Obviously, this one burns blue, and it never burns out, 'cause its magical. You can use it to light your pipe, so its a fire, I get that. And you just carry it, burning, in your pocket? What’s that even mean? What would a normal “light” be, for people of the technology level appropriate for the stories?
I thought Wikipedia would have defined it for us – maybe a “light” is a smoldering punk kept all night and used to rekindle the household fire the net morning. So a “light” is a temporary flame – like a wax coated cord you’d use to transfer fire from the hearth to other things that needed burning?
No one had to define this when they wrote (collected, whatever) the story. Its a “light.” Oh, yeah, its a blue one, and it never goes out. Otherwise, you know, a typical “light.”
No. No I don’t know. What were the Grimm Bros and their antecedents talking about so casually?
I think you’ve answered your own question as best as anyone will be able. Since he’s using it to light his pipe so casually, I agree that it’s what was called a ‘light’ or a ‘taper’ sometimes; that wax-coated string or twine that was used to transfer a small flame from someplace awkward like a fireplace or a lantern to a smaller candle or oil lamp… or to light a pipe.
The more peculiar question is how was the blue light trapped down that well when the witch used that area like a storage compartment?
So people did call a ‘taper’ a ‘light’ in those days. Or like the blog says, they made up the term, and didn’t feel bad about, since we can tell from the context how it works. Well, I’m back where I started, but at least there are some explanations for why nobody gave explanations. :dubious:
A “blue light” is a kind of pyrotechnic, used (especially at sea) to mark or signal. Much like red fusees were used by the railways. In the American revolutionary “Blue Light Affair”, they were used from land to signal ships. I always assumed that is what the Grimms were referring to.
…except the Brothers Grimm did not create the story, they were collectors of traditional oral folk tales. They compiled and published popular (mostly German) versions of these fairy tales and those of other contemporaries such as Charles Perrault. The origin of “The Blue Light” is unknown as many of the collected stories were passed on, generation to generation, at bedtime, campfires, gatherings, etc… long before the the brothers first set them to print.
Secondly, “The Blue Light” appears in the Kinder- und Hausmärchen Volume 2 and was first published in 1815, this would precede the use of maritime signal flares, the American Revolution, Railroads, etc…
As for the Blue Light, it’s physical details are vague. It’s dimensions and tangibility are not described. “It burns blue and never goes out”, “…continues to burn” and “lit it with the blue light” - all suggest a blue flame, although there is no mention of whether it emits any heat. Curiously, it is not used as a light source in the well, in the tunnels, or in prison so it can’t be particularly bright.
The soldier is also able to pick it up, transport it and pack it in the little bundle that he pays his comrade retrieves for him. He is also able to conceal it while in prison and during his trial. Therefore, it cannot be an just open flame and must have some sort of holder or container.
From these observations, my own imagination pictures some sort of miniature hooded lantern containing a single blue eternal flame.
I think the fact he only uses it for ignition means it is a fire lighter, or smokers lighter.
A Blue light would mean it used naptha , white spirits, ethanol or a gas.
A bit early for gas, so one of the others.
It’s a Bluecap. Or, since it’s probably Germanic folklore, a Kobold of some type.
Mine fairies/dwarves are often associated with flames burning blue, probably to explain encounters with gas pockets. Sulfur and some other chemicals can make flames burn blue.
Now that make a little bit of sense. The witch previously had a friendly, household, kobold, that she somehow tricked to not stay in a mine, but it ran and hid in the well anyway. Using it, somehow, summons some other type of dwarf, maybe using lets it know you need help of some sort? And although I never heard that story before, we’ve already established, the Grimm bros, when collecting these stories, didn’t feel it necessary to be specific.
iswydt