“Yes, this is a song for very small children!” declared Aunt Malle. “As much as I should like to, I cannot follow this ‘Dance, Dance, Doll of Mine!'”
Continue reading →Fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen
Godfather’s picture book
Godfather could tell stories, so many of them and such long ones, and he could cut out paper figures and draw pictures. When it was nearly Christmas he would bring out a scrapbook with clean white pages, and on these he pasted pictures cut out of books and newspapers; and if there weren’t enough for the story he was going to tell, he drew them himself. When I was a little boy I got several of these picture books, but the prettiest of them all was the one from “that memorable year when gas replaced the old oil lamps in Copenhagen” – and that was the inscription written on the first page.
Continue reading →The snowdrop
It was winter-time; the air was cold, the wind was sharp, but within the closed doors it was warm and comfortable, and within the closed door lay the flower; it lay in the bulb under the snow-covered earth.
Continue reading →Twelve by the mail
It was very frosty, starry clear weather, quiet and calm.
Continue reading →The races
A prize, or rather two prizes, a great one and a small one, had been awarded for the greatest swiftness in running,– not in a single race, but for the whole year.
Continue reading →At the uttermost parts of the sea
A couple of large ships were sent up toward the North Pole, to discover the boundaries of land and sea and how far it would be possible for the human race to penetrate in that direction.
Continue reading →The loveliest rose in the world
There lived once a great queen, in whose garden were found at all seasons the most splendid flowers, and from every land in the world.
Continue reading →The darning-needle
There was once a darning-needle who thought herself so fine that she fancied she must be fit for embroidery. “Hold me tight,” she would say to the fingers, when they took her up, “don’t let me fall; if you do I shall never be found again, I am so very fine.”
Continue reading →Ole-Luk-Oie, the Dream-God
There is nobody in the world who knows so many stories as Ole-Luk-Oie, or who can relate them so nicely. In the evening, while the children are seated at the table or in their little chairs, he comes up the stairs very softly, for he walks in his socks, then he opens the doors without the slightest noise, and throws a small quantity of very fine dust in their eyes, just enough to prevent them from keeping them open, and so they do not see him.
Continue reading →The princess and the pea
Once upon a time there was a prince who wanted to marry a princess; but she woul have to be a real princess. He travelled all over the world to find one, but nowhere could he get what he wanted. There were princesses enough, but it was difficult to find out whether they were real ones. There was always something about them that was not as it should be. So he came home again and was sad, for he would have liked very much to have a real princess.
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