Retold from: Hans Christian Andersen

Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish storyteller, author of “The Ugly Duckling”, “The Little Mermaid” and “The Snow Queen”, loved by children everywhere.

Andersen was born on 2 April 1805 in the town of Odense, into a poor shoemaker’s family. At fourteen he travelled to Copenhagen on his own to seek his fortune and eventually became a writer: he wrote novels, plays, poems and travel notes. He died in Copenhagen on 4 August 1875.

His fairy tales brought him world fame. The first slim booklet, “Tales, Told for Children”, came out in 1835, and in all Andersen wrote more than 150 tales and stories, most of them invented by himself. His birthday, 2 April, is celebrated as International Children’s Book Day, and one of the most prestigious awards in children’s literature bears his name.

We have “The Ugly Duckling”, “The Steadfast Tin Soldier”, “The Emperor’s New Clothes” and “The Snowman”, and for older children “The Little Mermaid”, “The Wild Swans”, “The Nightingale” and “The Snow Queen”.

The Little Fir Tree
A little fir tree is in such a hurry to grow up and wait for something better that she misses her own happiness until it is gone.
Ages 6–810 min readWinter
The Swineherd
A princess scorned a real rose and a nightingale, yet kissed a swineherd for a magic toy, never guessing who he really was.
Ages 6–87 min readKindness
Thumbelina
A tiny girl born in a tulip escapes a toad, a beetle and a blind mole, and the swallow she saved carries her to a warm land of flowers.
Ages 6–89 min readMagic
The Princess and the Pea
A prince searched the whole world for a real princess, and it was the old queen who recognised her, with the help of one tiny pea.
Ages 2–53 min readMagic
The Emperor’s New Clothes
Two swindlers weave the emperor cloth that fools cannot see. Everyone pretends to see it, until a little girl speaks up at the parade.
Ages 6–87 min readCourage
The Little Mermaid
The youngest sea princess gives up her voice for legs to be near the prince, and on her last night she makes the hardest and bravest choice of all.
Ages 9–1216 min readMagic
The Steadfast Tin Soldier
A one-legged tin soldier falls in love with a paper dancer, sails in a paper boat, ends up inside a fish, and stays true to the very end.
Ages 6–87 min readCourage
The Wild Swans
A wicked stepmother turns eleven princes into swans, and their sister Eliza silently knits them nettle shirts to break the spell.
Ages 9–1212 min readCourage
The Ugly Duckling
A gray duckling chased out of the farmyard survives autumn and a harsh winter, and in spring sees in the water that he has become a swan.
Ages 6–88 min readFeelings
The Nightingale
An emperor trades a living nightingale for a glittering mechanical bird, but when Death comes, only a real song can save him.
Ages 9–1214 min readNature
The Snowman
A snowman asks an old dog about the world and dreams of a warm stove; with the thaw he melts, and only then is it clear why he longed for it.
Ages 6–87 min readWinter
The Snow Queen
Gerda travels to the far north to melt the splinter of ice in her friend Kai’s heart with the warmth of her own.
Ages 9–1216 min readCourage

Retold from: Hans Christian Andersen

Stories