Fairy Tales

Fairy tales are short stories about fantasy figures such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually feature magic or enchantments. Fairy tales are found in oral and in literary form. In their earliest form, they were created for an adult audience, but over the years they have become known as children’s stories. The Brothers Grimm where one of the first to collect oral fairy tales and publish them in written format.

The Little Mermaid

July 26, 2011

Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid or `Den lille Havfrue’ (1837) Far out in the ocean the water is as blue as the petals of the loveliest cornflower, and as clear as the purest glass. But it is very deep too. It goes down deeper than any anchor rope will go, and many, many steeples [...]

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The Brave and Steadfast Tin Soldier

July 26, 2011
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THERE were once five-and-twenty tin soldiers, who were all brothers, for they had been made out of the same old tin spoon. They shouldered arms and looked straight before them, and wore a splendid uniform, red and blue. The first thing in the world they ever heard were the words, “Tin soldiers!” uttered by a [...]

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The Ugly Duckling

July 26, 2011
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IT was lovely summer weather in the country, and the golden corn, the green oats, and the haystacks piled up in the meadows looked beautiful. The stork walking about on his long red legs chattered in the Egyptian language, which he had learnt from his mother. The corn-fields and meadows were surrounded by large forests, in [...]

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Beauty of Form, Beauty of Mind

July 26, 2011
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THERE was once a sculptor, named Alfred, who having won the large gold medal and obtained a travelling scholarship, went to Italy, and then came back to his native land. He was young at that time- indeed, he is young still, although he is ten years older than he was then. On his return, he [...]

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The Red Shoes

July 14, 2011
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There was once a little girl who was very pretty and delicate, but in summer she was forced to run about with bare feet, she was so poor, and in winter wear very large wooden shoes, which made her little insteps quite red, and that looked so dangerous! In the middle of the village lived [...]

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The Naughty Boy

July 14, 2011
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Along time ago, there lived an old poet, a thoroughly kind old poet. As he was sitting one evening in his room, a dreadful storm arose without, and the rain streamed down from heaven; but the old poet sat warm and comfortable in his chimney-comer, where the fire blazed and the roasting apple hissed. “Those [...]

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The Dream of Little Tuk

July 14, 2011
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Ah! yes, that was little Tuk: in reality his name was not Tuk, but that was what he called himself before he could speak plain: he meant it for Charles, and it is all well enough if one does but know it. He had now to take care of his little sister Augusta, who was [...]

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The Little Match Girl

July 14, 2011
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Most terribly cold it was; it snowed, and was nearly quite dark, and evening– the last evening of the year. In this cold and darkness there went along the street a poor little girl, bareheaded, and with naked feet. When she left home she had slippers on, it is true; but what was the good [...]

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The Shadow

July 14, 2011
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It is in the hot lands that the sun burns, sure enough! there the people become quite a mahogany brown, ay, and in the hottest lands they are burnt to Negroes. But now it was only to the hot lands that a learned man had come from the cold; there he thought that he could [...]

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The False Collar

July 14, 2011
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There was once a fine gentleman, all of whose moveables were a boot-jack and a hair-comb: but he had the finest false collars in the world; and it is about one of these collars that we are now to hear a story. It was so old, that it began to think of marriage; and it [...]

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