Stories and fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen - Page 7

Stories and fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen

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The complete fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm

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Fairy tales and stories by H.C. Andersen

List of fairy tales (Page 7)

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In the children's room

In the children's room

Father and mother and all the brothers and sisters had gone to the theater; only little Anna and her grandfather were left at home. We'll put on a play, too, he said, and it can start right away. But we don't have any theater! said little Anna. And we haven't anybody to do the acting. My old doll can't, because she looks dreadful, and my new one mustn't, because she'd rumple her new dress. You can always find actors if you use what you have, said Grandfather. Now let's build the theater. We'll sRead the story →

Golden treasure

Golden treasure

The drummer's wife went to church and saw the new altar with painted pictures and carved angels. The angels were very beautiful, both those painted on cloth, in all their colors and glory, and those carved in wood, painted and gilded. Their hair shone like gold and sunshine and was beautiful to look at. But God's sunshine was still more beautiful; it glowed bright and red between the dark trees as the sun was setting. And as the woman gazed on the descending sun, her innermost thoughts were abouRead the story →

The storm shifts the signboards

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. It must have been quite a show to see theRead the story →

Kept secret but not forgotten

Kept secret but not forgotten

There was once an old mansion with a moat and drawbridge. The drawbridge was more often up than down; not all visitors are good or welcome. Under the eaves were loopholes to shoot out through, and for throwing boiling water, yes, even molten lead, down on the enemy if he approached too closely. Indoors were high rafted ceilings, and this was good because of the space it provided for the large amount of smoke that rolled up from the hearth fires, where huge, damp logs burned. On the walls hung piRead the story →

The porter's son

The porter's son

The General lived in the grand first floor, and the porter lived in the cellar. There was a great distance between the two families– the whole of the ground floor, and the difference in rank; but they lived in the same house, and both had a view of the street, and of the courtyard. In the courtyard was a grass-plot, on which grew a blooming acacia tree (when it was in bloom), and under this tree sat occasionally the finely-dressed nurse, with the still more finely-dressed child of the General– lRead the story →

Aunty

Aunty

You ought to have known Aunty; she was so lovely. And yet, to be more specific, she wasn't lovely in the usual sense of the word, but she was sweet and charming and funny in her own way - just the type to gossip about when one is in the mood to gossip and be facetious over someone. She should have been put in a play, just because she herself simply lived for the theater and everything that goes on in it. She was so very respectable, even if Agent Nob, whom Aunty called Snob, said she was stage-sRead the story →

The toad

The toad

The well was deep, and therefore the rope had to be a long one; it was heavy work turning the handle when any one had to raise a bucketful of water over the edge of the well. Though the water was clear, the sun never looked down far enough into the well to mirror itself in the waters; but as far as its beams could reach, green things grew forth between the stones in the sides of the well. Down below dwelt a family of the Toad race. They had, in fact, come head-over-heels down the well, in the peRead the story →

Vänö and Glänö

Vänö and Glänö

Near the coast of Zealand, off Holsteinborg castle, there once lay two wooded islands, Vänö and Glänö, on which were villages, churches, and farms. The islands were quite close to the coast and quite close to each other; now there is but one of these tracts remaining. One night a fierce tempest broke loose. The ocean rose higher than ever before within man's memory. The storm increased; it was like doomsday weather, and it sounded as if the earth were splitting. The church bells began to swing aRead the story →

The little green ones

The little green ones

A rose tree drooped in the window. Not so long ago it was green and blooming, but now it looked sickly - something was wrong with it. A regiment of invaders were eating it up; and, by the way, it was a very decent and respectable regiment, dressed in green uniforms. I spoke to one of the invaders; he was only three days old but already a grandfather. Do you know what he said? Well, what he said is all true - he spoke of himself and the rest of the invaders. Listen! We're the strangest regiment oRead the story →

The goblin and the woman

The goblin and the woman

You know the Goblin, but do you know the Woman-the Gardener's wife? She was very well read and knew poems by heart; yes, and she could write them, too, easily, except that the rhymes-clinchings, as she called them-gave her a little trouble. She had the gift of writing and the gift of speech; she could very well have been a parson or at least a parson's wife. The earth is beautiful in her Sunday gown, she said, and this thought she had expanded and set down in poetic form, with clinchings, makingRead the story →

Peiter, Peter, and Peer

Peiter Peter and Peer

It is unbelievable all that children know nowadays; one can scarcely say what they don't know. They no longer believe the old story that the stork brought them to father and mother out of the well or the millpond when they were little, and yet it is really true. But how did the little ones get down into the millpond or the well? Ah, not everyone knows that, but there are some who do. Have you ever gazed at the sky on a clear, starry night and watched the many shooting stars? It is as if the starRead the story →

Godfather's picture book

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 replaceRead the story →

Which was the happiest?

Which was the happiest

Such lovely roses! said the Sunshine. And each bud will soon burst in bloom and be equally beautiful. These are my children. It is I who have kissed them to life. They are my children, said the Dew. It is I who have nourished them with my tears. I should think I am their mother, the Rose Bush said. You and Sunshine are only their godmothers, who have made them presents in keeping with your means and your good will. My lovely Rose children! they exclaimed, all three. They wished each flower to haRead the story →

The puppet-show man

The puppetshow man

On board a steamer I once met an elderly man, with such a merry face that, if it was really an index of his mind, he must have been the happiest fellow in creation; and indeed he considered himself so, for I heard it from his own mouth. He was a Dane, the owner of a travelling theatre. He had all his company with him in a large box, for he was the proprietor of a puppet-show. His inborn cheerfulness, he said, had been tested by a member of the Polytechnic Institution, and the experiment had madeRead the story →

The days of the week

The days of the week

The days of the week once wanted to be free to get together and have a party. But each of the seven days was so occupied, the year around, that they had no time to spare. They wanted a whole extra day; but then they had that every four years, the intercalary day that comes in February for the purpose of keeping order in chronology. On the intercalary day they would get together for a party, and, as February is the month of carnivals, they would come in costumes of each one's taste and choice; thRead the story →

The dryad

The dryad

We are travelling to Paris to the Exhibition. Now we are there. That was a journey, a flight without magic. We flew on the wings of steam over the sea and across the land. Yes, our time is the time of fairy tales. We are in the midst of Paris, in a great hotel. Blooming flowers ornament the staircases, and soft carpets the floors. Our room is a very cosy one, and through the open balcony door we have a view of a great square. Spring lives down there; it has come to Paris, and arrived at the sameRead the story →

The rags

The rags

Outside the paper mill, masses of rags lay piled in high stacks; they had been gathered from far and wide. Every rag had a tale to tell, and told it, too; but we can't listen to all of them. Some of the rags were native; others came from foreign countries. Now here lay a Danish rag beside a rag from Norway; one was decidedly Danish, the other decidedly Norse, and that was the amusing part about the two, as any good Dane or Norwegian could tell you. They could understand each other well enough, tRead the story →

The comet

The comet

Now there came a comet with its shiny nucleus and its menacing tail. People from the great castles and people from the poor huts gazed at it. So did the crowd in the street, and so did the man who went his solitary way across the pathless heath. Everyone had his own thoughts. Come and look at the omen from heaven. Come out and see this marvelous sight, they cried, and everyone hastened to look. But a little boy and his mother still stayed inside their room. The tallow candle was burning and theRead the story →

Sunshine stories

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. Is that the thanks I get for all of the favors I've done you? the Wind blustered. Many an umbrella I've turned inside out, or even blown to tatters, when people tried to avoid you. Be silent! It is I who shall speak, said the Sunshine, who spoke with such brilliance and warmth that the weary Wind fell flat on his back,Read the story →

Chicken Grethe's family

Chicken Grethe's family

Chicken Grethe was the only human tenant of the fine new house that was built for the hens and ducks on the estate. It was built where the old baronial castle had stood with its tower, crow's-perch gable, moat, and drawbridge. Close by was a complete wilderness of trees and bushes. This had been the garden, running down to a big lake which was now a marsh. Rooks, crows, and jackdaws - a whole horde of screeching, cawing birds, hovered over the trees. The flock did not seem to diminish but ratherRead the story →

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The most beautiful stories of AndersenThe best fairy tales →

RumpelstiltskinA fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm →

The valiant little tailorA fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm →

The goose girlA fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm →