Table of Contents
From the Pages of Fairy Tales
Title Page
Copyright Page
Hans Christian Andersen
The World of Hans Christian Andersen and His Fairy Tales
The Hans Christian Andersen We Never Knew
Translator’s Preface
THE ARTIST AND SOCIETY
THE NIGHTINGALE
THE GARDENER AND THE GENTRY
THE FLYING TRUNK
THE WILL-O’-THE-WISPS ARE IN TOWN
THE PIXIE AND THE GARDENER’S WIFE
THE PUPPETEER
“SOMETHING”
WHAT ONE CAN THINK UP
THE MOST INCREDIBLE THING
AUNTIE TOOTHACHEI.II.III.IV.
THE CRIPPLE
FOLK TALES
THE TINDERBOX
LITTLE CLAUS AND BIG CLAUS
THE PRINCESS ON THE PEA
THE TRAVELING COMPANION
THE WILD SWANS
THE SWINEHERD
MOTHER ELDERBERRY
THE HILL OF THE ELVES
CLOD-HANS AN OLD STORY RETOLD
WHAT FATHER DOES IS ALWAYS RIGHT
ORIGINAL FAIRY TALES
THE SHADOW
THE LITTLE MERMAID
THE EMPEROR’S NEW CLOTHES
THUMBELINA
THE NAUGHTY BOY
THE GALOSHES OF FORTUNE1. A BEGINNING2. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE COUNCILMAN3. THE WATCHMAN’S ADVENTURE4. A HEADY MOMENT. A RECITAL. A MOST UNUSUAL TRIP.5. THE CLERK’S TRANSFORMATION6. THE BEST THING THE GALOSHES BROUGHT
THE GARDEN OF EDEN
THE BRONZE PIG
THE ROSE ELF
THE PIXIE AT THE GROCER’S
IB AND LITTLE CHRISTINE
THE ICE MAIDEN1. LITTLE RUDY2. JOURNEY TO A NEW HOME3. RUDY’S UNCLE4. BABETTE5. ON THE WAY HOME6. A VISIT TO THE MILL7. THE EAGLE’S NEST8. THE HOUSECAT HAS NEWS9. THE ICE MAIDEN10. GODMOTHER11. THE COUSIN12. EVIL POWERS13. IN THE MILLER’S HOUSE14. VISIONS IN THE NIGHT15. THE END
EVANGELICAL AND RELIGIOUS TALES
THE SNOW QUEEN AN ADVENTURE IN SEVEN STORIESTHE FIRST STORY - WHICH IS ABOUT THE MIRROR AND THE FRAGMENTSSECOND STORY - A LITTLE BOY AND A LITTLE GIRLTHIRD STORY - THE FLOWER GARDEN OF THE WOMAN WHO KNEW MAGICFOURTH STORY - APRINCE AND PRINCESSFIFTH STORY - THE LITTLE ROBBER GIRLSIXTH STORY - THE SAMI WOMAN AND THE FINN WOMANSEVENTH STORY - WHAT HAPPENED IN THE SNOW QUEEN’S CASTLE AND WHAT HAPPENED LATER
THE RED SHOES
THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL
THE BOG KING’S DAUGHTER
THE GIRL WHO STEPPED ON BREAD
THE BELL
THE THORNY PATH TO GLORY
THE JEWISH MAID
THE STORY OLD JOHANNA TOLD
SHE WAS NO GOOD
THE ANTHROPOMORPHIZING OF ANIMALS AND NATURE
THE UGLY DUCKLING
IN THE DUCKYARD
THE STORKS
THE SPRUCE TREE
IT’S PERFECTLY TRUE!
THE DUNG BEETLE
THE BUTTERFLY
THE SNOWDROP
THE SUNSHINE’S STORIES
THE DROP OF WATER
THE FLEA AND THE PROFESSOR
THE SNOWMAN
THE HUMANIZATION OF TOYS AND OBJECTS
THE STEADFAST TIN SOLDIER
THE SHEPHERDESS AND THE CHIMNEY SWEEP
THE DARNING NEEDLE
THE OLD HOUSE
THE RAGS
LEGENDS
HOLGER THE DANE
BIRD PHOENIX
THE FAMILY OF HEN-GRETHE
EVERYTHING IN ITS PROPER PLACE
Commentaries on the Tales
Inspired by Andersen’s
Comments
For Further Reading
Alphabetical Index of the Tales
From the Pages of Fairy Tales
“You see, ladies and gentlemen, Your Royal Majesty! You can never know what to expect from the real nightingale, but everything is determined in the artificial bird. It will be so-and-so, and no different! You can explain it; you can open it up and show the human thought—how the cylinders are placed, how they work, and how one follows the other!”
(from “The Nightingale,” page 10)
It’s an old innate law and privilege that when the moon is in the precise position it was last night, and the wind blows as it blew yesterday, then all will-o‘-the-wisps born at that hour and minute can become human beings.
(from “The Will-o’-the-Wisps Are in Town,” page 37)
“This is certainly an interesting tinderbox if it will give me what I want like this!”
(from “The Tinderbox,” page 90)
“I almost didn’t close my eyes the whole night! God knows what could have been in the bed? I was lying on something hard, so I am completely black and blue all over my body. It’s quite dreadful!”
(from “The Princess on the Pea,” page 107)
Way out at sea the water is as blue as the petals on the loveliest corn-flower, and as clear as the purest glass, but it’s very deep, deeper than any anchor rope can reach. Many church steeples would have to be placed end to end to reach from the bottom up to the surface and beyond. Down there the sea people live.
(from “The Little Mermaid,” page 188)
The emperor came to them with his most distinguished cavaliers. Both swindlers lifted one arm in the air as if they were holding something and said, “See, here are the pants. Here’s the jacket, and here’s the cape!” They continued on and on. “They are as light as cobwebs. You might think you weren’t wearing anything, but that’s the beauty of this fabric.”
(from “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” page 215)
In the middle of a garden there was a rose tree that was completely full of roses, and in one of these, the most beautiful of them all, lived an elf. He was so tiny that no human eye could see him. He had a bedroom behind every rose petal. He was as well formed and lovely as any child could be and had wings from his shoulders all the way down to his feet. What a lovely fragrance there was in his rooms, and how clear and lovely the walls were! Of course they were the fine, pink rose petals.
(from “The Rose Elf,” page 289)
Dance she did and dance she must, dance in the dark night. The shoes carried her away over thorns and stubble that scratched her until she bled. She danced over the heath until she came to a lonely little cottage. She knew that the executioner lived there....
(from “The Red Shoes,” page 395)
The poor duckling who had been last out of the egg and who looked so dreadful was bitten, pushed, and made fun of, both by the ducks and the chickens. “He’s too big,” they all said, and the turkey rooster, who was born with spurs and thought he was an emperor, blew himself up like a clipper ship under full sail, went right up to him, gobbled at him, and turned red in the face. The poor duckling didn’t know whether he was coming or going, and was very sad because he was so ugly. Indeed, he was the laughing stock of the entire hen yard.
(from “The Ugly Duckling,” pages 485-486)
Once upon a time there was a darning needle that was so refined and stuck-up that she was under the illusion that she was a sewing needle.
(from “The Darning Needle,” page 555)
Everything was once again where it was before except for the two old portraits of the peddler and the goose girl. They had been blown up to the wall in the great hall, and when someone who was an art expert said that they were painted by a master, they were repaired and remained hanging there. No one knew before that they were any good, and how would you know that? Now they hung in a place of honor. “Everything in its proper place” and eventually that’s where everything ends up. Eternity is long—longer than this story.
(from “Everything in Its Proper Place,” page 597)