Fairy Tales

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 Leon 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 Mausekonig” (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 Bergere 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 PHONIX, 1850)

This symbolical tale about the rise of poetry was first published in Den Nye Borneven, 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 (HONSE-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 Gyldenlove, 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.

Inspired by Andersen’s

Fairy Tales

LITERATURE