Ole Lukkoye is a character in one of the best and most famous fairy tales of the great Danish storyteller Hans Christian Andersen. Ole Lukkoye brings dreams and tells fascinating stories.
About the character
Little man Ole Lukkoye comes to the children in the evenings and sprinkles sweet milk in their eyes with the help of a small syringe, making them fall asleep. He carries two large umbrellas with him. Over the children who behaved well, Ole opens a multi-colored umbrella with beautiful pictures - and the children see colorful dreams. But disobedient children are supposed to be punished: above them, the little wizard opens an ordinary umbrella without pictures. Then the child does not see any dreams for the whole night.
Ole Lukkoye is dressed in a silk caftan, shimmering with all the colors of the rainbow.
The character's name itself consists of two parts. Ole is a Danish male name. The word "Lukoye" in translation means "Close your eyes." Thus, the name of the hero can be prized as "Ole-Close-Eyes".
About the fairy tale
In Andersen's fairy tale, Ole Lukkoye comes to a boy named Hjalmar for several nights (during a week) in a row, and he sees fascinating fairy tales in his dreams. Along the way, Ole tells a little about himself. This is how we learn that the wizard is unusually old.
Ole makes the objects in Hjalmar's room talk to each other, unprecedented flowers grow in the corners, and the letters in the boy's writing are upset because they are so crooked.
In the last story, Ole Lukoye talks about his brother with the exact same name, who is also called Death. He comes to those who need to leave this world, and opens his umbrella over them.
Mythological and religious associations
In general, Ole Lukkoye resembles the Sandman - a creature from European fairy tale folklore. The sand man throws magic sand in the eyes of children and makes them fall asleep. At the same time, depending on the behavior of the child, he can send both good, good dreams and nightmares.
In addition, there are some similarities with the Greek god of dreams, Morpheus. By the way, he also used a special liquid to lull him to sleep. The last chapter makes Ole related to the father of Morpheus, the god of sleep, Hypnos. Hypnos had a twin brother Thanatos, the god of death - that is, they were indistinguishable and completely different at the same time, like Ole and his brother.
If we assume that Ole-Death also carries two umbrellas with him, then he can forever take a person with him to the beautiful land of fairy tales or to some kind of nothingness (eternal dreamless sleep). In principle, we can consider this as a kind of hint at the images of Heaven and Hell, prepared for people who behaved "good" or "bad".
