Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales

 Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales, World Edition, 4 vols.

A while back I decided I wanted to find the best edition of HCA's tales possible, and I came up with this: a 1959 four-volume set issued at Odense, which is where HCA was born.*  It's a very satisfying set, with little, fat hardbacks perfect for holding in your hand.  Each one has a different portrait in the front.  They're illustrated with the original drawings by Vilhelm Pedersen, who HCA chose himself, and the final volume has illustrations by Lorenz Frølich, who continued the work after Pedersen's death.  I don't know that this is a complete and exhaustive collection of HCA's tales; he wrote a lot of things that weren't exactly fairy tales or poems or plays, so it would be difficult to make a complete list.  I did notice that "The Daisy" is not in this set.

I'm not sure how the stories are arranged; it's not by date (I checked) and almost all of the most famous stories are in the first volume == including my own favorite, The Tinderbox.  The fourth volume does seem to consist entirely of later stories, with the last at the end.  But it is a pleasant mix, however they came up with it.

Besides his most famous tales like Thumbelina and The Little Mermaid, Andersen is known for his odd little stories about common household objects, their personalities and their adventures.  The gilded leather ball, the darning needle, the silver shilling or the teapot, and even two rags have their own tales, which are very often sharp little reminders of humanity's follies and conceit.  Then there are also quite a few tales of everyday life, the ups and downs of fortune.  

Besides human pride and folly, HCA's other constant theme is gratitude for the beautiful world and any blessings that come along; even characters who suffer from dire poverty and distress find comfort and relief through appreciating their blessings, while the (very few) characters who lose hope and stop trying never progress or get better.  How can they when they have closed themselves off?

There are plenty of nature stories, especially about storks.  I enjoyed a very long tale that starts with a stork family atop a Viking house, features a magic bog, and ends with an Egyptian princess and plenty of delicious frogs for the storks -- but we also meet trees, snails, and lots of flowers.

Another story I particularly liked was Holger the Dane, known as Holger Danske in Denmark.  HCA describes how this famous Viking sleeps down under Kronborg castle, to awaken and save his people at the time of Denmark's greatest need.**  The grandfather telling the story is carving a statue of him, and gives us a little tour of Danish history through its coat of arms.  These days there is indeed a statue of Holger Danske in the basement of Kronborg -- I've seen it == but it dates from 1907, long after HCA imagined something similar.  

I really came to a new appreciation of HCA's works and talents during this excursion through his stories.  I'm very happy that I invested in this collection, which is just delightful and ideal for reading.  Highly recommended!

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*When I lived in Denmark, I was quite close to Odense, and they are very big on HCA; I have often joked that he is the city's patron saint.  The house where he was born is preserved as a museum of his life and works, and when I visited I saw the original illustrations that are reproduced in this collection.

**And therefore the Danish resistance in WWII was named Holger Danske.