Hans Andersen's
Fairy Tales
First Series
Edited by
J. H. Stickney
Illustrated by Edna F. Hart
Ginn and Company
Boston—New York—Chicago—London
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
914.10
The Athenæum Press
GINN AND COMPANY · PROPRIETORS
· BOSTON · U.S.A.
PREFACE
The Hans Andersen Fairy Tales will be readin schools and homes as long as there are childrenwho love to read. As a story-teller for children theauthor has no rival in power to enlist the imaginationand carry it along natural, healthful lines.The power of his tales to charm and elevate runslike a living thread through whatever he writes.In the two books in which they are here presentedthey have met the tests and held an undiminishingpopularity among the best children's books.They are recognized as standards, and as juvenilewritings come to be more carefully standardized,their place in permanent literature will growwider and more secure. A few children's authorswill be ranked among the Immortals, and HansAndersen is one of them.
Denmark and Finland supplied the naturalbackground for the quaint fancies and growinggenius of their gifted son, who was story-teller,[iv]playwright, and poet in one. Love of nature, loveof country, fellow-feeling with life in everything,and a wonderful gift for investing everything withlife wrought together to produce in him a characterwhose spell is in all his writings. "The Storyof My Life" is perhaps the most thrilling of all ofthem. Recognized in courts of kings and castlesof nobles, he recited his little stories with the samesimplicity by which he had made them familiarin cottages of the peasantry, and endeared himselfalike to all who listened. These attributes, whilethey do not account for his genius, help us to unravelthe charm of it. The simplest of the storiesmeet Ruskin's requirement for a child's story—theyare sweet and sad.
From most writers who have contributed largelyto children's literature only a few selected gemsare likely to gain permanence. With Andersen thecase is different. While there are such gems, thegreater value lies in taking these stories as a typeof literature and living in it a while, through thepower of cumulative reading. It is not too muchto say that there is a temper and spirit in Andersenwhich is all his own—a simple philosophywhich continuous reading is sure to impart. Forthis reason these are good books for a child to[v]own; an occasional re-reading will inspire in hima healthy, normal taste in reading. Many of thestories are of value to read to very young children.They guide an exuberant imagination along naturalchannels.
The text of the present edition is a reprint ofan earlier one which was based upon a sentence-by-sentencecomparison of the four or five translationscurrent in Europe and America. It has beenwidely commended as enjoyable reading, whilefaithful to the letter and spirit of the Danishoriginal