Andersen's First Fairy Tales

1835

A poor Danish shoemaker's son published a slim booklet of stories - 'The Tinderbox,' 'The Princess and the Pea.' Critics sniffed that the language was too colloquial for children. Children, and then the world, disagreed. Hans Christian Andersen's strange, sad, wise fables would be translated into every major language. His later tales - 'The Little Mermaid,' 'The Ugly Duckling' - became foundational myths of modern childhood.