Once upon a time, there was a soldier who was badly wounded in war. The king said to him, “You are no longer of any use to me. Go home. I will not give you any reward.”

Left with no choice, the soldier departed. As he passed through a forest, he came across a witch and asked if he could stay the night.

The witch’s eyes twinkled. “You may stay,” she said, “but not for free. You must do something for me. At the bottom of a dry well is a lamp that burns with a blue flame—it never goes out. Fetch it for me.”

The soldier agreed.

The well was so deep he couldn’t see the bottom. The witch lowered him down in a large basket. Sure enough, at the bottom, he found a lamp glowing with a blue light. As he held it, the witch began pulling him up.

But just before he reached the top, the witch couldn’t wait and reached out to snatch the lamp.

Sensing danger, the soldier hid the lamp behind his back and said, “Let me out first, then I’ll give you the blue light. Otherwise, you might leave me down here.”

Realizing her scheme had been exposed, the witch flew into a rage. “Then stay down there forever!” she screamed, letting go of the rope.

The soldier fell back to the bottom of the well.

Looking up at the distant light above and feeling the pain of his wounds, he knew he had no way out and thought he would surely die in the well.

Hungry, exhausted, and terrified, he pulled out a pipe and lit it using the blue flame from the lamp.

To his astonishment, a tiny dwarf appeared.

“What is your command, Master?”

“Master?”

“Yes,” said the dwarf. “Whoever uses the blue lamp to light a pipe summons me. I will grant your every wish!”

Unbelieving, the soldier said, “Then… take me out of this well.”

Before he even finished speaking, he found himself standing outside the well.

He was finally convinced. The blue light was indeed a treasure—no wonder the witch had tried so hard to get it.

He gave his next command: “Go capture that wicked witch and hand her over to the judge.”

Just then, the witch tried to flee on a broom—she had overheard him.

But the dwarf was faster. In a flash, the witch was bound and delivered to the court.

The dwarf also told the soldier that the witch had hidden a great treasure in her home. The soldier took some of the gold and went to live in the finest room of the finest inn in the city.

Later, he said to the dwarf: “We soldiers risk our lives for years serving the king. Yet when we’re wounded and no longer useful, he discards us like trash. I want to teach him a lesson. Tonight, while he sleeps, bring him here.”

That night, the dwarf brought the king to the soldier.

The soldier made the king do all kinds of hard labor.

The next morning, the king woke with a sore back and aching limbs. He remembered the  strange dream. He quickly summoned his trusted advisor.

“I dreamed I was taken by the soldier and made to work like a servant. But my body aches—it might not have been a dream.”

The advisor replied, “That’s easy to verify. Before sleeping, poke a hole in your pocket and fill it with beans. If someone moves you, the beans will fall out. We’ll follow the trail and find him.”

But the dwarf overheard the plan. That night, he scattered beans all over the city. When the king tried to follow the trail, he found beans everywhere and couldn’t trace the path.

The advisor had another idea. “Sire, secretly hide one of your shoes under the soldier’s bed. Then we’ll search the whole city. When we find the shoe, we’ll find the man.”

This time, the dwarf didn’t hear. The plan worked, and the soldier was captured. He didn’t have time to bring the blue light and his pipe.

Before his execution, one of his comrades came to visit. The soldier begged him, “Please, go to the inn and bring my bundle.”

The comrade agreed without hesitation. “The king treated us all unfairly. I won’t refuse your last wish.”

Just before the execution, the bundle arrived. Inside were the blue light and pipe.

The executioner turned out to be another soldier who had once been helped by him. Out of gratitude, he allowed him to take one last smoke.

When the soldier lit the pipe with the blue light, the dwarf appeared immediately.

“Seize the king and his advisor!”

Before the words had left his mouth, both were tied up on the ground, struggling helplessly.

To save his life, the king gave the soldier his entire kingdom. Later, the soldier married the most beautiful princess from a neighboring land.

And they lived happily ever after.