Flip Through This Quiz on Hans Christian Andersen Tales

Hans Christian Andersen wrote more than 150 fairy tales over his lifetime, including “The Nightingale,” “The Tinderbox,” and “Little Claus and Big Claus.” Andersen’s tales became popular across the world, in part because his storytelling was based on informal spoken language that was very appealing to children. Alongside his fairy tales, Andersen also wrote novels and travelogs. However, “Hansel & Gretel” was not among his works.

In “The Steadfast Tin Soldier” (1838), the last toy soldier in a set is made with one leg because the factory ran out of tin. He falls in love with a ballerina who he thinks also has one limb, because of the way she is posed. After a series of events that tear them apart, they reunite only to burn in a fire together. The story has a lot of similar themes to Andersen’s other tales — a tragic central character and doomed love — and is thought to be semi-autobiographical.

In “The Red Shoes,” a little girl is given beautiful red shoes. However, every time she wears them, they enchant her feet and she cannot stop dancing. In 1948, Andersen’s story was adapted into a critically acclaimed movie, also called “The Red Shoes.” In this version of the tale, a ballerina owns the magical shoes.

In 1913, brewer Carl Jacobsen commissioned a statue of the Little Mermaid as a gift to Copenhagen after watching a ballet based on the fairy tale. Sculptor Edvard Eriksen cast the figure in bronze and used his wife as a model. The statue was installed on a granite boulder that overlooks Langelinie Pier. Today, it is one of Copenhagen’s most popular tourist attractions.

In the 1835 tale, Thumbelina finds a swallow that appears dead, so she covers it with thistledown. However, as she warms up the bird, she hears its heartbeat. Thumbelina realizes that the bird was just frozen and she nurses it back to full health. The bird later repays her by rescuing Thumbelina from a mean mole that wants to keep her underground.

In “The Little Mermaid” (1837), when the Little Mermaid exchanges her voice for legs, it comes with a catch. If she fails to make the prince fall in love with her, she will return to the ocean as sea-foam. Unfortunately, without her voice, the Little Mermaid cannot tell the prince how she feels and he marries someone else, dooming the Little Mermaid to death.

Hans Christian Andersen’s tales, much like the traditional folktales that acted as his inspiration, did not always have a happy ending. One of his most tear-jerking stories is “The Little Match Girl” (1845), in which a match seller uses the last of her matches to create a little warmth and light in her life before she freezes to death.

Walt Disney was keen to adapt Andersen’s 1845 fairy tale “The Snow Queen,” but it never came to fruition in Disney’s lifetime. However, in 2013, Walt Disney Pictures released “Frozen,” inspired by “The Snow Queen.” While many elements of the movie are different from the original story, in both tales a good person must be prevented from having their heart frozen.

“Den Grimme Ӕlling,” known as “The Ugly Duckling” in English, is an 1843 story about an outsider. The tale reflects Andersen’s own childhood experiences. The author grew up in poverty in a village just outside Copenhagen in Denmark, until a benefactor paid for his education. This allowed him to follow his dream of becoming a writer — but even in adulthood, Andersen always felt like he didn’t fit in.

In “The Snow Queen” (1845), everything that’s beautiful in the world becomes distorted and ugly after Kay gets a splinter of glass from a goblin’s broken mirror in his eye. Because the only things that he now sees as beautiful are snowflakes, Kay deserts his friend Gerda and goes off with the Snow Queen to live in a freezing-cold castle. Gerda refuses to give up on her friend, and many adventures later, she finds Kay, and her love for him makes him cry, which washes the glass from his eye.

“The Little Mermaid” (1837) is one of Hans Christian Andersen’s most recognizable tales, thanks to Disney’s 1989 animated movie. However, the original tale is a lot darker than the Disney version. In both the story and the movie, the mermaid falls madly in love with a prince and makes a deal with a sea witch to exchange her beautiful voice for legs. In the original tale, however, there’s an additional catch: Every step the mermaid takes feels like walking on glass.

In “Thumbelina” (1835), a poor woman who longs for a child visits a witch to beg for her help. The witch gives her a magical barley seed to plant. Not long after the woman puts the seed into the ground, a flower sprouts with a tiny girl inside of it. The woman names her “Thumbelina.” Soon after, a horrid toad kidnaps Thumbelina, but after many adventures and with the help of friends, she escapes and eventually marries a fairy flower prince.

“The Emperor’s New Clothes” (1837) has become an analogy for sycophancy and the credulity of a crowd. In the story, the emperor is tricked by con men into ordering an outfit that they claim is made from a fabric that is invisible to unintelligent people. No one wants to admit they can’t see the fabric as the emperor parades through town. Finally, a small child pipes up, “But he hasn't got anything on!”

“The Princess and the Pea” is an 1835 short story about a prince who is desperate to marry a princess. One night, a woman arrives at the castle in a disheveled state due to a storm, claiming to be a princess. Skeptical, the prince’s mother puts her to the test by making her sleep on a towering stack of 20 mattresses with a tiny pea hidden underneath, reasoning that if she can feel the pea, it will prove that she is a real princess.

“The Ugly Duckling” was first published in 1843 and is an allegorical story about growing up and finding your place in the world. In the story, a swan egg is mistakenly hatched by a family of ducks, and because he doesn’t look like his siblings, he is ridiculed for his looks and struggles to fit in. However, when he leaves home, he grows into a beautiful swan and soon finds happiness among other swans.