Anderson Fairy Tales

8/6/2019 Anderson Fairy Tales

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Thumbelina Fairy Tale

There once was a woman who wished very much to have a little child, but she never did.

Finally, she went to a fairy and told her that she would like to have a child.

The fairy told her that she had a different kind of corn and that if she planted it in a flower pot somethingmight happen.

The woman took the corn home and immediately planted it in a flower pot, and almost right away abeautiful flower started to grow. It looked a little like a tulip with the bud tightly closed.

"It is a beautiful flower" said the woman, and she kissed the little bud. As soon as she did it opened up inbeautiful reds and golds. Inside the flower on the green velvet stamens sat a tiny little girl.

She was so tiny, half the length of your thumb, that the woman named her Thumbelina.

The woman made her a bed out of a walnut shell, which the lady polished and lined with blue violet leavesand a rose leaf for a blanket. The woman filled a plateful of water and put beautiful wreaths of flowers

around the edge of the plate with their stems in the water.

A large tulip leaf was floating in the middle of the plate of water, and Thumbelina sat in it like it was aboat.

Thumbelina loved to sit in her boat paddling around the plate of water singing sweetly throughout the day.

One night while she slept in her Walnut shell bed, an ugly old toad crept into the house and right up onthe table where Thumbelina was sleeping.

The toad thought "What a lovely wife she would make for my son" and stole the Walnut shell and alltaking Thumbelina with her into the night.

The next day the old toad introduced Thumbelina to the toad which was to be her husband. She was veryunhappy because all he could say was "croak croak" and he was as ugly as the old toad.

She was placed on a lily pad and told that this was where she would live. Thumbelina was crying when thelittle fishes in the stream decided to help her and they chewed away at the stem of the lily pad releasingher little lily pad and she floated away.

She floated away for many days into far lands and met new friends. She met a little white butterfly whoagreed to tow her with Thumbelina's little silk sash. Thumbelina was happy in the sunshine and was

singing beautifully when some little birds saw her and came and grabbed her around the waist taking heroff into the trees.

One bird gave her some honey from a flower and then other birds came by. The bird who took her fromthe lily pad said "Isn't she very pretty?" The other birds started arguing that no, she was quite ugly andlooked like a human being. Finally the one bird realized that everyone else thought she was too ugly to

keep and the bird took her to a daisy leaving her there in a field.

Well, now Thumbelina was all alone and she survived the summer by eating the honey from flowers anddrinking the dew from the leaves in the morning. The summer was nice, but then came autumn and finallywinter. Snow started falling and poor Thumbelina was freezing.

She realized she had to find shelter and walked for miles and miles in the cold. Finally she came to the

door of a little field mouse's house. She knocked at the door and begged for something to eat.



"You poor little creature" said the field-mouse - who was really very nice "come into my warm room anddine with me." He told her that she was invited to stay with him if she helped to clean and keep thingsvery neat the way he liked. Thumbelina was happy to do the chores and stayed there very happily.

The only problem with living with the field mouse was his neighbor the ugly and miserable mole. The fieldmouse thought that the mole might make a good husband for Thumbelina, but she could not understandwhy he didn't like the sunshine or the singing of birds. In fact she found him very unpleasant and had not

interest in marrying him.

One day after the mole had dug a long tunnel from his house to the house of the field mouse, they cameacross a beautiful swallow who it seems had falling through the ground into the passage. The mole madefun of the stupid bird who did nothing but sing all summer, and then obviously had died from the cold.

Thumbelina thought that the Swallow was very beautiful, and was sad that the bird lay there dead.However, that night she thought of the bird and wove a warm blanket out of hay and brought it to thebird. She spread it over the bird and then laid her head on the bird's breast when she heard a thumpthump. Thumbelina was thrilled that the bird had just been numbed from cold and that he was alive.

Thumbelina was a little frightened, after all the bird was much bigger than she was, but she laid more of the thick blanket over the bird. Over the winter she nursed the swallow back to life, hiding him from thefield mouse and the mole, for they did not like birds. In the spring the swallow offered to take Thumbelinawith him into the sunshine, but she felt she could not leave. The field mouse would be upset if she left and

she owed him so much.

However, by the end of the summer after much talk of her marrying the miserable mole, when the

swallow returned with a "tweet tweet" and suggested that she go with him down south to get away fromthe coming winter, she agreed.

Thumbelina seated herself on the bird's back and they flew up in the air and over the forest and over thesea, high above the highest mountains. They eventually got to the warmer countries where purple andgreen grapes grew on vines; lemons and oranges hung from trees and the air was fragrant with herbs andorange blossoms.

Children ran along the country lanes chasing butterflies, and as they came to a blue lake with deep treessurrounding a white marble palace Thumbelina could see many swallows nests.

The swallow suggested some of the beautiful white flowers below his nest might be a good place for her tomake her home. She agreed happily and as they flew towards a beautiful white flower it opened and in

the center of it stood a tiny young man. He was all white like crystal and wore a beautiful golden crown onhis head.

He thought Thumbelina to be the most beautiful young girl he had ever seen and put the crown on herhead asking her to be his wife. He told her that he was the prince and if she married him he would be thequeen of all the flowers.

She agreed and lived happily ever after.

When the winter was over the swallow said that he must leave and go north to his other nest over thewindow of a man who wrote fairy tales. He loved to sing to the man "tweet tweet". This is where thewhole story came from.



The Little Mermaid Fairy Tale

A Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tale

Down down down at the bottom of the sea, many fathoms downdeep deep deep, farther than many church steeples piled one on topof the other is a castle made of shells and marble and crystal.

In the deep blue of the ocean each shimmer of sunshine reachingdown causes it to sparkle.

The King is a widower and his mother runs the palace with an ironhand taking very good care of her grand-daughters the six little sea-princesses. The youngest of the daughters was the most beautiful of all with the whitest skin and a beautiful shimmering violet and bluetail where normally you would expect legs.

This was the kingdom of the Mer-People and the daughters were

called Mermaids.

The favorite activity of all the sea-princesses or mermaids was tocultivate and create their own gardens. Each had a section of thegrounds which was theirs to tend.

The youngest mermaid created her garden around a beautiful white-marble statue of a young man whichhad sunk to the bottom of the ocean from the wreck of a ship. She planted by the statue a rose-coloredweeping willow.

It grew splendidly, and very soon hung its fresh branches over the statue, almost own to the blue sands.The shadow had a violet tint, and waved to and fro like the branches.

Nothing gave the little mermaid so much pleasure as to hear about the world above the sea. She made

her old grandmother tell her all she knew of the ships and of the towns, the people and the animals. Toher it seemed most wonderful and beautiful to hear that the flowers of the land should have fragrance,and not those below the sea. To hear that the trees of the forest should be green, and that the fishesamong the trees could sing so sweetly.

Her grandmother called the little birds fishes, or the Little Mermaid would not have understood her, forshe had never seen birds.

"When you have reached your fifteenth birthday" said the grand-mother, "you will have permission to riseup out of the sea, to sit on the rocks in the moonlight, while the great ships are sailing by, and then youwill see both forests and towns."

So the Little Mermaid had to wait. As each sister was old enough the Little Mermaid had to wait and heartheir stories. She had to wait for a full five years. This seemed forever to her, and it seemed unfair

because none of the other sisters longed to see the world above as much as the Little Mermaid.

Finally when it was her Fifteenth birthday the Little Mermaid was allowed to rise to the surface and herfirst view of the world above was at dusk. The sun had just set as she raised her head above the waves,but the clouds were tinted with crimson and gold.

A large ship, with three masts lay quietly on the water, with only one sail set, for not a breeze stirred.

There was music and song on board, and as darkness come a hundred colored lanterns were lighted.



The Little mermaid swam close to the cabin windows, and now and then as the waves lifted her up, sheould look in through the clear glass windows and see a lot of well-dressed people within.

A young prince was the most beautiful of all with large brown eyes, and he was celebrating his sixteenthbirthday. When the prince came out of the cabin, more than a hundred fire crackers rose in the air,making it as bright as day.

The Little Mermaid was so startled that she dove under the water and when she came up it appeared as if all the stars of heaven were falling around her. She had never seen such fireworks before. The youngprince was very easy to see in the bright light and she thought he was the most handsome creature shehad ever seen.

She stayed watching the young prince through the window until very late, and then the wind started to

pick up and the sails were set. The ship started moving forward continuing its passage.

Soon the waves rose higher, heavy clouds darkened the sky, and lightning appeared in the distance. A

dreadful storm was approaching and the great ship started flying over the raging sea.

The waves rose mountains high, as if they would have over-topped the mast, but the ship dived like aswan between them, and then rose again on their lofty foaming crests.

To the Little Mermaid this was great fun, but not for the sailors as she quickly realized.

the ship groaned and creaked, the thick planks gave way under the lashing of the sea as it broke over thedeck. The mainmast snapped like a stick, and the ship lay over on her side, with the water rushing in.

The Little mermaid now knew that the crew was in danger, and even she had to be careful to avoid thebeams and planks of the wreck which were scattered on the water.

During all of this she had seen the Prince slip below the surface fairly far from her and at first she washappy because he would be with her. Then she remembered that human beings cannot live below thewater and when he got down to her father's castle he would be dead.

He must not die! she thought to herself and she quickly swam among the beams and planks wich coveredthe surface of the sea and dived deeply under the dark waters. Finally she managed to reach the young

prince who was fast losing the power to swim in that stormy sea. His limbs were failing him, his beautifulbrown eyes were closed and he would have died had not the Little Mermaid come to his side.

She held his head above the water and did so all night until the storm was over. She saw land in themorning light and swam with the prince in her arms to a white sand beach. There was a large whitebuilding with a courtyard filled with flowers. She left the prince there on the beach hoping that someonewould find him.

The Little mermaid swam out farther from the shore and placed herself between some high rocks that roseout of the water that she might watch what happened on the beach.

She saw a young girl approach the spot where he lay and some other people then joined them andrescued the prince.He woke up but did not smile towards her. He did not know who rescued him. Thismade the Little Mermaid very sad.

Many days passed and she would return to the spot where she last saw him, and never caught a glimpseof him. Finally, some of her older sisters heard through gossip what had happened and also found outwhere the Prince's Castle was.

The older sisters came to the Little Mermaid one day, and said "Come, little sister" and they entwinedtheir arms and rose up in a long row to the surface of the water, close by the spot where the prince'spalace stood.



It was built of bright yellow shining stone, with long flights of marble steps, one of which reached rightdown to the sea. Splendid golden towers rose over the roof and between the pillars that surrounded thewhole building stood life-like statues of marble.

Through the clear crystal of the large windows could be seen noble rooms with silk curtains and hangingsof tapestry.

The Little Mermaid would on a daily basis swim up the narrow channel under the marble balcony and sitand watch the young prince.

The Little Mermaid was sad and lonely and her Grandmother came to her as she was sitting alone in hergarden. The Little Mermaid had all kinds of questions about Human Beings and the Grandmother answeredthem as best as she could.

The Little Mermaid then knew that what she needed was a pair of legs. Then the Prince might love her andshe could become a human being with a soul that lived forever.

Her Grandmother had tried to take her mind off the Prince, but to no avail. The Little Mermaid was goingto talk to the old witch. Maybe she could give her legs.

However, that meant taking the road to the foaming whirlpools to the Sea Witch's house which stood in

the center of a strange forest. All the trees and flowers were like serpents with a hundred head growingout of the ground. The branches were long slimy arms with fingers like flexible worms.

The Little Mermaid was terrified but remembered how much she wanted a human soul and to be with herprince, then her courage returned.

When she got close to the house she could see that it was made of human bones from those who haddrowned in shipwrecks. It was a terrible place and there sat the sea witch.

She had ugly sea snakes crawling all over her. She called them her little chickens.

"I know what you want" said the sea witch "it is very stupid of you, but you shall have your way, and itwill bring you to sorrow, my pretty princess." She smiled wickedly and continued.

"You want to get rid of your fish's tail, and to have two supports instead of it, like human beings on earth,so that the young prince may fall in love with you, and that you may have an immortal soul."

The the witch laughed so loud and disgustingly that the snakes fell to the ground, and lay there wrigglingabout.

"I will prepare a potion for you, with which you must swim to land tomorrow before sunrise, and sit downon the shore and drink it. Your tail will then disappear, and shrink up into what mankind calls legs, andyou will feel great pain, as if a sword were passing through you. But all who see you will say that you arethe prettiest little human being they ever saw. You will still have the same floating gracefulness of movement, and no dancer will ever tread so lightly, but at every step you take it will feel as if you weretreading upon sharp knives, and that the blood must flow. If you will bear all this, I will help you."

"Yes I will," said the Little Mermaid in a trembling voice.

However, the sea witch told her that she would never again be able to be a Mermaid, and if the Princemarried another she would turn into foam on the sea, nothing more.

The sea witch also told her that she must be paid and would take the best thing the mermaid had, andthat was her voice, for she was known to have a beautiful singing voice.

To all of this the Little Mermaid agreed and took the potion with her to the steps of the prince's palace.

Then the little mermaid drank the magic potion, and it seemed as if a two-edged sword went through herdelicate body. She fell into a swoon, and lay like she was dead.



When the sun arose and shone over the sea, she recoverd, and felt a sharp pain, but just before her stoodthe handsome young prince.

The prince asked who she was and she could not speak. She looked down at herself and realized that sheno longer had a tail and now had two perfect little legs and feet.

The Prince took her to the palace and clothed her in beautiful robes of silk and muslin, and she was the

most beautiful creature in the palace, but she could not speak or sing.

The Prince had said that she could stay in the palace as long as she liked, and they went riding togetherthrough the sweet-scented woods, and she saw little birds singing among the fresh leaves. As the sea-witch had said each step she took gave her great pain.

One night there was a party and many of the women at the party sang for the Prince and danced beautifulfairy-like dances.

As she could not sing she raised her lovely white arms, stood on the tips of her toes and glided over thefloor, and danced as no one yet had been able to dance. At each moment her beauty became morerevealed, and her expressive eyes appealed more directly to the heart than the songs of any of the others.

Everyone was enchanted, especially the prince, who called her his little foundling, and she danced again

though each time her foot touched the floor it seemed as if she trod on sharp knives.

As the days passed, she loved the prince more fondly, and he loved her as he would love a little child. Itnever came into his head to make her his wife, yet, unless he married her, she could not receive andimmortal sould, and on the morning after his marriage with another, she would dissolve into the foam of the sea.

One night while she sat on the marble steps soothing her feet in the cool ocean water her sisters,grandmother and father came up out of the water. They were far off in the bay and mournfully stretchedout their hands towards her.

She was saddened that she would never become and mermaid again, but determined that she loved the

Prince more and more.

"Do you not love me the best of them all?" the eyes of the Little Mermaid seemed to say, when he tookher in his arms, and kissed her fair forehead.

"Yes, you are dear to me," said the prince, "for you have the best heart, and you are the most devoted tome, you are like a young maiden whom I once saw, but whom I shall never meet again. I was in a shipthat was wrecked, and the waves cast me ashore near a holy temple. A beautiful maiden found me on theshore and saved my life. I saw her but once and she is the only one in the world whom I could love, butyou are like her, and you have almost driven her image out of my mind. She apparently lived in theTemple on the Beach and had devoted herself to that life.

"Ah, he knows not that it was I who saved his life," thought the Little Mermaid.

(This is where the ending takes a different turn than what we have heard for most of our lives)

Well, the Prince's parents decided that he must marry and they were all to go on a journey to meet theother King and his daughter and princess that he would marry.

The Prince did not want to go and assured the Little Mermaid that if he could not marry the girl on the

beach that he would marry her.

The Prince took her on the voyage in a fleet of ships to the town where the princess was waiting. ThePrincess had been brought up in a convent and was very pure of heart and spirit, so it was thought thatshe would be a perfect match for the good prince.



The Little Mermaid would relax in the evenings on the deck of the ship looking into the deep ocean depths,remembering her life there.

When they arrived in the Town the prince was about to meet the princess and the Little Mermaid wantedto see for herself if she was indeed beautiful. When she saw her she was amazed at her blonde hair, anddeep blue eyes full of honesty and purity.

The Prince immediately embraced her remembering her and swore that this was the maiden who hadsaved him and he would marry his one true love.

The Little Mermaid was destroyed and knew that the day after the wedding she would turn to foam. Thatnight her sisters appeared at the side of the ship and told her that they had made a deal with the sea-witch.

They had sold their long hair to the witch for this spell. The Little Mermaid was to take this dagger andplunge it into the heart of the Prince. If she did this the blood landing on her feet would turn them back

into a tail and she could come home.

The Little Mermaid was tempted, but she could not do it when she looked at the Prince asleep with hisprincess, so she threw herself into the sea.

She could feel the cool water and floated in the waves in the darkness thinking she must be turning intofoam when all of a sudden she was flying in the air with the warm rays of the bright sun and all aroundher floated hundreds of transparent beautiful beings. The Little Mermaid noticed that she now had a bodylike theirs and they continued to rise higher and higher out of the foam.

"Where am I?" asked she, and her voice sounded ethereal, as the voice of those who were with her, noearthly music could imitate it.

"Among the daughters of the air," answered one of them.

"A mermaid has not an immortal soul, nor can she obtain one unless she wins the love of a human being.

But the daughters of the air, although they do not possess an immortal soul either, can earn one throughgood deeds.

"Once we have given good deeds to mankind for three hundred years or so we can win an eternal soul.

You, poor Little mermaid have tried with your whole heart to do as we are doing, you have suffered andendured and raised yourself to the spirit-world by your good deeds, and now by trying for three hundredyears in the same way, you may get an immortal soul."

So she floated up with the other children of the air to a rosy cloud that floated through the air.



The Ugly Duckling Fairy Tale

A Classic Hans Christian Andersen Fairy

TaleThe Ugly Duckling Fairy Tale is a about a little ugly duckling whoturns into a swan, it is one of the anderson fairy tales and you willlove reading these online fairy tales

On a beautiful sunny day by an old farm house set by a cool flowingriver was a spot where a mother duck sat on her nest.

She was watching and waiting for her chicks to hatch from the smalleggs. She was getting very tired of waiting for her ducks and she feltlonely as the other ducks were enjoying their swim in the river.

Finally, one egg cracked, and then another and from each egg camea living creature that lifted its head and cried, "Peep, peep."

"Quack, quack," said the mother, and then they all quacked as well

as they could.

She was talking to them about how big the world was - and thechicks couldn't wait to explore the garden. "Are you all out?" she said as she was rising.

"No, I declare, the largest egg lies there still. I wonder how long this is to last, I am quite tired of it." Sheseated herself again on the nest.

"Well, how are you getting on?" asked an old duck, who paid her a visit.

"One egg is not hatched yet", said the duck.

But look at all the others, are they not the prettiest little ducklings you ever saw?

"Let me see the egg that will not break," said the old duck.

"I have no doubt it is a turkey's egg. Yes, that is a turkey's egg; take my advice, leave it where it is andteach the other children to swim."

"I think I will sit on it a little while longer," said the duck."I have sat so long already, that a few days willbe nothing."

Finally the egg cracked and a young one crept out crying, "Peep, peep."

It was very large and ugly. The duck stared at it and wondered if it was indeed a turkey. One way to testit is to take it into the water. It must learn to swim.

The next day the weather was so nice and sunny that she led all her ducklings into the water. They all jumped in after her and although the water went over their heads they all came up swimming very nicely.

The ugly duckling was also swimming with the others.

"So" thought the mother "He is my child."



With that the mother led all her chicks into the barnyard, where two duck families were fighting over afish head.

The mother duck introduced her new born chicks, and a nasty duck said that they were all beautifulexcept for that really big ugly one. "Is there not something you could do with him?"

The mother duck defended him by saying that he could swim as well or even better than the others and

when he grows up he may be prettier.

Well, the other ducks stared at him and one flew at him biting him in the neck.

It got so bad in the barnyard, with the ducks making fun of him and even the chickens chasing after himand calling him names, that the ugly duckling finally decided to run away.

He ended up in a field full of wild geese and they were actually nice to him. They said he was ugly butthey still like him. Unfortunately, some loud noises sounded like "Pop, pop." Blue smoke rose and therewere very vicious looking dogs running through the long grass. The poor duckling hid his head and hopedfor the best. Then a vicious dog stuck his nose in and looked right at the ugly duckling, but then ran off.

The duckling thought that he must be so ugly even the dogs were afraid of him. He sat in the grass for a

long time afraid to move. Finally, when it was quiet he started walking out of the moor and over fields and

meadows for a long time. When a windy storm came up and the rain poured down on him he keptwalking, but he was so exhausted when he finally came upon a small wooden cottage where a hen, andold woman and a cat lived.

He noticed that the door was not quite closed and it looked warm and comforting so he crept inside.

When the old lady saw him she hoped that he was a duck who might lay eggs so she let him stay.

The tom cat was definitely the master of the house, and the hen was the mistress. They always said "weand the world" for they thought that they were at least half of the world, and the better half.

The duckling had a feeling this was incorrect but the hen spoke up and told him to mind his manners."Can you lay eggs?" she asked"Can you raise your back, or purr?" asked the cat."No"

So they sat the duckling in a corner, and he was not happy until the sun came up and the fresh air cameinto the room through the open door, and he began to feel such a great longing for a swim on the water,

that he could not help telling the hen.

"What an absurd idea," said the hen.

"But it is so delightful to swim about on the water", said the duckling, "and so refreshing to feel it closeover your head, while you dive down to the bottom."

"Delightful, indeed" said the hen. "Why you must be crazy, ask the cat, his is the cleverest animal I know,ask him how he would like to swim about on the water, or to dive under it?"

"I am only telling you how foolish this is as a friend, and suggest you learn to lay eggs and purr, in a

hurry."

He knew he had to leave and went out to a river and enjoyed the swimming. However, he kept away fromother creatures because he knew of his ugliness.

Finally, summer was turning to autumn and it was close to winter, when he saw a flock of the mostunusual birds he had ever seen. They were pure white with long graceful necks and the ugly duckling feltthe most admiration for any creature he had every felt. At once they spread their huge wings and flew upin the air leaving the river and flying out over the large lake.



The ugling duckling felt such an urge that he had never felt before. He wanted to join those birds. Theywere the royalty of all birds. He decided that the next time he saw those birds he would approach themand because of his ugliness they would probably kill him. He decided that would be fine.

So when he saw the large white graceful birds again, with their long necks bending down into the waterhe was determined to approach them. As he did he looked into the water as they did and instead of seeinga grey ugly bird that he had always seen, he saw another long-necked beautiful white bird.

Suddenly, he heard children on the sand yelling to their mother "that there was new one" and the restwere delighted, and they rant to their father and mother, dancing and clapping their hands, and shouting

joyously. "There is another swan come; a new one has arrived."

Then they threw more bread and cake into the water, and said, "The new one is the most beautiful of all ;

he is so young and pretty." And the old swans bowed their heads before him.

He felt quite ashamed, and hid his head under his wing. He was so happy, and yet not at all proud. He

had been persecuted and despised for his ugliness, and now he heard them say he was the most beautifulof all the birds.

The sun shone warm and bright. He rustled his feathers, curved his slender neck, and cried joyfully, fromthe depths of his heart, "I never dreamed of such happiness as this, while I was an ugly duckling."

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