The Wild Swans ( Danish: De vilde svaner) is a literary fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen about a princess who rescues her 11 brothers from a spell cast by an evil queen. The tale was first published on 2October 1838 in Andersen's Fairy Tales Told for Children. New Collection. First Booklet ( Eventyr, fortalte for Børn. Ny Samling. Første Hefte) by C. A. Reitzel in Copenhagen, Denmark. It has been adapted to various media including ballet, television, and film. The story tells of a prince who wants to marry a princess but is having difficulty finding a suitable wife. He meets many princesses, but is never sure that they are real ( Danish: rigtig, lit. rightful) princesses. One stormy night, a young woman drenched with rain seeks shelter in the prince's castle. She claims to be a princess, but the queen has doubts. She decides to test their unexpected guest by placing a pea in the bed she is offered for the night, covered by twenty mattresses and twenty eider-down beds on top of the mattresses. Andersen was heavily influenced by several things in his writing. It is common knowledge that he was influenced by folklore and the stories told to him by his grandmother, but he was also influenced by the German writers that predated him or who were his contemporaries. While it is not apparent in his better known tales, he had a strong love of country (even though he always seemed to be traveling away from it) as well as a good dose of patriotism. He was also religious, though this seems to come though in his tale more than anything else.

In 2022, Big Finish Productions released an adaptation of "The Shadow", called "The Shadow Master" in the eighth release of their War Master audiobook series, "The War Master: Escape from Reality", starring Derek Jacobi. [7] See also [ edit ] The second episode of the 2020 South Korean drama It's Okay to Not Be Okay is titled "The Lady in Red Shoes," referencing the fairy tale. [11] Inspired by the swallow in Thumbelina,VeronicaHodges has created a fantastic paper installation. Another installation artist, Brazilian Henrique Oliveira placed a massive tree installation in Odense, inspired by The Tinder Box.The artist and the short film director Timothy David Ormehascreated an animated journey into Andersen's fantasy world. Cutouts, light and shadow, a spiral staircase Image: Kengo Kuma & Associates

The Red Shoes (1948) British drama film written, directed, and produced by the team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger based on " The Red Shoes". Danish folktale collector Mathias Winther collected a similar tale named De elleve Svaner ( English: "The Eleven Swans"), first published in 1823, from which Andersen probably took inspiration. [3] [4] [5] Adaptations [ edit ]

Ginger's Tale (2020), a Russian 2D traditional animated film loosely based on The Tinderbox, produced at Vverh Animation Studio in Moscow [61] Andersen was played by Joachim Gottschalk in the German film The Swedish Nightingale (1941), which portrays his relationship with the singer Jenny Lind. The Little Mermaid (1968) 30-minute faithful Soviet animated adaptation of The Little Mermaid by SoyuzmultfilmH. C. Andersens Boulevard, a major road in Copenhagen formerly known as Vestre Boulevard (Western Boulevard), received its current name in 1955 to mark the 150-year anniversary of the writer's birth a b Brabant, Malcolm (1 April 2005). "Enduring Legacy of Author Andersen". BBC News. BBC . Retrieved 17 December 2012. Hans Christian Andersen ( / ˈ æ n d ər s ən/ AN-dər-sən, Danish: [ˈhænˀs ˈkʰʁestjæn ˈɑnɐsn̩] ⓘ; 2 April 1805– 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. In the morning, the princess tells her hosts that she endured a sleepless night, kept awake by something hard in the bed that she is certain has bruised her. The prince's family realizes that she is a princess after all, since no one but a real princess could be so delicate. The two are happily married, and the story ends with the pea being placed in a museum, where it might still remain.

Andersen died of liver cancer. His final publication was a collection of stories which appeared in 1872. In the same year, he sustained a serious injury from a fall from his bed. In most of Andersen’s stories, the reader can meet actual places and people that Andersen knew or admired. Edvard Collin, Andersen’s man crush, appears, as does Jenny Lind. Even smaller characters in Andersen’s history, less well known to the average reader, seem to appear. Andersen’s teachers, the women Andersen felt rejected him (or whom Andersen allowed himself to be rejected by); all seem to appear. Copenhagen is a time honored companion in the stories, but so is Andersen’s love of Italy. This sense of place gives another level of reality to the tales, a level that seems to be missing from the works of the Grimms or Perrault. Hans Christian Andersen never thought of himselfonly as a storyteller for children. It was important to him that socio-critical or satirical elements of his story, which he consciously included for adult readers, were highlighted as much as the fantastic and fabulous.The museum has its own "children's area,"includingan atelier with the name "VilleVau," where children can be creative and participate in workshops. Here, Hans Christian Andersen's fairy-tale motifs are made accessible to children. Home> Resources> Book Helps> List of Hans Christian Andersen Tales List of Hans Christian Andersen TalesAndersen's father, who had received an elementary school education, introduced his son to literature, reading to him the Arabian Nights. [9] Andersen's mother, Anne Marie Andersdatter, was an illiterate washerwoman. Following her husband's death in 1816, she remarried in 1818. [9] Andersen was sent to a local school for poor children where he received a basic education and had to support himself, working as an apprentice to a weaver and, later, to a tailor. At fourteen, he moved to Copenhagen to seek employment as an actor. Having an excellent soprano voice, he was accepted into the Royal Danish Theatre, but his voice soon changed. A colleague at the theatre told him that he considered Andersen a poet. Taking the suggestion seriously, Andersen began to focus on writing. Jan Sjåvik (19 April 2006). Historical Dictionary of Scandinavian Literature and Theater. Scarecrow Press. p.20. ISBN 978-0-8108-6501-3. Hans Christian Andersen often referred to in Scandinavia as H. C. Andersen, (2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author.

Tale Spinners for Children adapted the story as an audio drama (United Artist Records 11063), changing some details of the story: Karen takes dancing lessons and schemes to be given the lead role in a recital before the Queen, rehearsing even though her benefactress has become gravely ill. Choosing to dance at the recital as her benefactress dies, the red dancing shoes made especially for her become permanently attached to her feet, and she is condemned to dance until she truly repents. Unlike the original story, in which her feet are amputated, Karen merely continues to dance until she is unable to even walk. Slim, H. C., & Stravinskij, I. (2002). Annotated catalogue of the H. Colin Slim Stravinsky Collection: Donated by him to the University of British Columbia Library. The University of British Columbia Library. Zizek, Slavoj (2012). Less Than Nothing: Hegel and the Shadow of Dialectical Materialism. Verso Books. p. 548. ISBN 9781844679027. There, Elisa is guided by the queen of the fairies to gather stinging nettles in graveyards to knit into shirts that will eventually help her brothers regain their human shapes. Elisa endures painfully blistered hands from nettle stings, and she must also take a vow of silence for the duration of her task, for speaking one word will kill her brothers. The handsome king of another faraway land happens to come across Elisa, who cannot talk, and falls in love with her. He grants her a room in his castle where she continues her knitting. Eventually he proposes to crown her as his queen and wife, and she accepts. Strangely, despite four decades on Earth, I have almost no familiarity with this gentleman Hans. If I can live another 4 decades, I doubt I'll forget about him from here on out.The Springfield Swans by Caroline Stevermer and Ryan Edmonds, in Snow White, Blood Red (edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling) retells the story in a baseball contest.