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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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