A series of original literary fairy tales by the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen, celebrated for their distinctive imagination, emotional depth, and universal human themes, with his first collections appearing from 1835 onwards.
A cunning soldier acquires a magical tinder-box, outwits a witch, and uses its power to win a princess and a kingdom.
A soldier encounters a witch who promises him wealth in exchange for retrieving a tinder-box from a hollow tree. After securing riches and killing the witch, he discovers the tinder-box summons three powerful dogs. Using their magic, he meets a hidden princess, but his actions lead to his arrest. Before execution, he summons the dogs to overthrow the king, becoming ruler himself and marrying the princess.
Little Claus, a poor farmer, outwits the wealthy Big Claus through clever tricks, turning misfortunes into unexpected riches.
Little Claus, a humble farmer with only one horse, is constantly exploited by the wealthier Big Claus, who owns four horses. When Big Claus kills Little Claus’s horse, the clever underdog sells the hide and begins a series of cunning schemes. Through deception involving a supposed magical sack, a dead grandmother, and tales of sea-cattle, Little Claus repeatedly tricks Big Claus and others, gaining wealth with each ruse. Big Claus, driven by greed and envy, falls for every trick, ultimately meeting his demise in a river while seeking mythical treasure. Little Claus emerges triumphant, rich, and free from his oppressor.
A prince seeks a true princess, tested by a single pea hidden under layers of mattresses, proving her royal sensitivity.
A prince searches the world for a real princess but cannot find one until a stormy night brings a bedraggled girl claiming to be royalty. The queen devises a test, placing a pea under twenty mattresses and twenty feather beds. The next morning, the girl complains of a sleepless night due to something hard in the bed, confirming her royal sensitivity. The prince marries her, and the pea is preserved in a museum.
Little Ida discovers her wilted flowers have been dancing at a magical ball in the king’s castle, leading to a whimsical night of wonder.
Little Ida is saddened by her wilted flowers and learns from a playful student that they dance at a ball in the king’s castle every night. Enchanted by this idea, Ida imagines the flowers’ secret life, picturing roses as royalty and violets as cadets. One night, she sneaks out of bed and witnesses her flowers dancing gracefully in her room, joined by others from the castle. Even her toys come alive in the magical scene. By morning, the flowers are faded, and they ask to be buried in the garden. With her cousins’ help, Ida lovingly buries them, hoping they’ll bloom again next summer.
A tiny girl, born from a magical flower, embarks on a perilous journey, finding love and freedom with a flower prince.
Thumbelina, a delicate girl no bigger than a thumb, is born from a magical flower to a longing woman. Kidnapped by a toad seeking a bride for her son, Thumbelina escapes on a water-lily leaf, only to face further dangers from a cockchafer and a harsh winter. Sheltered by a kind field-mouse, she is nearly forced into marriage with a mole, but a swallow she once saved returns to rescue her. They fly to a warm land where Thumbelina meets and marries a tiny flower prince, finding happiness as queen of the flowers.
A kind old poet shelters a mischievous boy who turns out to be Cupid, shooting him in the heart despite the warmth and care he received.
One stormy evening, an old poet takes pity on a shivering, wet boy who knocks at his door. He welcomes the child, warms him by the fire, and offers him wine and an apple. The boy, revealed to be Cupid, suddenly shoots the poet in the heart with his bow, laughing as he flees. The wounded poet warns others of Cupid’s deceitful nature, explaining how the mischievous god disguises himself to trick and wound unsuspecting people, even targeting parents and grandmothers.
A kind orphan is guided by a mysterious companion who helps him guess a wicked princess's riddles and break her magical spell.
After his father dies, poor John is left with nothing and ventures into the world. He meets a kind travelling companion who possesses magical abilities. They reach a city ruled by a beautiful but wicked princess who executes suitors unable to guess her three riddles. John falls in love and attempts the challenge. The companion secretly follows the princess on her nightly magical flights, learning her riddles, and helps John guess correctly each time. After winning, the companion reveals he is the dead man whose debt John paid, and helps John break the princess's enchantment, revealing her true loving self. John marries the princess and becomes king.
A mermaid sacrifices her voice and form for a prince's love and a soul, facing tragedy before earning a chance as a Daughter of the Air.
Longing for the human world and an immortal soul, a young mermaid rescues a prince from drowning and falls in love. She sacrifices her voice to a sea witch for legs and the chance to win his affection, knowing failure means turning to sea foam. Living with the prince in constant pain, she cannot reveal her true feelings or that she saved him. When the prince marries another, she is offered a knife to kill him and return to the sea, but instead chooses to sacrifice herself. Her act of selfless love transforms her into a Daughter of the Air, granting her the possibility of earning an immortal soul through good deeds.
A vain emperor is tricked by swindlers into believing he wears invisible clothes, exposing his vanity and the dishonesty of his court.
The Emperor, obsessed with fine clothing, is deceived by two swindlers who claim to weave a magical fabric invisible to the unworthy. Fearful of appearing unfit for their roles, the Emperor and his courtiers pretend to admire the nonexistent garment. During a grand procession, a child’s innocent remark reveals the truth—the Emperor is naked—yet he continues the charade to save face. The story satirizes vanity, pride, and societal hypocrisy.
Magic goloshes grant wearers' wishes for transformation, time travel, or new experiences, but invariably lead to unhappiness until they return to their original state.
Two fairies discuss magical goloshes that grant wishes to anyone who wears them, allowing them to be instantly transported anywhere or transformed into anything they desire. Various characters, including a counsellor, a watchman, a volunteer, a clerk, and a student, wear the goloshes, each wishing for a different life, time, or experience. However, every wish fulfilled brings unforeseen discomfort, confusion, or misery, causing the wearer to quickly wish to return to their normal state or situation. The story demonstrates that wishing for a different fortune often reveals the unexpected drawbacks of that state.
A humble daisy finds joy in simple pleasures but shares sorrow with a captive lark, revealing the beauty of compassion in nature.
In a garden by the roadside, a small daisy thrives unnoticed, content under the sun and the lark’s song. Unlike the proud garden flowers, it cherishes its simple life. One day, the lark visits the daisy, praising its beauty, bringing it immense joy. Later, the lark is captured and caged, singing mournfully of lost freedom. The daisy, unable to help, shares its fragrance to comfort the bird. When the lark dies of neglect, the boys bury it with honor but discard the daisy, which had silently grieved for its friend.
A one-legged tin soldier falls in love with a paper dancer, endures perilous adventures, and ultimately meets a tragic yet poetic fate.
The story follows a one-legged tin soldier who becomes infatuated with a delicate paper dancer standing on one leg. After being accidentally knocked out of a window, he embarks on a series of harrowing adventures—falling into the street, sailing in a paper boat through a stormy gutter, and being swallowed by a fish. Miraculously, he returns to the same house, only to be thrown into a stove by a child. As he melts, the dancer is swept into the flames beside him, and the next morning, only a tin heart and her burnt tinsel rose remain.
A princess must endure a painful, silent task to break the spell transforming her eleven brothers into wild swans.
When Princess Eliza's eleven brothers are turned into wild swans by their wicked stepmother, she is cast out and seeks them. She learns she must knit eleven shirts from stinging nettles gathered from churchyards to break the spell, remaining completely silent until finished. Enduring painful blisters and public suspicion after being found and married by a king, she is condemned as a witch. At the stake, she finishes the shirts just as her swan brothers arrive, transforming them back. She finally speaks, proving her innocence and reuniting her family.
A curious prince, seeking the mythical Garden of Paradise, faces temptation and learns the cost of forbidden desire.
A king's son, obsessed with discovering the Garden of Paradise, ventures into the cavern of the Winds, where he meets the four Winds and their formidable mother. Guided by the East Wind, he journeys to the enchanted garden, a place of eternal beauty and happiness, ruled by a radiant fairy. Despite warnings, the prince succumbs to temptation on the first evening, kissing the fairy and causing the garden to vanish into the earth. Cast out, he finds himself in a harsh world, confronted by Death, who spares him temporarily to atone for his sin. His fate remains uncertain, tied to his future actions and the hope of redemption.
A reckless merchant's son uses a magical flying trunk to win a princess's heart with enchanting stories, but loses everything when his prized possession burns.
A wealthy merchant's son squanders his inheritance and is left with only an old trunk, which he discovers can fly. Using it, he travels to Turkey and meets a princess, whom he impresses by posing as a Turkish angel and telling captivating stories. The king and queen are charmed by his tale of talking household objects and agree to his marriage with the princess. However, during the wedding celebrations, his flying trunk is accidentally destroyed by fireworks, leaving him unable to reach his bride and forcing him to wander the world telling stories.
Young storks learn to fly and seek revenge on mocking children, but their mother teaches them kindness instead.
A family of storks, including four young ones, endure taunts from village children who sing a cruel song about them. The mother stork reassures her children and teaches them to fly, promising a future in warm, bountiful lands. Though the young storks wish to retaliate, their mother guides them toward patience and virtue. In the end, the storks reward the kind-hearted boy, Peter, with a gift while leaving a somber lesson for the cruelest child.
A tiny rose elf witnesses a murder and helps a grieving maiden seek justice through the magic of flowers.
A delicate rose elf lives happily in a fragrant rose until he is caught outside at night and seeks shelter in a honeysuckle arbor. There, he witnesses a young man being murdered by his lover’s wicked brother. The elf later reveals the crime to the grieving maiden in a dream, guiding her to her beloved’s buried remains. She plants a jasmine sprig in a pot with his head, and as she wastes away from sorrow, the flowers bloom fiercely. After her death, the jasmine’s spirits poison the wicked brother in his sleep, and bees expose his crime, ensuring justice is served.
A lonely painter finds solace in the Moon, who narrates captivating tales of human lives across the world each night.
In "What the Moon Saw," a poor, solitary painter living in a narrow lane discovers a comforting friend in the Moon. Each evening, the Moon visits his window, sharing vivid stories of diverse lives and landscapes it has witnessed—from a Hindoo maiden's prayer by the Ganges to a tragic tale of a fallen woman in a narrow street, and from festive Greenland dances to the quiet struggles of a little girl in Tyrol. These nightly tales inspire the painter to sketch the scenes, creating a unique picture-book of human experiences. Despite occasional clouds obscuring the Moon, their bond remains a source of inspiration and connection, illuminating the painter's lonely existence.
A ruthless prince, bent on conquering the world and defying God, meets his downfall through divine retribution and a tiny gnat.
A wicked prince, obsessed with power and conquest, devastates nations and enslaves kings, believing himself invincible. In his arrogance, he declares war on God, constructing a grand airborne ship to challenge heaven. However, an angel sent by God thwarts his plans, causing his ship to crash. Undeterred, the prince spends years preparing another attack, only to be humiliated when a single gnat stings him, driving him to madness and exposing his folly before his own soldiers.
A poor boy in Florence finds magic and inspiration through a metal pig statue, transforming his life from rags to artistic fame.
In Florence, a destitute boy, hungry and alone, finds solace by the Metal Pig, a brass statue from which water flows. One night, the pig magically comes to life, carrying the boy on a wondrous journey through the city’s art-filled galleries, sparking his love for beauty. Though initially returned to a harsh home, he is rescued by a kind glovemaker and his wife. Inspired by the Metal Pig, the boy teaches himself to draw, eventually becoming a celebrated artist. His paintings, including one of himself asleep by the Metal Pig, gain acclaim at an exhibition, though tragically, he passes away soon after achieving fame.