Stories and fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen - Page 8

Stories and fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen

The angelH.C. Andersen →

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The complete fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm

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Fairy tales and stories by H.C. Andersen

List of fairy tales (Page 8)

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What happened to the thistle

What happened to the thistle

Adjoining the rich estate was a lovely and beautifully kept garden of rare trees and flowers. Guests at the estate enjoyed this fine garden and praised it. People from the countryside all round about and townspeople as well would come every Sunday and holiday to ask if they might see the garden. Even whole schools made excursions to it. Just outside the fence that separated the garden from a country lane, there grew a very large thistle. It was so unusually big with such vigorous, full-foliagedRead the story →

What one can invent

What one can invent

There was once a young man who was studying to be a poet. He wanted to become one by Easter, and to marry, and to live by poetry. To write poems, he knew, only consists in being able to invent something; but he could not invent anything. He had been born too late– everything had been taken up before he came into the world, and everything had been written and told about. Happy people who were born a thousand years ago! said he. It was an easy matter for them to become immortal. Happy even was heRead the story →

Luck may lie in a pin

Luck may lie in a pin

A Story Told For My Young American Friends I'll tell you a story about luck. All of us know what it is to be lucky. Some know good luck day in, day out; others only now and then in their lucky seasons; and there are some people who know it only once in a lifetime. But luck comes at some time or other to us all. Now I needn't tell you what everyone knows, that it's God who puts little children in their mother's lap; maybe in a nobleman's castle, maybe in a workingman's home, or maybe in the openRead the story →

What the whole family said

What the whole family said

What did the whole family say? Well listen first to what little Marie said. It was little Marie's birthday, the most wonderful of all days, she imagined. All her little boy friends and girl friends came to play with her, and she wore her prettiest dress, the one Grandmother, who was now with God, had sewn for her before she went up into the bright, beautiful heaven. The table in little Marie's room was loaded with presents; there was the prettiest little kitchen, with everything that belongs toRead the story →

Great-Grandfather

GreatGrandfather

Great-Grandfather was so lovable, wise and good. All of us looked up to Great-Grandfather. As far back as I can remember, he was really called Father's Father, and Mother's Father as well, but when my Brother Frederick's little son came along he was promoted, and got the title of Great-Grandfather. He could not expect to go any higher than that. He was very fond of us all, but he did not appear to be fond of our times. Old times were the good times, he used to say. Quiet and genuine they were. IRead the story →

The most incredible thing

The most incredible thing

Whosoever could do the most incredible thing was to have the King's daughter and half of his kingdom. The young men, yes, and the old ones too, bent their heads, their muscles, and their hearts upon winning. To do what they thought was the most incredible thing, two ate themselves to death, and one died of overdrinking. Even the boys in the street practiced spitting on their own backs, which they supposed was the most incredible thing anyone could do. On a certain day there was to be an exhibitiRead the story →

The candles

The candles

There was once a big wax candle who had the highest opinion of his merits. I, he said, am made of the purest wax, cast in the best mold. I burn more brilliantly than any other candle, and I outlast them all. I belong in the high chandelier or the silver candlestick. What a delightful life you must lead, the tallow candle admitted. I am only tallow. Just a tallow dip. But it's a comfort to think how much better off I am than the taper. He's only dipped twice, while I am dipped eight times to makeRead the story →

"Dance, dance, doll of mine!"

Dance dance doll of mine

Yes, this is a song for very small children! declared Aunt Malle. As much as I should like to, I cannot follow this 'Dance, Dance, Doll of Mine!' But little Amalie could; she was only three years old, played with dolls, and brought them up to be just as wise as Aunt Malle. There was a student who came to the house to help her brothers with their lessons, and he frequently spoke to little Amalie and her dolls; he spoke differently from anyone else, and the little girl found him very amusing, althRead the story →

The great sea serpent

The great sea serpent

There was a little sea fish of good family, the name of which I don't remember; that the more learned will have to tell you. This little fish had eighteen hundred brothers and sisters, all the same age; they didn't know their father or mother, so they had to care for themselves and swim about on their own, but that was a lot of fun. They had plenty of water to drink - the entire ocean. They didn't think about their food; that was sure to come their way. Each did as he pleased; each would have hiRead the story →

The gardener and the noble family

The gardener and the noble family

About four miles from the city stood an old manor house with thick walls, towers, and pointed gables. Here lived, but only in the summer season, a rich and noble family. Of all the different estates they owned, this was the best and the most beautiful; on the outside it looked as if it had just been cast in a foundry, and the inside was made for comfort and ease. The family coat of arms was carved in stone over the gate; beautiful roses climbed about the arms and the balconies; the courtyard wasRead the story →

What old Johanne told

What old Johanne told

The wind whistles in the old willow tree. It is as if one were hearing a song; the wind sings it; the tree tells it. If you do not understand it, then ask old Johanne in the poor house; she knows about it; she was born here in the parish. Many years ago, when the King's Highway still lay along here, the tree was already large and conspicuous. It stood, as it still stands, in front of the tailor's whitewashed timber house, close to the ditch, which then was so large that the cattle could be waterRead the story →

The gate key

The gate key

Every key has a history, and there are many kinds of keys - a chamberlain's key, a watch key, Saint Peter's key. We could tell you about all the keys; but now we will only tell about the councilor's gate key. It had come into being at a locksmith's, but it might well have believed it had been made by a blacksmith, the way the man had worked on it with hammer and file. It was too large for one's trouser pocket, so it had to be put into the overcoat pocket. There it often lay in utter darkness; yeRead the story →

The cripple

The cripple

There was an old manor house where a young, splendid family lived. They had riches and many blessings; they liked to enjoy themselves, and yet they did a lot of good. They wanted to make everybody happy, as happy as they themselves were. On Christmas Eve a beautifully decorated Christmas tree stood in the large old hall, where fire burned in the fireplaces and fir branches were hung around the old paintings. Here gathered the family and their guests; here they sang and danced. The Christmas festRead the story →

Aunty Toothache

Aunty Toothache

Where did we get this story? would you like to know? We got it from the basket that the wastepaper is thrown into. Many a good and rare book has been taken to the delicatessen store and the grocer's, not to be read, but to be used as wrapping paper for starch and coffee, beans, for salted herring, butter, and cheese. Used writing paper has also been found suitable. Frequently one throws into the wastepaper basket what ought not to go there. I know a grocer's assistant, the son of a delicatessenRead the story →

The flea and the professor

The flea and the professor

There was an aëronaut, and things went badly with him. His balloon burst, hurled him out, and went all to pieces. Just two minutes before, the aëronaut had sent his boy down by parachute - wasn't the boy lucky! He wasn't hurt, and he knew enough to be an aëronaut himself, but he had no balloon and no means of getting one. Live he must, so he took to sleight-of-hand tricks, and to throwing his voice, which is called ventriloquism. He was young and good-looking. When he grew a mustache and wore hiRead the story →

The Tallow Candle

The Tallow Candle

It sizzled and fizzled as the flames fired the cauldron.. it was the Tallow Candle's cradle - and out of the warm cradle came a flawless candle; solid, shining white and slim it was formed in a way that made everyone who saw it believe that it was a promise of a bright and radiant future – promises that everyone who looked on believed it would really want to keep and fulfil. The sheep – a fine little sheep – was the candle's mother, and the melting pot its father. Its mother had given it a shinyRead the story →

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The most beautiful stories of AndersenThe best fairy tales →

Tom ThumbA fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm →

The shepherd boyA fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm →

The Bremen town musiciansA fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm →