Fairy Tales

Commentaries on the Tales

The dates given below are those of first publication. Andersen first published several of his tales in periodicals, then collected them in book form, sometimes a year or more after they had originally appeared.

THE ARTIST AND SOCIETY

THE NIGHTINGALE (NATTERGALEN, 1844)

As a young boy, Andersen had a sweet voice and was called “the little nightingale of Fyn,” a reference to the island on which Odense was located. Clearly, in his story Andersen identified with the nightingale, which is depicted as his ideal model of the artist, who must determine his “authentic” role within a system of patronage. Andersen also associated the little bird with Swedish singer Jenny Lind, famous because of her exquisite voice and known as the “Swedish Nightingale.” Andersen first heard Jenny Lind sing in the fall of 1844 and fell in love with her.

In European folklore and literary tradition the nightingale, a tiny bird, has been related to Philomela, a figure in Greek mythology; after her brother-in-law raped her and then cut out her tongue, the gods turned Philomela into a nightingale. In medieval literature the nightingale is depicted as a fearful creature, afraid of snakes, that presses a thorn against her breast to keep herself awake at night and therefore utters a mournful song. Andersen’s nightingale is a not a female and is not mournful. His bird is more like a bird of spring that rejuvenates the emperor.

Andersen had been fascinated by China since his childhood and was also interested in mechanical inventions. In the Tivoli Gardens, which opened on August 15, 1843, in Copenhagen, several “Chinese” edifices reflected popular interest in the Orient. Andersen’s visit to Tivoli soon after it was opened may have influenced him to write what he called his “Chinese fairy tale.”

THE GARDENER AND THE GENTRY (GARTNEREN OG HERSKABET, 1872)

Written at the end of Andersen’s life, this tale reflects his disappointment about the reception of his works by the Danish aristocracy, despite his fame. The artist as a magnificent gardener is an apt metaphor for Andersen’s conception of himself as an innovative cultivator of Danish folklore. The tale was immediately translated into English as “The Gardener and the Noble Family” and published in Scribner’s Monthly (August 1872) .

THE FLYING TRUNK (DEN FLYVENDE KUFFERT, 1839)

The source for this tale is “Malek and Princess Schirina,” in French Orientalist Petis de la Croix’s Mille et un jours (The Thousand and One Days, 1710), a collection of tales allegedly based on a Persian original called Hazar Yek Ruz. Very popular in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Mille et un jours was translated from French into English and German, and into Danish in 1759. In Andersen’s tale Malek is the son of a rich merchant who buys a mechanical coffer that flies through the air. After he wastes away his inheritance, he flies off to a foreign realm called Gazna, ruled by King Bahaman, and, pretending to be the Prophet Mahomet, marries the Princess Schirina. At one point Malek even protects the realm of Gazna from invasion by a neighboring king. However, his flying coffer catches fire; once it is destroyed, Malek leaves Gazna and becomes a weaver in Cairo, thus fulfilling a prophecy that the princess would one day be betrayed by a man.

To a certain extent, Andersen’s story is similar to many Oriental tales featuring flying carpets or horses. The traditional tale begins with a son of a rich merchant spending his inheritance foolishly and being abandoned by his friends, then stumbling upon some lucky charm. In Andersen’s tale, the trunk (which in the Arabic tales can be a carpet, lamp, horse, or some other helper) enables him to regain his former social status and enjoy a brief period of pleasure. However, since he does not take care of his lucky object, he fails to attain complete happiness in the end. Andersen introduced the motif of the hero as storyteller who must tell a moral, refined, and amusing tale. Ironically, the tale parallels the fortune of the merchant’s son and exposes his major foible: pride. Embedded in Andersen’s story is a notion that good tales can expose even the storyteller.

THE WILL-O’-THE-WISPS ARE IN TOWN (LYGTEMAENDENE EER I BYEN, SAGDE MOSEKONEN, 1865)

For this story, written a year after Denmark had fought a bitter war with Prussia and lost the region of Schleswig-Holstein, Andersen had to overcome a writer’s block. The tale reflects his dark mood during this period in his life. The search for the fairy tale parallels his own search for a means to overcome his depression. Ultimately, the story ends on an optimistic note, evidence of the power of the fairy tale to provide hope.

THE PIXIE AND THE GARDENER’S WIFE (NISSEN OG MADAMEN, 1868)

This tale, first published in Folkekalender forDanmark, was based on a Danish folk tale about a pixie that teases a chained dog. Andersen transformed this tale into a more significant commentary on the pretentiousness of minor writers, flattery, and the fickleness of audiences.

THE PUPPETEER (MARIONETSPILLEREN, 1851)

Andersen published a version of this tale in his travel book In Sweden (1851). The tale reflects his concerns about controlling characters in his plays or stories. What happens to the theater manager when his puppets come to life is a dilemma for the writer or author, who must know how to handle his characters. E. T. A. Hoffmann’s tale “Seltsame Leiden eines Theater-Direktors” (“Strange Sufferings of a Theater Director,” 1819), which deals with the difficulties of a director, may have influenced Andersen in his writing of this tale.

“SOMETHING” (NOGET, 1858)

Andersen stated that this legendary tale was based on a real incident in Schleswig, where an old woman burned her house to warn people out on nearby ice that a spring flood was coming. He also employed motifs from the folk tradition in which five brothers are sent out into the world to acquire skills that bring them fortune. A major element of this tale is Andersen’s parody of critics. In particular, Andersen drew a caricature of Danish critic Christian Molbech, who often attacked Andersen’s plays and writings. Molbech died in 1857.

WHAT ONE CAN THINK UP (HVAD MAN KAN HITTE PAA, 1869)

Originally published in English as “What One Can Invent” in The Riverside Magazine for Young People, the tale was published several months later in the book Tre Nye Eventyr og Historier (Three New Fairy Tales and Stories). Andersen detested any sort of criticism of his works, and in this tale he gets his revenge by depicting critics as writers who lack imagination. At the same time, he also voiced his optimism about the progress of technology.

THE MOST INCREDIBLE THING (DET UTROLIGSTE, 1870)

This story first appeared in English in The Riverside Magazine for Young People under the title “The Most Extraordinary Thing” and was published in Danish the same year in Nyt Dansk Maanedsskrift (New Danish Monthly Magazine). Although Andersen was not political, he was disturbed by the looming threat of the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871), just as he had been upset by earlier wars between Denmark and Prussia. Since he admired Prussia but regarded himself as a loyal Danish patriot, despite his feelings of alienation it was difficult for him to accept the Prussian aggression. Although the tale was written before the eruption of the war, there are clear references to the dispute. But the tale is more than a political commentary. It is a manifesto about the power of art and poetry, which will always triumph over brutality and violence. For Andersen, especially in his old age, it was important to proclaim the integrity and immortality of art.

AUNTIE TOOTHACHE (TANTE TANDPINE, 1872)

Though Andersen had begun this story in June 1870, he did not finish it until July 1872, and it is generally considered to be among the last tales he wrote. It is thus perhaps no surprise that it is a cynical commentary on the role of writing. Andersen wondered toward the end of his life whether all the pains he took to write would be worth the effort, and he worried about his stature as a writer. It seemed to him that his works might end up in a waste barrel. Some scholars consider the character Aunt Mille to be based on Andersen’s friend Henriette Wulff, who greatly admired his works.

THE CRIPPLE (KRØBLINGEN, 1872)

Written between July 12 and July 18, this tale, along with “The Story Old Johanna Told,” was dedicated to the Melchior family in gratitude for the care and hospitality they had given the author. He was inspired to write this tale, which reflects Andersen’s belief in the healing power of fairy tales, after thinking about the old tale “The Woodchopper and His Wife.” When he sent it to Horace Scudder, the American editor of his works, in New York, it had the title “The Fairy Tale Book.” The plot is based on an anecdote that J. T. Kragh told Andersen: A poor couple had a mentally handicapped son who told them a story about a king who could regain his health only if he found the shirt of the happiest man on earth.

FOLK TALES

THE TINDERBOX (FYRTØJET, 1835)

“The Tinderbox” has deep roots in the Oriental and European oral traditions. There are clear similarities to the medieval Arabic tale “Aladdin and the Magic Lamp,” which was part of the Antoine Galland’s French collection of The Thousand and One Nights, translated into Danish in 1757 and 1758. Andersen is said to have heard this story as a child. In addition, the Brothers Grimm published “The Blue Light” (1812) in the first edition of their Children’s and Household Tales, and Andersen may have been familiar with this tale, which is very close to Andersen’s narrative. Finally, Bengt Holbek, the great Danish scholar, points out that Andersen may have known the Danish folk tale “The Spirit of the Candle,” of which there are many variants, as well as Adam Oehlenschläger’s play Aladdin (1805). The tale may have had a personal significance for Andersen because his father had served as a common soldier during the Napoleonic Wars and returned to Odense a broken man in 1814; he died two years later.

LITTLE CLAUS AND BIG CLAUS (LILLE CLAUS OG STORE CLAUS, 1835)

This type of tale, generally referred to in German as a Schwank (a farcical tale or comic anecdote), was widespread throughout the medieval period. A Latin poem, “Versus de Unibove,” which was published in the Netherlands in the eleventh century, describes how a farmer, mocked by his neighbors, makes fools out of them, a plot that became common in Italian and French stories of the Renaissance. Elements of the tale can be found in the fourteenth-century Latin collection of tales and anecdotes entitled Gesta Romanorum (Deeds of the Romans) as well as in Giovanni Boccaccio’s the Decameron (1348-1353) and Poggio Bracciolini’s Liber facetiarum (The Fracetiae, 1438-1452) , a collection of jests and anecdotes. The theme of the clever swindler who does not respect the norms of society is related to many other ancient tales that depict a small clever hero who uses his wits to outsmart a giant, ogre, or monster, or a group of threatening people. These tales, which tend to be realistic portrayals of peasant life, convey a social critique of the injustices suffered by poor peasants. In these farcical tales, the peasants are portrayed for the most part carrying out menial tasks, such as chopping or gathering wood, spinning, weaving, or tending herds of sheep, goats, or geese. The exaggeration of their circumstances serves to highlight their desperate plight; the ending is often a wish-fulfillment in which the clever peasant has plenty of money and plenty to eat. In the early 1550s Giovan Francesco Straparola published a hilarious Italian version “The Priest Scarpacifico,” and in 1812 the Brothers Grimm included in their Children’s and Household Tales the story “The Little Farmer,” which is similar to Andersen’s tale. There were also earlier Danish versions of the tale.

THE PRINCESS ON THE PEA (PRINSESSEN PAA ÆRTEN, 1835)

Andersen probably became acquainted with this tale as a young man; it was very popular in Sweden. Known as the bed test or test of sensitivity, it has deep and ancient roots in the oral traditions of Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. Generally speaking, the princess who is being tested has an animal adviser who tells her to complain about something that prevents her from having a good night’s sleep. In many stories the objects placed in her bed are beans, pins, stones, and knitting needles. It was—and still is—commonly assumed that aristocratic people were more sensitive than common people, and that the only way to determine whether a princess was truly of noble heritage was to place a small object under many mattresses and see whether she felt it. One of the oldest versions of the tale can be found in Katha Sarit Sagara (The Ocean of Story or Ocean of Streams of Story, a collection of Indian tales written in Sanskrit about 1070 by the poet Somadeva. The Brothers Grimm printed a version in 1845 but retracted it after they discovered that Andersen had already published his tale.

THE TRAVELING COMPANION (REISEKAMMERATEN, 1835)

Throughout Europe the commonly known tale type of the “grateful dead” depicts a young man who has set out into the world and comes upon men who are mistreating a corpse and refusing to bury it. The protagonist either pays the dead man’s debts or gives him a decent burial, then proceeds on his journey. Shortly thereafter the dead man appears—sometimes in human form, sometimes in the shape of an animal, such as a fox or a horse—in order to help him. After enabling the protagonist to acquire a fortune or marry a princess, the dead man reveals his true identity to the young hero and often disappears. Andersen adapted a Fyn folk tale, “The Dead Man’s Help,” and published it as “The Ghost: A Fairy Tale from Fyn” in 1829. When he rewrote it in 1835 for his second pamphlet of fairy tales, he transformed it into a Christian tale that spells out his religious beliefs and that reveals his misogynist traits, which also appear in other tales, including “The Little Mermaid” and “The Red Shoes.” The folk tale was very well known in the European tradition, as Bent Holbek points out in his essay “Hans Christian Andersen’s Use of Folktales” (see “For Further Reading”). The Brothers Grimm also published a variant, “The Grateful Dead Man and the Princess Rescued from Slavery,” in their annotations of 1856; they had received a dialect version from the Haxthausen family some time between 1814 and 1816. The motif concerning the Princess Turandot, who would marry only the man who could guess her thoughts, has its origins in The Thousand and One Nights; it served as the basis for eighteenth-century plays about Turandot by Carlo Gozzi and Friedrich Schiller. Simon Meisling, Andersen’s headmaster, translated the Gozzi play in 1825, and Andersen undoubtedly knew his version.

THE WILD SWANS (DE VILDE SVANER, 1838)

One of the most popular motifs in the European oral and literary tradition is the innocent sister who seeks to become acquainted with and/or rescue her brothers, who were banished from her family upon her birth. Andersen probably knew a Danish folk variant and may have known one of the Grimms’ versions. The Grimms were familiar with the Italian Giambattista Basile’s “The Seven Doves” (1634) and published three tales in Children’s and Household Tales that dealt with this theme—“The Six Swans,” “The Twelve Brothers,” and “The Seven Ravens”; they retained the pattern of Basile’s tale and a German oral tale they heard while preparing their collection. Wilhelm Grimm’s reworking of the narrative emphasizes two elements: the dedication of the sister and brothers to one another, and the establishment of a common, orderly household in the forest, where they live peacefully together. It is not clear whether Andersen knew the different German versions. He may have been more familiar with Mathias Winther’s “The Eleven Swans,” published in Danske Folkeventyr (Danish Folk Tales, 1823). After Andersen and the Brothers Grimm made this tale popular, the well-known German writer Ludwig Bechstein included versions of “The Seven Ravens” and “The Seven Swans” in his German Fairy Tale Book (1845).

The underlying social issue in these tales concerns the legacy of a family and the right of succession and inheritance. If such rights were based on ultimogeniture (inheritance by the youngest) rather than primogeniture (inheritance by the oldest child), the older children might be sent away so that the youngest could inherit the family property. It is also possible that the tale arose in societies that were based on matrilineal rites.

THE SWINEHERD (SVINEDRENGEN, 1842)

The taming of a proud princess or aristocratic woman who thinks she is too good to marry any man—especially one who is or appears to be beneath her in social rank, such as a gardener, a fool, a lower-class man, or a prince disguised as a beggar or peasant—became an important didactic motif in the medieval oral and literary tradition. In a thirteenth-century erotic tale written in middle high German verse, “Diu halbe Bir” or “Die halbe Birne” (“Half a Pear”), a mighty king offers his daughter in marriage to a knight who shows his valor and wins a tournament. When a knight named Arnold wins the tournament, he is invited to a feast where pears are served, one for every two people. He cuts a pear in half without peeling it. After he eats his half, he offers the princess the other half, and she is so insulted because he has not peeled it for her that she berates him before all the guests. Enraged, Arnold departs, swearing revenge. He returns later as a court jester and is allowed to enter the salon of the princess to entertain her and her ladies. She becomes so aroused by his antics that she yields to his amorous advances. When Arnold leaves and returns to the court as a knight, the princess begins to mock him as the one who had offered her half a pear. He responds with a retort that makes her aware that he was the one she had been with the night before. Consequently, he compels her to become his wife.

A similar version can be found in the fourteenth-century Icelandic saga “Clárus,” attributed to Jón Halldórsson. Shakespeare used the motif in The Taming of the Shrew (early 1590s), and Luigi Allemanni’s novella Bianca, Daughter of the Count of Tolouse (1531) had a direct influence on Giambattista Basile’s “Pride Punished” (1634) and the Grimms’ “King Thrush-beard” (1812). The popularity of literary tales had a strong influence on the oral tradition, and the development of different versions led to Andersen’s “The Swineherd” (1842) and Ludwig Bechstein’s “Vom Zornbraten” (“About the Angry Roast,” 1857). For the most part, tales about so-called shrews represented a patriarchal viewpoint of how women, particularly courtly women, were to order their lives according to the dictates and demands of their fathers or husbands. In addition, the women fulfill the wish-dreams of men’s imaginations. The sadism of such tales is often concealed by the humorous manner in which a haughty woman learns “humility.”

MOTHER ELDERBERRY (HYLDEMOER, 1844)

Andersen based this tale on Danish folklore. According to folk belief, there was an “elder woman” who made her home in the elder tree, and if anyone harmed the tree she would take revenge. Andersen heard a tale about a man who chopped down an elder tree and died soon after the event; it was probably based on a legend that appeared in volume 2 of Just Mathias Thiele’s Danmarks Folkesagen II (Danish Legends II, 1818-1823). Andersen’s version was first published in the magazine Gaea.

THE HILL OF THE ELVES (ELVERHØR I, 1845)

This tale is based on an old Danish folk tale. Like many writers of his time, including J. L. Heiberg, Andersen had a strong interest in elves; in 1830 he had written a poem that dealt with them. He was also influenced by the poet Just Mathias Thiele (see the note directly above).

CLOD HANS (KLODS-HANS, 1855)

The naive and innocent hero who competes with his two older brothers for the hand of a princess is a common character in European folklore, and this tale type was widespread in the late Middle Ages. Andersen’s humorous version is intended to poke fun at the marriage rituals of the upper classes.

WHAT FATHER DOES IS ALWAYS RIGHT (HVAD FATTER GØR, DET ER ALTID DET RIGTIGE, 1861)

Andersen heard a folk version of this tale as a child. The story of two peasants who manage to make their way through life despite their stupidity was a common tale type in European folklore. The characters are appealing because they are so good-natured, and because of their good hearts, fortune inevitably shines on them.

ORIGINAL FAIRY TALES

THE SHADOW (SKYGGEN, 1847)

The major source for this tale is Adelbert Chamisso’s fairy-tale novella Peter Schlemihl (1813), about a young man who sells his shadow to the devil and wanders the world in search of salvation. E. T. A. Hoffmann also dealt with the Doppelgänger motif in his remarkable stories “Die Abenteuer der Sylvester Nacht” (“The New Year’s Adventure,” 1819) and “Die Doppeltgänger” (“The Doubles,” 1821). Andersen was familiar with these stories; he even makes reference to Chamisso’s story at the beginning of his tale, which he wrote in Naples in June 1846. Perhaps one of Andersen’s most personal and most profound psychological tales, it is a symbolic representation of his relationship with Edvard Collin, the son of his patron, whom he admired and loved most of his life. Andersen was frustrated because Collin never allowed the two to become intimate. Collin never even permitted Andersen to use the informal word for “you” (du in Danish) in addressing him; instead, Andersen had to use the formal you (de, which translates as “thou”). This situation disturbed Andersen, who felt humiliated by it. The more famous he became, the more he wished Collin would recognize him and speak and write to him on equal terms. “The Shadow” can thus be regarded as a tale of bitter revenge. However, more than just a personal vendetta, it can also be viewed as a psychological exploration of the master/slave relationship and a philosophical exposition on the nature of identity. It is also related to Andersen’s works about art, for a learned man who produces works of art can wind up being obfuscated by the shadow they cast.

THE LITTLE MERMAID (DEN LILLE HAVFRUE, 1837)

Andersen first wrote a version of this tale in his play Agnete and the Merman (1833), which incorporated his tender feelings for Edvard Collin; indeed, the play and the tale “The Little Mermaid” have often been interpreted as a representation of Andersen’s unrequited love for Collin. However, the motif of a water nymph who desires a human soul has deep roots in medieval folklore about mermaids, water nixies (water sprites), sirens, and sylphs. This tale is clearly related to Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué’s fairy-tale novella Undine (1811), in which a sprightly water nymph seeks a human soul through marriage with a young knight. Set in the Middle Ages, this tragic story shows how Undine wins the love of a handsome aristocrat and is transformed into a devout and pious Christian. However, when her husband betrays her, she is compelled to revert to her pagan condition and to kill him. E. T. A. Hoffmann, a good friend of Fouqué, used the tale as the basis for his opera Undine (1816), and other operas, such as Antonin Dvorák’s Rusalka (1900), have been based on the plot.

Andersen recast the water nymph as a mermaid who redeems herself by refusing to take revenge on an innocent prince. Instead, she sacrifices herself, and Andersen makes it clear she will gain some kind of salvation because of her good deeds.

Andersen’s version served as the basis for numerous films in the latter part of the twentieth century. The Walt Disney Company made two important animated films based on Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid,” and Russian, British, Czech, and Danish filmmakers also have adapted the story for the cinema.

THE EMPEROR’S NEW CLOTHES (KEJSERENS NYE KLÆDER, 1837)

This tale can be traced to the fourteenth-century Libro de Patronio (Patronio’s Fifty Stories), by Prince Juan Manuel, who collected Arab and Jewish stories and published them in Spanish. In the Spanish tale, the weavers declare that only men who are truly the sons of their fathers can see the clothes they make; otherwise, the clothes are invisible. In the oral and literary traditions of Europe, the exposure of the emperor occurs in a variety of ways; the tricksters—con men, weavers, or tailors—use various tests to expose the gullibility and pomposity of rulers. Andersen apparently added the child in his narrative at the last moment in order to associate innocence with truth.

THUMBELINA (TOMMELISE, 1835)

Andersen’s tale—his unusual version with a female Tom Thumb—owes a great debt to oral tradition and literary versions that also can be traced to “Little Tom Thumb” (1697), written by Charles Perrault, and to “Thumbling” (1815) and “Thumbling’s Travels” (1815), published by the Brothers Grimm. Folk stories about Tom Thumb began appearing in English chapbooks in the seventeenth century. According to Arthurian Legend, the magician Merlin grants a childless couple a child who is no bigger than a thumb. Named Tom Thumb, the little creature, assisted by fairies, faces numerous dangers because of his diminutive size. Many of the situations are comic, and Tom must learn how to use his wits to survive. The plots of similar tales found in Japanese, Indian, and European lore vary, but they all begin with a separation of Tom from his parents that sets off a chain of episodes as he tries to find his way home. Andersen’s contribution is the invention of a female protagonist and her conventional marriage with a prince.

THE NAUGHTY BOY (DEN UARTIGE DRENG, 1835)

This tale is based on a work by Greek lyric poet Anacreon (c.582-c.485 B.C.), who wrote short poems called monodies (lyrical verses for a single voice) that celebrated love and wine. Andersen was probably influenced by Christian Pram’s translation of the Anacreon poem. In contrast to Anacreon, Andersen provides an ironic view of the power of love in this story.

THE GALOSHES OF FORTUNE (LYKKENS KALOSKER, 1838)

This story can be considered one of the first science-fiction tales in European literature. It consists of time-travel episodes in which people come upon “lucky” galoshes that transport them in time and compel them to consider their real situations. The galoshes are somewhat related to the folk motif of seven-league boots that enable people to travel great distances in a matter of seconds. However, seven-league boots are rarely used to carry a protagonist to the past or the future, as the galoshes do in Andersen’s tale.

THE GARDEN OF EDEN (PARADISETS HAVE, 1839)

Andersen may have first heard this tale as a child, but it is more probable that he read or heard about Madame d‘Aulnoy’s fairy tale “Île de la Félicité” (“The Island of Happiness”), which was incorporated in her novel Histoire d’Hypolite, comte de Duglas (1690), translated into Danish in 1787. In this tale the prince of Russia is transported by Zephyr, the west wind, to a paradise and spends centuries there. He loses his love and his life when he tries to return to Russia and forgets the warning of the princess of paradise never to descend from his horse, otherwise Death would capture him.

THE BRONZE PIG (METALSVINET, 1842)

Andersen conceived this tale in 1833 and 1834 while visiting Florence, where he saw the statue of the bronze boar on the Via Porta Rossa. The tale concerns the miraculous development of a poor, oppressed boy into an artist, a motif that appears in several of Andersen’s tales. It was first published in his travel book A Poet’s Bazaar (1842). He may have based the story on the life of Danish painter Wilhelm Bendz, who was born in 1804 in Odense and died in Italy in 1832.

THE ROSE ELF (ROSEN-ALFEN, 1839)

This tale, whose title is sometimes translated as “The Rose Fairy,” was based on a story taken from Boccaccio’s Decameron.

THE PIXIE AT THE GROCER’S (NISSEN HOS SPEKHØKEREN, 1852)

Andersen was often concerned with the conflict between materialism and art that is mirrored in the pixie’s existential dilemma. Pixies—intermediaries between the natural and the supernatural worlds—are important characters in Danish folklore. They appear in Andersen’s “The Traveling Companion” and “The Hill of the Elves,” among other works.

IB AND LITTLE CHRISTINE (IB OG LILLE CHRISTINE, 1855)

Andersen wrote this tale during a period of depression. It is a sentimental and moralistic picture of a poor young man who is dedicated to the simple, pure life in the country, while his childhood sweetheart, Christine, is corrupted by the materialism of the big city.

THE ICE MAIDEN (IISJOMFRUEN, 1862)

This tale, written while Andersen was visiting Switzerland, bears a strong resemblance to Johann Peter Hebel’s “Unverhofftes Wiedersehen” (“Unexpected Reunion,” 1811) and E. T. A. Hoffmann’s “Die Bergwerke zu Falun” (“The Mines at Falun,” 1819), in which a young miner is captured by a dangerous queen of an underground realm on his wedding day. His petrified body is found many years later by his former bride, now an old woman.

The allure of an erotic, mysterious woman, a common motif in romantic fairy tales, was often set in opposition to a safe, bourgeois life. Andersen’s tale is less about this dichotomy and more about the tragedy of a young man whose rise in society is undermined by immoral forces. Even though Rudy is a good and talented person who trusts in God, he does not succeed. As Andersen comments, “God gives us the nuts, but he doesn’t crack them open for us.” The episode about the eagle’s nest, Rudy’s marital test, was an actual story told to Andersen by the Bavarian poet Koppel. Andersen was originally going to write just the episode about the eagle’s nest but changed his mind after reading a travel book about Switzerland, in which he came across the incident concerning the bridal couple.

EVANGELICAL AND RELIGIOUS TALES

THE SNOW QUEEN (SNEEDRONNINGEN, 1845)

Although Andersen had already introduced the Christian quest tale in “The Traveling Companion,” published in his second collection of tales, it was not until “The Snow Queen” that he fully developed this motif; in this tale he uses children as his main characters. The prologue, which concerns the origins of evil in the world, prepares the reader for the conflict between the good-hearted children, Kai and Gerda, and the demonic Snow Queen. It is only because of Gerda’s purity of soul and the help of angels that she is able to rescue Kai. The tale’s moral message is that only those who have faith in God can triumph over the most difficult obstacles in life. This evangelical message was generally omitted or glossed over in late-twentieth-century adaptations, especially cinematic ones; instead the spiritual theme was transformed into a secular one about the power of love. Andersen combined pagan beliefs with an unusual interpretation of Christianity in this tale, but the tone and style overwhelmingly emphasize the theme of Christian salvation.

THE RED SHOES (DE RØDE SKO, 1845)

In his autobiography of 1847 Andersen relates that an incident from his childhood influenced the writing of this tale. On the occasion of his confirmation he was given a new pair of boots that squeaked when he walked on the church floor. The squeaking drew the attention of the congregation, and Andersen was pleased that everyone would notice that he was wearing his first pair of new boots. At the same time, he was ashamed because his thoughts were turned away from God. It is not clear whether Andersen specifically referenced this childhood incident in “The Red Shoes,” but the stark Christian message is clear. Karen’s alleged vanity is punished so mercilessly in the name of the Lord that the story has often been criticized for its misogynism.

THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL (DEN LILLE PIGE MED SVOVLSTIKKERNE, 1845)

Andersen wrote this tale as a commission from the magazine Dansk Folkekalender. While traveling outside Copenhagen, he received a letter from the publisher, asking him to address one of three pictures that he enclosed. Andersen chose a drawing by Danish painter J. T. Lundbye that portrays a poor little girl with a bunch of matches. As in many of his tales about poor children, there is divine salvation at the end. Andersen may have been recalling an incident in his mother’s childhood when she was sent out to beg; when she returned, she was reprimanded for not obtaining any money.

THE BOG KING’S DAUGHTER (DYND-KONGENS DATTER, 1858)

Part of this complex tale, whose title is sometimes translated as “The Marsh King’s Daughter,” was first told to one of Andersen’s friends, who related it to Andersen. After he wrote it down, he made several drafts and added new elements before he was satisfied with it. Though Andersen uses pagan motifs from animal fables as well as Scandinavian folklore and legend, he creates a religious story about the taming of the wild spirit in Helga, who becomes humble and merciful through her encounter with the priest.

THE GIRL WHO STEPPED ON BREAD (PIGEN, SOME TRAADTE PAA BRØDET, 1859)

The title of this narrative is also translated as “The Girl Who Trod on the Loaf.” It is based in a tale Andersen heard in his childhood. He transformed it into a moral tale of salvation, similar to “The Red Shoes” and with the same misogynistic tendencies. The girl is punished for her sinful actions and is transformed into a bird only after she learns the lesson of Christian humility. The motif of bread turning to stone originated in medieval oral tales and may have belonged to traditional legends of Odense.

THE BELL (KLOKKEN, 1845)

This tale, published in Maanedsskrift for Børn (Monthly Journal for Children) and supposedly Andersen’s own invention, celebrates the divine and mysterious qualities of nature that can be attributed only to God. The motif of the bell also can be found in the poems of German writers Friedrich Schiller and J. L. Heiberg.

THE THORNY PATH TO GLORY (ÆRENS TORNEVEI, 1856)

This tale was first published in Folkekalender for Danmark. All the great protagonists depicted in the narrative have attributes similar to those of Jesus Christ. Their lives parallel the lives of many of Andersen’s protagonists, who must endure great suffering before becoming famous.

THE JEWISH MAID (JØDEPIGEN, 1856)

Based on a Hungarian legend, this tale was first published in Folkekalender for Danmark. The story’s notion of Christian redemption is striking. Although Sara does not convert to Christianity because of the vow she has made to her mother, she is redeemed by Christianity. Several scholars believe that the story is based on Andersen’s childhood memories of a Jewish girl named Sara Heimann.

THE STORY OLD JOHANNA TOLD (HVAD GAMLE JOHANNE FORTALTE, 1872)

Composed between September 16 and September 24, this fairy tale was the last Andersen ever wrote. The first English translation, with the title “The Story Old Joan Told,” appeared in Aunt Judy’s Christmas Volume, 1873. It was based on a tale that Andersen had heard during his youth from an old woman. Andersen had been struck by the appearance of an old withered man, and the old woman told him the tale about the boiling pot with a special brew that a wise woman could use to bring a young man back from foreign lands to his sweetheart, no matter how far he had traveled. The only difficulty was that the brew often caused the young man to become decrepit. In Andersen’s version of the story he transforms the young tailor, who is a man without faith in God, and it is this lack of faith that brings about his downfall.

SHE WAS NO GOOD (HUN DUGDE IKKE, 1853)

This tale was Andersen’s endeavor to portray his mother, who was an alcoholic, in a positive light and to transform her story into a parable of religious salvation. Andersen’s relationship with his mother was fraught with contradictions. He barely mentions her in his diaries and was evidently filled with shame because of her low social status and her drinking.

THE ANTHROPOMORPHIZING OF ANIMALS AND NATURE

THE UGLY DUCKLING (DEN GRIMME ÆLLING, 1844)

One of Andersen’s most successful tales, “The Ugly Duckling” is not only a clear autobiographical narrative of his rise from rags to riches and a wish-fulfillment story that captures the deepest psychological wishes of powerless children; it is also a remarkable example of the animal fable with a clear moral. In Andersen’s narrative the path to survival and success is ironically tied to Darwin’s notion of the survival of the fittest. Though Andersen was opposed to Darwin’s theories, his tale demonstrates that there are species in the animal world that are more adapted to survival and more beautiful than others. Andersen implies that faith in one’s true self will lead to happiness and thus aligns himself with the philosophy of essentialism. His essential identity was noble, and his nobility was a nobility of the soul and the true artist. Once this tale became famous, Andersen often identified himself as the ugly duckling.

Originally this tale was to be called “The Swan Chick,” but Andersen changed the title so there would be an element of surprise when the so-called duckling changes into a swan.

IN THE DUCKYARD (I ANDEGAARDEN, 1861)

This grim tale uses the proud and haughty Portuguese hen to comment on snobbery and the survival of the fittest. It can be regarded as a counter-tale to “The Ugly Ducking.” The story also is apparently a tale of revenge. Andersen often used animals to satirize people he knew. In this case, the rooster and the Portuguese hen clearly represent people he detested, but scholars have not been able to identify them.

THE STORKS (STORKENDE, 1839)

In this tale, based on the superstitious belief that storks bring babies, Andersen provides an ironic moral twist to criticize the cruelty of children. Several of Andersen’s stories include the stork, his favorite bird.

THE SPRUCE TREE (GRANTRÆET, 1845)

This powerful parable, which deals with the vain pursuit of fame, may reflect some of Andersen’s personal concerns as he desperately tried to become famous. More than that, the tale is a perfect allegory about misguided notions of celebrity, and its initial light tone turns cynical in the end. In addition to attempting to expose the artificiality and superficiality of the upper classes, Andersen tried to show how gullible people might be caught up in the false glow of fame.

IT’S PERFECTLY TRUE! (DET ER GANSKE VIST! 1852)

This ironic tale is a delightful comic commentary on how rumors spread and return to haunt the people who start them.

THE DUNG BEETLE (SKARNBASSEN, 1861)

This tale was inspired by a statement Charles Dickens published in his magazine Household Words: “When the Emperor’s horse got his golden shoes, the beetle also stretched his leg out.” Dickens recommended that Andersen write a story based on this Arabian proverb, and this satirical tale about a pompous beetle was the result. Andersen thought that Dickens had written the passage. However, it was part of a series of proverbs compiled by Dickens’s co-editor Richard H. Horne.

THE BUTTERFLY (SOMMERFUGLEN, 1861)

This tale, first published in Folkekalender for Danmark, was conceived in Switzerland during a trip Andersen made in August 1860 and was completed in Slagelse, Denmark, while he was staying at Basnaes Manor, in November. There is a good deal of self-irony in this story, in which a choosy butterfly ends up as a lonely bachelor.

THE SNOWDROP (SOMMERGÆKKEN, 1863)

This tale was first published in Folkekalender for Danmark and was written in response to a request by Andersen’s friend Adolph Drewsen, who complained about how traditional names were constantly being changed. Drewsen pointed out that “sommergæk” (summer fool) had been changed to “wintergaek” (winter fool) and that the name of the flower had thus lost its significance. As a response, Andersen wrote a tale about teasing and flirting.

THE SUNSHINE’S STORIES (SOLSKINS-HISTORIER, 1869)

This tale, a light parody of optimistic stories, was first published in English in The Riverside Magazine for Young People (1869); it was published later the same year in the book Fra Nordiske Digtere (From Nordic Poets). Andersen wrote the tale after he heard Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute, 1791). The motif of the fortunate gift at birth is one Andersen used in several of his tales.

THE DROP OF WATER (VANDDRAABEN, 1847)

This terse and bitter tale—dedicated to the famous Danish physicist and chemist Hans Christian Ørsted, who wrote the book The Spirit in Nature (1850)—is an ironic commentary on the way humans in a large city behave like animals. The tale, part of A Christmas Greeting to My English Friends, appeared in English before it was published in Danish. Andersen had first viewed microscopic creatures when he visited botanist Niels Hofman-Bang in 1830. He also may have been influenced by reading a description of creatures present in a drop of water in Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s Night and Morning (1841).

THE FLEA AND THE PROFESSOR (LOPPEN OG PROFESSOREN, 1873)

This comic tale was published in Folkekalender for Danmark and in Scribner’s Monthly (April 1873). The influence of Jules Verne, French author of Cinq semaines en ballon (Five Weeks in a Balloon, 1863) whom Andersen admired, is clear in this tale in the reference to hot-air balloons. He was also inspired by French politician Léon Gambetta, who during the Franco-Prussian War escaped besieged Paris in a balloon and fled to Tours. Andersen often developed real incidents into fantastic stories that are related to science fiction.

THE SNOWMAN (SNEEMANDEN, 1861)

Andersen wrote this tale during the Christmas holidays in 1860 on a visit to Basnaes Manor near Slagelse, where he often stayed; the setting is based on that locale. The story, which contains a good deal of self-irony, reflects Andersen’s concern about the transient nature of all living things.

THE HUMANIZATION OF TOYS AND OBJECTS

THE STEADFAST TIN SOLDIER (DEN STANDHAFTIGE TINSOLDAT, 1838)

Andersen was a great admirer of E. T. A. Hoffmann and was familiar with his “Nussknacker und Mausekönig” (The Nutcracker and the Mouse King,” 1816). Though there is no direct parallel with Hoffmann’s tale, it is apparent that Hoffman’s transformation of the toys and the battle to win the affection of a young girl played a role in Andersen’s writing of ”The Steadfast Tin Soldier” and other tales that feature talking inanimate objects. Hoffmann was among the first writers of fairy tales to set a story in the nursery room of a middle-class home, and Andersen followed him in doing this. Once he became famous he would tell tales in the nursery rooms of his friends.

THE SHEPHERDESS AND THE CHIMNEY SWEEP (HYRDINDEN OG SKORSTEENSFEIEREN, 1845)

As with “The Steadfast Tin Soldier,” this tale shows the influence of E. T. A. Hoffmann’s work, especially “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King” (1816). Andersen’s story served as the basis for one of the most brilliant animated films in the twentieth century, Paul Grimault’s La Bergère et le ramoneur (The Curious Adventures of Mr. Wonderbird, 1959), which was revised and reproduced in 1979 as Le Roi et l’oiseau (The King and the Bird).

THE DARNING NEEDLE (STOPPENAALEN, 1845)

Andersen was probably inspired by the Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen to write this tale, which was first published in the magazine Gaea.

THE OLD HOUSE (DET GAMLE HUUS, 1847)

Andersen based this tale on his memories of visits to homes of his friends in Germany and Denmark. He was given a tin soldier by the son of German poet Julius Mosen in 1847. The two-year-old daughter of Danish composer Johan Hartmann, who danced to the singing of her brothers and sisters, served as the model for the laughing child.

THE RAGS (LASERNE, 1869)

Andersen wrote this tale, composed some eight or ten years before its publication in Folkekalender, as a satire on young Norwegian writers who were criticizing better-established Danish writers. It was originally based on his observations at a paper factory, where he saw large piles of rags that were eventually made into paper. As Norwegian writers gained a higher profile, Andersen thought that the satire no longer held true. Nevertheless, the comic situation retained its appeal. Andersen had earlier used the contrast between Norwegians and Danes in “The Hill of the Elves.”

LEGENDS

HOLGER THE DANE (HOLGER DANSKE, 1845)

This tale, based on a piece of Danish folklore about a legendary king who will rise to save Denmark, is similar to the German legend of the twelfth-century German king and Holy Roman Empire Fredrick Barbarossa, who is said to be buried in Kyffhauser Mountain and will return one day to bring glory to Germany. Andersen based the old man in this tale on his grandfather and on the father of Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen, who were both wood carvers. During the nineteenth century there were numerous adaptations of Christian Pedersen’s adaptation of a French medieval romance, Ogier le Danois, which was related to the legend. While Andersen knew the legend from his school days, a new edition of Pedersen’s work was published in 1842. Andersen also would have known Just Mathias Thiele’s poem about Holger the Dane (1830).

BIRD PHOENIX (FUGL PHØNIX, 1850)

This symbolical tale about the rise of poetry was first published in Den Nye Børneven, an illustrated magazine for children. Beginning in the medieval period, in European literature the phoenix was a common figure representing resurrection and immortality. The origin of the myth is considered to be Oriental and Egyptian. The Egyptians believed that the bird lived about 500 years and toward the end of its life built a nest of spice branches and set it on fire, dying in the flames. From the ashes, a new phoenix would arise and fly to the city of the sun.

THE FAMILY OF HEN-GRETHE (HØNSE-GRETHES FAMILIE, 1869)

This tale was first published in English in The Riverside Magazine for Young People. Andersen based the story on a newspaper article about Marie Grubbe, a young aristocrat, who had been married three times, first to the half-brother of Christian V, Ulrich Frederick Gyldenløve, then to a nobleman from Jutland, and later to a seaman. Andersen uses the history of a castle as his frame for telling a fascinating legend about Marie Grubbe; he transforms her into a proud and willful woman, and has the famous Danish writer Ludvig Holberg meet her while he was escaping a plague that had spread to Copenhagen.

EVERYTHING IN ITS PROPER PLACE (ALT PAA SIN RETTE, 1853)

This inventive tale by Andersen demonstrates his ability to create his own “original” legends. Inspired by the poet Just Mathias Thiele, it is a satirical representation of class conflict in Denmark. A common motif in European folklore, the magical flute is generally used to expose lies and hypocrisy.