"Ole Lukøje" is a
literary fairy tale
A literary fairy tale is a fairy tale that differs from an oral folktale in that it is written by "a single identifiable author", as defined by Jens Tismar's monograph. They also differ from oral folk tales, which can be characterized as "simple ...
by
Hans Christian Andersen
Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogue (literature), travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales.
Andersen's fai ...
based upon a folk tale telling of a mysterious mythic creature of the
Sandman
The Sandman is a mythical character originating in Germanic and Scandinavian folklore who puts people to sleep and encourages and inspires beautiful dreams by sprinkling magical sand onto their eyes.
Representation in traditional folklore
The San ...
who gently takes children to sleep and, depending on how good or bad they were, shows them various dreams.
Under each arm he carries an umbrella; one of them, with pictures on the inside, he spreads over the good children, and then they dream the most beautiful stories the whole night. But the other umbrella has no pictures, and this he holds over the naughty children so that they sleep heavily, and wake in the morning without having dreamed at all.
Ole Lukøje's name is actually composed of two parts: ''Ole '' is a common
Danish masculine name, and ''Lukøje'' a compound of the Danish words for 'close' and 'eye'. In the tale, he visits a boy called Hjalmar every night for a whole week and tells him stories. Ole Lukøje is later revealed to be a dream god, and in his final tale on Sunday he tells of his brother, likewise called Ole Lukøje but also
Death
Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose sh ...
, who closes the eyes of those he visits and takes them away with him.
Ole Lukøje on Death
See also
*
Wee Willie Winkie
References
External links
*
*
*
The entire folk tale in the old Danish original*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ole Lukoje
1841 short stories
Danish fairy tales
Fictional gods
Short stories by Hans Christian Andersen
Sandman
Literary fairy tales