Then you’d better keep your mouth shut!’ and he curled up in his basket and showed off his own purring skills.

Despite her being little, her magic was very powerful, and more than once she had considered using it to make herself beautiful. But then she remembered what her mother had always told her: "My dear, you are what you are, warts and all; and never doubt that you are this way for a very special reason..." There was once a fairy who was learning how to be a fairy godmother. Most magic and wonderful, she was the kindest and cleverest of all fairies. However, she was also a very ugly fairy. And no matter how much she showed her wonderful qualities, it seemed that everyone was determined to believe that the most important thing about a fairy was her beauty. In the fairy school they ignored her, and every time she flew off on a mission to help a child or anyone else in trouble, before she could say a word they were already screeching and yelling at her: "Ugly! Get out of here, weirdo!" According to Carole Rosen, the story was inspired in part by Andersen's friend Jenny Lind. [3] Adaptations edit Disney's 1931 version Disney's 1939 versionSpeculation suggests that Andersen was the illegitimate son of Prince Christian Frederik (later King Christian VIII of Denmark), and found this out sometime before he wrote the book, and then that being a swan in the story was a metaphor not just for inner beauty and talent but also for secret royal lineage. [2] One day he was gliding down a canal when straight ahead of him he caught sight of the beautiful white birds he had seen all those months ago and which he now knew were called Swans. Leave him alone,’ said the mother crossly. ‘He’s not doing any harm. And I’m sure he’ll grow into his looks.’