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 TOOTHACHE I. 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 FORTUNE 1. A BEGINNING 2. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE COUNCILMAN 3. THE WATCHMAN’S ADVENTURE 4. A HEADY MOMENT. A RECITAL. A MOST UNUSUAL TRIP. 5. THE CLERK’S TRANSFORMATION 6. 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 MAIDEN 1. LITTLE RUDY 2. JOURNEY TO A NEW HOME 3. RUDY’S UNCLE 4. BABETTE 5. ON THE WAY HOME 6. A VISIT TO THE MILL 7. THE EAGLE’S NEST 8. THE HOUSECAT HAS NEWS 9. THE ICE MAIDEN 10. GODMOTHER 11. THE COUSIN 12. EVIL POWERS 13. IN THE MILLER’S HOUSE 14. VISIONS IN THE NIGHT 15. THE END EVANGELICAL AND RELIGIOUS TALES THE SNOW QUEEN AN ADVENTURE IN SEVEN STORIES THE FIRST STORY - WHICH IS ABOUT THE MIRROR AND THE FRAGMENTS SECOND STORY - A LITTLE BOY AND A LITTLE GIRL THIRD STORY - THE FLOWER GARDEN OF THE WOMAN WHO KNEW MAGIC FOURTH STORY - APRINCE AND PRINCESS FIFTH STORY - THE LITTLE ROBBER GIRL SIXTH STORY - THE SAMI WOMAN AND THE FINN WOMAN SEVENTH 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)