It’s nooot exactly a secret that I’m a huge fairy tale nerd. But confession time: I had never read all of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales. Until now that is!

Though I certainly loved reading fairy tales when I was little, I wouldn’t say I’ve read a broad range of them. There is so much I’ve yet to explore, and so lately I’ve been trying to remedy that!

Last year I plunged into reading all the Brothers Grimm fairy tales, which is what I read most of as a child but I wasn’t sure if I had read every single one or not. SO I decided to just consume them all.

Well, this year I took on Hans Christian Andersen, of whom I knew I hadn’t read all of. Despite The Snow Queen and The Wild Swans being two of my favorite fairy tales of all time for most of my life, and always having a sweet spot for The Little Mermaid (bittersweet ending though it is), I hadn’t explored much of Andersen’s lesser known tales.

So in January I grabbed one of my copies of his complete fairy tales and plunged into the world of Andersen. And…it took a total of five months to complete, but it was absolutely worth it! And thus today I thought it’d be fun to spill alllll my Andersen thoughts (of which I have many).

Shout-out to my friend Eleanor for suggesting this post! I hadn’t even thought of doing this, but when she mentioned it on GoodReads, it sounded so fun. So thank you for the idea, Eleanor! <3

THOUGHTS & OPINIONS

 If I’m being honest, Andersen fairy tales sometimes feels like reading a Dickens novel. He was quite fond of rich, descriptive writing and young boys down on their luck. I was shocked to discover how few, well, fairies or other such magical things entered his words.

For the guy famous for The Snow Queen and The Little Mermaid, Andersen actually stuck to the real world with a lot of his stories. So many of his fairy tales followed regular people and their semi-regular lives and their hopes and loves and heartbreaks. His stories are just…life. I was often disappointed at how few mythical creatures and magical kingdoms were to be found in his stories. Because, well, those things are usually what draws me to fairy tales. I’ve never been much for the real world. *cough, cough*

BUT, at the same time, Andersen brings the magic and wonder to the ordinary. He didn’t always need beautiful princesses and brave knights and magical fairies to take you on an enchanted journey. His lush descriptions of the world and the simple things of life remind you that this world we live in is beautiful, and every day has its own magic. From the glean of light on soap bubbles to the freeing flight of a bird to the imagination of a child playing in the corner—our world is enveloped in wonder, and Andersen brought that out in almost every single one of his stories.

Did he sometimes go a little—ahem—overboard with the rich descriptions? Well, yes. I fear I’m never a fan of suuuper long, flowery descriptions, and Andersen did so love them. My eyes glazed over quite often from the over-the-top, unnecessarily looong paragraphs about nothing of great consequence. But even still, he had such a beautiful way with words that truly makes you appreciate the little things in life.

My biggest complaint with his fairy tales is the “happily ever after”, well, didn’t happen very often. The man had an affinity for killing his protagonists at the end of his books. Honestly, I’d say there were more tragic endings than happy ones, overall. It shocked me at first, but after a while I got so accustomed to it, I just became resignedly acceptant to the fact. It was always a treat when I made it to the end of the tale and the main character didn’t die.

In this case, Andersen is kind of the opposite of the Brothers Grimm. Where their stories were, well, grim, the majority of them did, in fact, end in a happily ever after. While Andersen’s are much more lighthearted in tone and then WHOOPS! the protagonist dies an unexpected, early death THE END. Thaaanks, Andersen. >.>

It’s especially tiring because a lot of his fairy tales are long. We’re talkin’ novella sized stories here. His favorite format seemed to be: a boy, who we first meet as a child and then watch grow up, usually falls in love, then something unfortunate happens and his love marries someone else (that was also annoying), but the young man finds another form of happiness, and just when everything seems great and he’s at the peak of his golden years and we’re cheering him on and have utterly fallen in love with this character…he dies. Story’s over. *big heaving sigh* I can’t tell you how many stories followed this format (I should have started keeping count).

What particularly annoyed me was the way Andersen portrayed these stories. In so many, it was as if he was saying death and going to Heaven is the only way to live happily ever after. Now, yes, Heaven will be our happily ever after. I absolutely believe that. BUT we can also find joy and peace and contentment in this life. In fact, that’s what God wants for us! But to me, Andersen’s stories were basically saying: Life is tragic and you’re never going to find joy until you die, so be happy if you end up dying early. I could be taking this WAY, WAY wrong and that wasn’t his intent at all. (The man was probably just a bit melodramatic and liked his tragic endings.) But sometimes the stories felt that way, and it got tiring after a while. Why couldn’t our protagonists get the girl and live a long, happy life???

AHEM.

Aaanyways, didn’t meant to rant about that for paragraphs on end. And, again, not all of his stories end in tragedy. The Snow Queen, of course, has a very sweet, happy ending. But if you’re going into his fairy tales expected the age old “happily ever after” well, you’re in for a surprise.

Another thing I noticed was he loved to write about inanimate object, which I found hilarious. There were a ton of stories about the thoughts of the most random of objects, from a broken bottle, to a street lamp, to a Christmas tree, to a shirt collar of all things. Those stories were always pretty cute—imagining what it would be like if these items could actually feel and think. Again, I prefer fairy tales about magical kingdoms, but these little tales were quite fun.

Also storks. The man seemed to love him some storks. They appeared in so, so many stories. Which I didn’t mind at all. I enjoyed all the random storks everywhere. They very often aided the protagonist in some way and ended up being an important part of the plot, so kudos to the storks for rockin’ it.

I certainly had some problems with these fairy tales. Sometimes they were pretty long and boring. Sometimes the rich descriptions got in the way of the plot. And a lot of times everyone, ya know, died. BUT I still loved so, so many of these tales. I got quite fond of Andersen’s childlike wonder of the world, and how he made even ordinary things seem so magical. And where a lot of fairy tales are a bit, erm, sparse on the details, backgrounds, and character development, Andersen took care to truly breathe life in his stories. All his characters felt so real and so many of the stories felt like actual events. He knew how to immerse you in the world and create protagonists to truly love. Flawed characters who grew and learned and felt hardships and happiness alike.

It’s no question why Andersen is truly a classic. Maybe his fairy tales aren’t always about fairies, but they’re sprinkled with their own form of magic and awaken the childlike wonder in all of us.

MY FAVORITES TALES

Now that I’ve shared (way too many of) my general thoughts of his fairy tales, how about we dive into the individual fairy tales themselves? (Clearly I couldn’t make a post without a list somewhere. That’d just be ridiculous.) I feel like I focused way too much on the negative parts of his stories. But oh, he had some lovely ones that everyone should read!

So without further ado, my favorite Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales!

• The Wild Swans – I mean duh. This has been a favorite of mine since childhood. Who doesn’t love this enchanting tale of a brave sister rescuing her eleven brothers from being swans forever?

• The Snow Queen – FOREVER one of my favorites. Always.

• The Bottle Neck – One of those inanimate object tales. This one is literally about the neck of a broken bottle that serves as a water bowl to a bird. But the story takes place over the course of years from the creation of the bottle, to all the places and people it had seen, to how it came to be a mere water bowl.

• The Little Mermaid – Well, it’s The Little Mermaid! And yes, the original version ends rather tragically (you ship the mermaid and prince SO HARD but, alas, that ship sinks haha seewhatIdidthere?), but, man, this is such a beautiful tale. Andersen was on top of his game with the descriptions in this one!

• The Nightingale – An emperor loves the song of a nightingale, and invites one to sing for him. But when he discovers a mechanical bird, he favors it over the real nightingale. This one had a lot of lovely things. I loved the idea of the mechanical bird, and it had a sweet ending. (Also Andersen wrote this story as a tribute to Jenny Lind, whom he experienced an unrequited love for, apparently. #randomfacts)

• The Story of a Mother – I don’t know why I like this one so much. It’s dark and sad and literally about a mother trying to save her child from Death himself. But it feels more like what you expect of a fairy tale. It has some weird magical elements that I sort of adored and would love to incorporate in a story one day. (This is why I love reading fairy tales. I get SO much inspiration, even if I’m not outright retelling the story, there are still elements there that beg to be used!)

• Ib and Little Christina – This one follows Ib and Christina (duh), a young boy and girl who become friends as children, fall in love, but grow up to take different paths. There is some tragedy, but the ending was actually really sweet.

• Anne Lisbeth – This is a rather haunting story of a mother who cared nothing for her own little boy and doted over the nobleman’s son. But when her boy drowns at sea, she learns her folly. A rather dreary but fascinating tale.

• The Philosopher’s Stone – Apparently Andersen used this title long before J.K. Rowling but no, Andersen’s version is not about a wizard boy. *wink* But OH. This is what I love to find in fairy tales. This is a gorgeous, magical story about a man and his children who lives in this wondrous castle tree. The children go out to seek the good and beautiful of the world, but of course, things don’t turn out like they expect. This one has SO MANY enchanting elements and it’s one I’d love to retell one day.

• The Marsh King’s Daughter – Another one that really feels like a fairy tale. This is a long, sweeping one about, well, a marsh king’s daughter…sort of. It’s a hard story to explain, but wow, it enraptured me wholly. Probably one of my top favorites of his obscure ones.

• The Garden of Paradise – This is kind of a weird one because it’s literally about a man visiting the Garden of Eden and not being able to sin or he’ll get kicked out, basically. But what I LOVED is all the descriptions of the garden. It was GORGEOUS and fascinating. Honestly, one of my favorites, even though it was a bit, ehh, strange at times. (But what fairy tale isn’t?)

• The Tinder-Box – This follows a soldier who is quested to find a magic tinderbox guarded by three, erm, unusual dogs, all who later help him in a time of need. A princess is also involved, because OF COURSE. This one felt very Brothers Grimm-ish with weird magical elements, strange animals helping the protagonist, and marriage to a princess in the end. It was totally bizarre and ridiculous and I adored it!

• The Shadow – This one was WEIRD. It’s literally about a man whose shadow leaves him and becomes his own person. The whole flavor of it was downright strange, and totally fascinating! It was like a messed up version of Peter Pan???

• The Mail-Coach Passengers – This was just CUTE. It describes each month of the year as if they were a person, with their lifestyles and preferences. Totally adorable and fun!

• The Emperor’s New Clothes – If you’ve never read the original, downright hilarious story about two tailors tricking the emperor into wearing a magnificent “invisible” suit, well, you are missing out, my friend.

• The Swineherd – Another ridiculous and hilarious story about an emperor’s daughter agreeing to pay a prince disguised as a swineherd in kisses for his delightful inventions. I don’t even know, guys, it was just funny. XD

• The Red Shoes – I think this one is slightly more well-known than some others. A young girl receives a shiny new pair of red shoes but when her vanity gets away from her, she’s cursed to dance in the red shoes forever. It’s kinda gruesome, but…I love it anyway. Heh.

• Everything in the Right Place – A fun little tale about noble families and peasants and comeuppance and a mansion and a magic flute. It was just lighthearted and cute!

• The Gardener and the Noble Family – I do so love stories of families with close relationships with their loyal servants, and this one hit the mark perfectly.

• Peiter, Peter, and Peer – A story of the brothers Peiter, Peter, and Peer Pietersen who go off to seek out rather, um, underwhelming careers. The dry wit of this story was spot on. It was great!

• The Most Incredible Thing – Whoever can bring the princess “the most incredible thing” may attain her hand in marriage. And so a poor young man invents a truly wondrous clock that produces moving figures with each hour. The clock really was an incredible thing, I loved the descriptions and imagination of it!

• The Great Sea Serpent – This one is a a super funny one about a bunch of sea creatures freaking out because of the strange “sea serpent” that has invaded their world. But what the sea serpent actually is turns out out to be a twist ending. Bwahaha.

• The Flea and the Professor – Well, the title says it all. This is literally about a professor and an actual flea who travel together and perform magical acts. The BEST part is the ending where they end up in a savage land and work up a hilarious scheme to escape.

• The Cripple – This is basically about a crippled boy and his love for reading, which is something I can always get on top of. But there’s also lots of heart and humor to it. Definitely an enjoyable read!

• The Gate Key – This tells the story of a man who thinks he has a magic gate key that gives him the answers to life. I can’t remember all that happened, but if I recall it was a pretty amusing one.

• Jack the Dullard – A princess says she wants to marry a man who chooses the best words. Two young squires are confident in their ability to impress her, but their younger, less nimble-minded brother ends up shockingly turning her head instead. This one was just FUNNY and so satisfying.

• The Phoenix Bird – This one is super, super short, but oh so gorgeous. It describes how the phoenix bird came to be, and I loved the beauty and imagination of it!

• The Porter’s Son – This is one of those long, sweeping tales following a little boy up through adulthood. I think what drew me to this particular one was, FOR ONCE, it had a happy ending. XD

• The Dryad – I just loved the concept of this one. It tells the tale of a dryad who cannot leave her tree, but she longs to explore the world. At last, she is granted her wish, and becomes a human for a day. Per Andersen style, it ends pretty sadly, but the concept and descriptions were quite enchanting.

• Poultry Meg’s Family – I particularly liked this one for the epic scope of it, as it follows the long, ever-changing life of a noble girl and what became of her childhood home.

• Lucky Peer – Oh, THIS ONE. Though, yes, the ending isn’t exactly happy, somehow it didn’t seem as tragic as the others. But I just adored the WHOLE story. It’s a super long one, but 100% worth the read. I got so immersed in “Lucky Peer”, a boy who goes from a poor boy to a life on the stage. I just adored Peer and his wonder of the world. I think I got more immersed in this one that most, and I don’t even know why. It was just…really, really good.

In Conclusion…

I wouldn’t consider Hans Christian Andersen my favorite fairy tale writer, but he wrote some of my favorite fairy tales. There is a reason he is a household name and his stories have spawned a nearly endless supply of adaptations. His stories have enchanted the world for generations, and, I suspect, will continue on to the end of time.

It is just shameful it’s taken me this long to read all of Andersen’s fairy tales. I’m so glad I finally took the plunge!

LET’S TALK!

If you made it to the end of this monstrous, rambly post, congratulations! NOW IT’S YOUR TURN. I want to know all your thoughts! Have you read any Andersen? If so, which are your favorite tales of his? Do you share any of my sentiments about him? Who’s your favorite fairy tale writer? Let’s talk ALL the fairy tale things!