到达地面时，士兵对小矮人说：‘现在去把那个老女巫绑起来，把她带到法官面前。’不一会儿，她就像风一样来了，骑着一只野猫，发出可怕的尖叫。没过多久，小矮人又出现了。‘一切都办妥了，’他说，‘女巫已经被吊死在绞刑架上了。主人还有什么进一步的吩咐吗？’小矮人问道。‘此刻没有了，’士兵回答，‘你可以回家了，但一旦我召唤你，必须立刻出现。’‘只要您用那盏蓝光点燃烟斗，我就会立刻出现在您面前。’说完，他便从他的视线中消失了。
The soldier returned to the town from which he came. He went to the best inn, ordered himself handsome clothes, and then bade the landlord furnish him a room as handsome as possible. When it was ready and the soldier had taken possession of it, he summoned the little black manikin and said: ‘I have served the king faithfully, but he has dismissed me, and left me to hunger, and now I want to take my revenge.’ ‘What am I to do?’ asked the little man. ‘Late at night, when the king’s daughter is in bed, bring her here in her sleep, she shall do servant’s work for me.’ The manikin said: ‘That is an easy thing for me to do, but a very dangerous thing for you, for if it is discovered, you will fare ill.’ When twelve o’clock had struck, the door sprang open, and the manikin carried in the princess. ‘Aha! are you there?’ cried the soldier, ‘get to your work at once! Fetch the broom and sweep the chamber.’ When she had done this, he ordered her to come to his chair, and then he stretched out his feet and said: ‘Pull off my boots,’ and then he threw them in her face, and made her pick them up again, and clean and brighten them. She, however, did everything he bade her, without opposition, silently and with half-shut eyes. When the first cock crowed, the manikin carried her back to the royal palace, and laid her in her bed.
士兵回到了他出发的城镇。他走进镇上最好的客栈，订做了一套体面的衣服，然后吩咐房东为他准备一间尽可能豪华的房间。房间准备好后，士兵入住，便召唤那个小黑人说道：'我忠心耿耿地为国王服务，他却解雇了我，让我忍饥挨饿，现在我要报复他。'小人问：'我该怎么做？'士兵说：'深夜，当公主睡在床上时，把她带到我这里来，让她为我做仆人的活。'小人回答：'这对我来说轻而易举，但对你却非常危险，因为一旦被发现，你会遭殃的。'午夜钟声敲响后，门突然打开，小人将公主抱了进来。士兵喊道：'啊哈！你来了？立刻开始干活！拿扫帚来打扫房间。'公主做完后，士兵又让她坐到他的椅子旁，然后伸出双脚说：'把我的靴子脱下来。'说完他把靴子扔向她的脸，让她捡起来，再擦干净擦亮。然而，她一声不吭地、半闭着眼睛，顺从地完成了他吩咐的一切。当第一声鸡鸣响起时，小人将她带回王宫，放回床上。
Next morning when the princess arose she went to her father, and told him that she had had a very strange dream. ‘I was carried through the streets with the rapidity of lightning,’ said she, ‘and taken into a soldier’s room, and I had to wait upon him like a servant, sweep his room, clean his boots, and do all kinds of menial work. It was only a dream, and yet I am just as tired as if I really had done everything.’ ‘The dream may have been true,’ said the king. ‘I will give you a piece of advice. Fill your pocket full of peas, and make a small hole in the pocket, and then if you are carried away again, they will fall out and leave a track in the streets.’ But unseen by the king, the manikin was standing beside him when he said that, and heard all. At night when the sleeping princess was again carried through the streets, some peas certainly did fall out of her pocket, but they made no track, for the crafty manikin had just before scattered peas in every street there was. And again the princess was compelled to do servant’s work until cock-crow.
第二天清晨，公主醒来后便去见父亲，告诉他自己做了一个非常奇怪的梦。她说：‘我像闪电一样被穿过街道，带进了一间士兵的房间，不得不像仆人一样伺候他，打扫他的房间，擦他的靴子，做各种杂活。这虽然只是个梦，但我却累得仿佛真的做了所有事情一样。’国王说：‘这个梦也许是真的。我给你一个建议：把口袋装满豌豆，然后在口袋里剪一个小洞；如果再次被带走，豌豆就会漏出来，在街道上留下痕迹。’但国王说话时，小矮人正站在他身旁，并未被看见，他听说了这一切。当晚，当熟睡的公主再次被穿过街道时，确实有豌豆从她口袋里掉了出来，但它们没有留下任何痕迹，因为狡猾的小矮人刚才已经在每条街上都撒满了豌豆。于是，公主又一次被迫做仆人的工作，直到公鸡打鸣。
Next morning the king sent his people out to seek the track, but it was all in vain, for in every street poor children were sitting, picking up peas, and saying: ‘It must have rained peas, last night.’ ‘We must think of something else,’ said the king; ‘keep your shoes on when you go to bed, and before you come back from the place where you are taken, hide one of them there, I will soon contrive to find it.’ The black manikin heard this plot, and at night when the soldier again ordered him to bring the princess, revealed it to him, and told him that he knew of no expedient to counteract this stratagem, and that if the shoe were found in the soldier’s house it would go badly with him. ‘Do what I bid you,’ replied the soldier, and again this third night the princess was obliged to work like a servant, but before she went away, she hid her shoe under the bed.
第二天清晨，国王派人出去寻找踪迹，但一切徒劳无功，因为每条街上都有穷孩子坐着捡豌豆，说道：‘昨晚一定下过豌豆雨。’国王说：‘我们得想别的办法。你们睡觉时穿上鞋，在被带去的地方回来之前，把其中一只藏在那里，我很快就能找到它。’黑小人听到了这个计谋，当晚士兵再次命令他去接公主时，便将此事告知士兵，并说自己想不出对策来破解这一招，如果鞋子在士兵的房子里被发现，他就要倒霉了。‘照我说的做，’士兵回答。于是第三个夜晚，公主被迫像仆人一样干活，但在离开前，她把鞋子藏在了床下。
Next morning the king had the entire town searched for his daughter’s shoe. It was found at the soldier’s, and the soldier himself, who at the entreaty of the dwarf had gone outside the gate, was soon brought back, and thrown into prison. In his flight he had forgotten the most valuable things he had, the blue light and the gold, and had only one ducat in his pocket. And now loaded with chains, he was standing at the window of his dungeon, when he chanced to see one of his comrades passing by. The soldier tapped at the pane of glass, and when this man came up, said to him: ‘Be so kind as to fetch me the small bundle I have left lying in the inn, and I will give you a ducat for doing it.’ His comrade ran thither and brought him what he wanted. As soon as the soldier was alone again, he lighted his pipe and summoned the black manikin. ‘Have no fear,’ said the latter to his master. ‘Go wheresoever they take you, and let them do what they will, only take the blue light with you.’ Next day the soldier was tried, and though he had done nothing wicked, the judge condemned him to death. When he was led forth to die, he begged a last favour of the king. ‘What is it?’ asked the king. ‘That I may smoke one more pipe on my way.’ ‘You may smoke three,’ answered the king, ‘but do not imagine that I will spare your life.’ Then the soldier pulled out his pipe and lighted it at the blue light, and as soon as a few wreaths of smoke had ascended, the manikin was there with a small cudgel in his hand, and said: ‘What does my lord command?’ ‘Strike down to earth that false judge there, and his constable, and spare not the king who has treated me so ill.’ Then the manikin fell on them like lightning, darting this way and that way, and whosoever was so much as touched by his cudgel fell to earth, and did not venture to stir again. The king was terrified; he threw himself on the soldier’s mercy, and merely to be allowed to live at all, gave him his kingdom for his own, and his daughter to wife.
第二天清晨，国王下令全城搜寻他女儿的鞋子。鞋子在士兵那里找到了，而士兵本人因听从小矮人的请求已走出城门，很快被带回并投入监狱。他在逃跑时忘记了自己最珍贵的物品——蓝灯和金币，口袋里只剩一枚杜卡特。如今他身戴镣铐，站在牢房的窗前，恰好看见一位战友路过。士兵敲了敲窗玻璃，那人走近后，他对他说：‘劳驾去我住过的客栈取回我留下的小包裹，事成之后我给你一枚杜卡特作为酬谢。’他的战友立刻跑去取来所需之物。等士兵再次独处时，他点燃烟斗，唤出了那个小黑人。‘别怕，’小人儿对主人说，‘无论他们带你去哪里，随他们处置，只要带上蓝灯就行。’第二天，士兵受审，尽管他并未作恶，法官仍判处他死刑。当他被押赴刑场时，向国王请求最后一个恩典。‘是什么？’国王问道。“让我在途中再抽一袋烟。”“你可以抽三袋，”国王回答，“但别以为我会饶你的命。”于是士兵掏出烟斗，用蓝光点燃。几缕青烟升起后，小矮人便出现在他面前，手中握着一根小棍，问道：“主人有何吩咐？”“把那个假法官和他的差役打倒在地，连那个亏待我的国王也别放过！”小矮人随即如闪电般扑向他们，四处挥舞棍棒，凡是被其触碰到的人，无不倒地不起，再也不敢动弹。国王吓得魂飞魄散，跪地求饶，只求一命，便将自己的王国和女儿都赠予士兵作为妻子。