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    Fairy Tales

    Author Hans Christian Andersen
    Read by Kate Reading, Richard Matthews
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    Audio | Penguin Audio
    On sale Mar 24, 2005 | 13 Hours and 11 Minutes | 9780786553341
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    Hans Christian Andersen was the profoundly imaginative writer and storyteller who revolutionized literature for children. He gave us the now standard versions of some traditional fairy tales—with an anarchic twist—but many of his most famous tales sprang directly from his imagination.

    The thirty stories here range from exuberant early works such as "The Tinderbox" and "The Emperor's New Clothes" through poignant masterpieces such as "The Little Mermaid" and "The Ugly Duckling," to more subversive later tales such as "The Ice maiden" and "The Wood Nymph."
    Fairy TalesAcknowledgments
    Chronology
    Introduction
    Further Reading
    Translator's Note
    A Note on the Illustrations

    Fairy Tales
    The Tinderbox
    Little Claus and Big Claus
    The Princess on the Pea
    Thumbelina
    The Traveling Companion
    The Little Mermaid
    The Emperor's New Clothes
    The Steadfast Tin Soldier
    The Wild Swans
    The Flying Trunk
    The Nightingale
    The Sweethearts
    The Ugly Duckling
    The Fir Tree
    The Snow Queen
    The Red Shoes
    The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep
    The Shadow
    The Old House
    The Little Match Girl
    The Story of a Mother
    The Collar
    The Bell
    The Marsh King's Daughter
    The Wind Tells of Valdemar Daae and His Daughters
    The Snowman
    The Ice Maiden
    The Wood Nymph
    The Most Incredible Thing
    Auntie Toothache
    Notes

    Hans Christian Andersen (1805–75) was born in Odense, Denmark. The son of a poor shoemaker, who nonetheless was a great reader, made a toy theater for his son and taught him to notice every natural wonder as they walked in the woods together on Sundays. His father died when he was 11, and it wasn’t until six years later that, with the help of a patron, he finally went to a state secondary school attended by much younger children. There he suffered at the hands of a cruel headmaster, but he acquired an education and was determined to be a writer. He published his first novel and his first fairy tales in 1835; thereafter he wrote over 150 more of these stories which have become classics in many languages. Although he originally addressed his fairy tales to children (and some would maintain he had a streak of childhood in his nature) he insisted they were “for all ages,” and the gentleness and humor that are their characteristics are recognized by everyone. View titles by Hans Christian Andersen

    About

    Hans Christian Andersen was the profoundly imaginative writer and storyteller who revolutionized literature for children. He gave us the now standard versions of some traditional fairy tales—with an anarchic twist—but many of his most famous tales sprang directly from his imagination.

    The thirty stories here range from exuberant early works such as "The Tinderbox" and "The Emperor's New Clothes" through poignant masterpieces such as "The Little Mermaid" and "The Ugly Duckling," to more subversive later tales such as "The Ice maiden" and "The Wood Nymph."

    Table of Contents

    Fairy TalesAcknowledgments
    Chronology
    Introduction
    Further Reading
    Translator's Note
    A Note on the Illustrations

    Fairy Tales
    The Tinderbox
    Little Claus and Big Claus
    The Princess on the Pea
    Thumbelina
    The Traveling Companion
    The Little Mermaid
    The Emperor's New Clothes
    The Steadfast Tin Soldier
    The Wild Swans
    The Flying Trunk
    The Nightingale
    The Sweethearts
    The Ugly Duckling
    The Fir Tree
    The Snow Queen
    The Red Shoes
    The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep
    The Shadow
    The Old House
    The Little Match Girl
    The Story of a Mother
    The Collar
    The Bell
    The Marsh King's Daughter
    The Wind Tells of Valdemar Daae and His Daughters
    The Snowman
    The Ice Maiden
    The Wood Nymph
    The Most Incredible Thing
    Auntie Toothache
    Notes

    Author

    Hans Christian Andersen (1805–75) was born in Odense, Denmark. The son of a poor shoemaker, who nonetheless was a great reader, made a toy theater for his son and taught him to notice every natural wonder as they walked in the woods together on Sundays. His father died when he was 11, and it wasn’t until six years later that, with the help of a patron, he finally went to a state secondary school attended by much younger children. There he suffered at the hands of a cruel headmaster, but he acquired an education and was determined to be a writer. He published his first novel and his first fairy tales in 1835; thereafter he wrote over 150 more of these stories which have become classics in many languages. Although he originally addressed his fairy tales to children (and some would maintain he had a streak of childhood in his nature) he insisted they were “for all ages,” and the gentleness and humor that are their characteristics are recognized by everyone. View titles by Hans Christian Andersen

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