The Hans Andersen Fairy Tales will be read in schools and homes as long
as there are children who love to read. As a story-teller for children
the author has no rival in power to enlist the imagination and carry it
along natural, healthful lines. The power of his tales to charm and
elevate runs like a living thread through whatever he writes. In the two
books in which they are here presented they have met the tests and held
an undiminishing popularity among the best children's books. They are
recognized as standards, and as juvenile writings come to be more
carefully standardized, their place in permanent literature will grow
wider and more secure. A few children's authors will be ranked among the
Immortals, and Hans Andersen is one of them.
Denmark and Finland supplied the natural background for the quaint
fancies and growing genius of their gifted son, who was story-teller,
playwright, and poet in one. Love of nature, love of country,
fellow-feeling with life in everything, and a wonderful gift for
investing everything with life wrought together to produce in him a
character whose spell is in all his writings. "The Story of My Life" is
perhaps the most thrilling of all of them. Recognized in courts of kings
and castles of nobles, he recited his little stories with the same
simplicity by which he had made them familiar in cottages of the
peasantry, and endeared himself alike to all who listened. These
attributes, while they do not account for his genius, help us to unravel
the charm of it. The simplest of the stories meet Ruskin's requirement
for a child's story--they are sweet and sad.
From most writers who have contributed largely to children's literature
only a few selected gems are likely to gain permanence. With Andersen
the case is different. While there are such gems, the greater value lies
in taking these stories as a type of literature and living in it a
while, through the power of cumulative reading. It is not too much to
say that there is a temper and spirit in Andersen which is all his
own--a simple philosophy which continuous reading is sure to impart. For
this reason these are good books for a child to own; an occasional
re-reading will inspire in him a healthy, normal taste in reading. Many
of the stories are of value to read to very young children. They guide
an exuberant imagination along natural channels.
The text of the present edition is a reprint of an earlier one which was
based upon a sentence-by-sentence comparison of the four or five
translations current in Europe and America. It has been widely commended
as enjoyable reading, while faithful to the letter and spirit of the
Danish original. A slight abridgment has been made in two of the longer
stories. The order of the selections adapts the reading to the growing
child--the First Series should be sufficiently easy for children of
about eight or nine years old.