It is as well that you should know something about the writer of these wonderful and beautiful
stories,about the man who loved children so dearly,and was greatly beloved by them in return.
Hans Christian Andersen,factory-hand,singer,poet,novelist,dramatist and writer of fairy stories,
was born on April 2,1805,at Odense in Funen,Denmark.He was the son of a poor shoemaker and for
some time worked in a factory,but his poetic nature soon asserted itself and in quite early days
he achieved a local reputation.
Possessed of a good singing voice and a strong dramatic instinct he went to Copenhagen in search of
an engagement at the theatre,but was rejected on account of his lack of education and his ungain-
liness of figure.In his distress he was rescued by generous friends who recognized his genius,and
even brought his case to the notice of the king,who had him placed at an advanced school at the
public expense.
His progress was now assured and indeed was so rapid that the king,in 1833,assisted him still
further by bestowing upon him a travelling pension.Not only did this relieve him from money cares,
but enabled him to still further develop his mind by travel.
By his poems,by his essays and novels,he soon gained a world-wide reputation;at home he was also
successful as a playwright.Then came his fairy tales, his delightful fairy stories, to charm us,
and it is by them that the name of Hans Christitan Andersen will live for ever.His stories are
loved equally by the children and their parents,and by people of all nations.Indeed on his seven-
tieth birthday he was presented with a book containing one of his tales in fifteen languages.Of
these tales it is said that"their prevailing tenderness was the echo of his own emotions.”Of
their author it is written:"His heavy face and ungraceful form hid a heart that overflowed with
love for all lovely things.The darling of children in his lifetime, he has secured himself the happ-
iest as well as the surest im-mortality in the place nearest the heart of the children of the
civilized world.”
Hans Andersen,full of honours bestowed on him by his king and his country,died at Copenhagen,August-
6,1875.