In a house in Copenhagen, not far from the king’s new market, a very large party had assembled, the host and his family expecting, no doubt, to receive invitations in return.
Continue reading →Fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen
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.
Continue reading →Sunshine stories
“I’ll tell you a story,” said the wind. “Kindly remember,” said the Rain, “that it’s my turn to talk. You’ve been howling around the corner at the top of your voice quite long enough.”
Continue reading →The storm shifts the signboards
In olden days, when grandfather was just a little boy and wore red trousers, a red jacket, a sash around his waist, and a feather in his cap – for that’s the way little boys dressed in his childhood when they wore their best clothes – so many things were different from nowadays. There were often street pageants, which we don’t see now, for they have been done away with, because they became old-fashioned; but it’s fun to hear Grandfather tell about them.
Continue reading →The tinder-box
A soldier came marching along the high road: “Left, right – left, right.” He had his knapsack on his back, and a sword at his side; he had been to the wars, and was now returning home. As he walked on, he met a very frightful-looking old witch in the road. Her under-lip hung quite down on her breast, and she stopped and said, “Good evening, soldier; you have a very fine sword, and a large knapsack, and you are a real soldier; so you shall have as much money as ever you like.”
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