Andersen, Hans Christian

Hans Christian (1805-1875), a Danish writer. He is known as a poet and a novelist of no mean ability, but his fame rests on the volumes of fairy tales, which, like Dickens' Christmas stories, appeared from year to year in the holiday season. His stories of fir trees, storks, fairies, swans, witches, princes and princesses, soldiers, nightingales, flowers, and Christmas trees, gathered from the peasantry and dressed in the simplest language, are the delight of young readers in all lands. Andersen's old age was passed peacefully in Copenhagen, but his childhood was far from pleasant. He learned to read and write in a charity school. At the age of nine he went to work in a factory to earn something for the assistance of his widowed mother. He was an eager reader of the national ballads and popular poetry. In time he attracted the attention of a gentleman in public position, who placed him in a government school. From this he made his way through the university. Later in life he received a royal pension, which gave him an opportunity to travel in Italy and elsewhere. His writings include, besides the Fairy Tales, Picture-books without Pictures, Only a Fiddler, A Poet's Bazaar, My Life's Romance, The Ice Maiden, and Tales from Jutland.