A Danish historian has found a long lost fairy tale by famed writer Hans Christian Andersen! The story was found buried in a box of miscellaneous items donated to the National Archives by a wealthy Danish family in Andersen’s hometown of Odense.
The six page story is titled “The Tallow Candle” and Andersen dedicated it to a neighbouring widow. It is likely one of Andersen’s very early works, written before he became a landmark name with his timeless fairy tales like THE EMPEROR’S NEW CLOTHES and THUMBELINA.
DID YOU KNOW?
- Andersen was not considered handsome and some suspect that his story THE UGLY DUCKLING was based on his own experiences.
- Andersen was born on April 2, 1805 and every year on April 2, the world celebrates his writing with International Children’s Book Day.
- Though Andersen is widely read now, he was fairly unpopular in his lifetime and only saw some success with his fairy tales when he was in his 40s.
- In Copenhagen harbour there is a statue of a mermaid in honour of Andersen and his fairy tale, THE LITTLE MERMAID.
- Andersen died in 1872 leaving behind no wife nor children.