Who is Ole Lukoje?
Ole Lukoje is a sleep spirit of Danish folklore. The name means “Ole Shut-Eye” in Danish. He became known worldwide through the fairy tale “Ole Lukoje,” published in 1841 by the writer Hans Christian Andersen.
Andersen’s “Ole Lukoje”
In Andersen’s tale, Ole Lukoje comes silently into children’s rooms at night in his stocking feet, drips sweet milk into their eyes and gently blows on the backs of their necks to put them to sleep. He carries two umbrellas under his arms: over good children he opens the one with pictures and shows them pleasant dreams all night, while over naughty children he opens the plain one, so they sleep until morning without dreaming. In the story, the boy Hjalmar travels through a wondrous dream world every night for a week.
The other Ole Lukoje
At the end of the story, Ole Lukoje’s brother appears: Death, who carries people away on his horse, reflecting the old idea that sleep and death are brothers. Ole Lukoje is a sleep spirit very similar to the Sandman of Germany and elsewhere.
