Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales/Reminiscences of Hans C. Andersen

by Hans Christian Andersen

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HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN.

REMINISCENCES OF HANS C. ANDERSEN.

“A prophet has no honour in his own country.” To no one can this bitter proverb be more truly applied, in the early part of his career, than to the author of “Fairy Tales,” now so well known and read in many languages, not only in the Netherlands but in all civilized countries.

Hans Christian Andersen was not descended from the high and noble in the land. The only child of poor parents; he was born at Odense, on the island of Funen, on the 2nd of April, 1805. This town of Odense has been immortalized by Andersen in one of his tales, the “The Bell-Deep,” which is no doubt founded on a legend he had been acquainted with from his childhood.

Hans Andersen’s father was a shoemaker, who, it is said, had not the means of giving him much education, but he sent him to the grammar school in the town, and the boy’s natural abilities and love of reading made him take advantage of the instruction he there received.

Not, however, for long; his father’s death in 1814, left his mother a sorrowing widow, in poor circumstances, with an orphan boy of nine years. It therefore became necessary for him to leave school, and try to help his mother in earning a home for them both. An opportunity for him to work at a factory in the town was offered to his mother, and eagerly accepted by her, and for some years the now famed and renowned poet and author, worked as a factory boy.

THE FACTORY.

There was a something, however, so different in the coarse and illiterate workmen at the factory to the refined and tender-hearted child, that his patient sufferings of their taunts and torments must have been terrible to bear. At last he complained to his mother, and she removed him.

An opening for the youth, now in his fourteenth year, to become a tailor presented itself; but the boy of intellectual tastes implored his mother, even with tears, to allow him to choose his own career in life.

His mother at last consented, and with a small sum of money in his pocket, he left his home to travel to Copenhagen alone.

Who can tell how much of a mother’s love and pride in her son gave her the courage to part with him, and to utter a farewell which cost her so much. No doubt she already looked forward to a glorious future for her imaginative child, who most probably inherited from her the refined and poetic fancy which in after years made him so famous.

Her fancies, indeed, had a tinge of the superstition still holding sway in the land of the Norsemen; and, strange to say, she looked forward to a time when her son would revisit his native town, and Odense would be illuminated in his honour.

This really happened many years afterwards, when the great poet and author, covered with glory and fame, entered the town of his birth.

And now the boy of fourteen was launched on the ocean of life to seek for that renown which only became his after years of disappointment and trial.

His spirit swelled with hope as he thought of the glory he could gain, and he was at that moment the veritable little drummer-boy whom he so clearly portrays in the story of “The Golden Treasure,” when the energy of his character enabled him to reach Copenhagen, the chief city of his native land.

How little he was appreciated in this great city is well known. From early childhood his keen susceptibility to the emotions of joy or sorrow made them sometimes overpowering. At nine years of age he had laughed at a comedy, or wept at a tragedy performed on a stage by Marionettes! and in after years the real, living actors would move him with equal power.

On his arrival at Copenhagen he met with a friend in one of the professors at the University, and as the boy was fond of music he proposed that Andersen should learn to sing on the stage. But this effort failed, for the boy’s voice, though harmonious, was thin and weak, and could not be heard even at a moderate distance.

After some years of struggling to earn a living, even while writing down the curious thoughts with which his imagination teemed, he determined to visit Germany; but his friend had obtained for him instruction in Latin and German, which enabled him to remain and to bring out in 1829 his first work, a play entitled “The Life of a Nicolaton,” which was very successful; and in the next year he published his first story, and soon after another,—“Shadow Pictures.”

In 1832 he carried out his intention and visited Germany, and here his books at once obtained notice, which gave him courage to continue the work he so loved with renewed zeal.

During the years from 1832 to 1838 Andersen wrote his far-famed works a “Picture Book without Pictures;” “The Improvisatore;” “He was only an Actor;” “The Story of the Year;” and several others.

But the works that made him famous were his “Fairy Tales,” the first of which appeared in 1838, while others so quickly followed that they obtained for Hans Andersen the name of “The Children’s Friend.”

These stories, though highly imaginative, were full of interest, and evidently the work of a man of deep conscientiousness and moral principle.

But the poetic figures, the emotional language, and the brilliant pictures presented so vividly to the reader, whether young or old, thrilled to the heart; and not only testified to the wonderful imagination of the writer, but to the purity and youthful freshness which breathed through every page, and lived in the heart of Andersen to the latest hours of his life.

In the early part of Andersen’s career he had been greatly pained, but not daunted, by the severe and even mocking criticisms which his writings received, in Copenhagen especially.

The first to notice them were the editors of comic periodicals, and in these they were criticised and made a mock of, often with a want of delicacy most painful to the sensitive author.

By others his style was pronounced to be intricate, confused, and crude. At the same time, it was acknowledged that the writer possessed great power of language, and a remarkable richness of thought and imagination, rendering the word-pictures his fancy drew too attractive to be passed over unread.

One of Andersen’s oldest friends was Count Conrad of Rantzsan-Breitenburgh. This gentleman, who had been Prime Minister in the Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein, had given Andersen his first step as an author, which the narrow limits of his own poor dwelling rendered almost impossible. The Count had, however, heard of him, sought him out, and recognised at once that the humble-minded young writer was destined to become a popular poet and author.

This was the turning point in Andersen’s career, the unkind criticisms referred to had so disheartened him that he was tempted to despair of success. The Count’s opinion gave him fresh courage and energy for renewed efforts, which, as we now know, brought him glory and fame.

When the Count left Copenhagen he did not forget Andersen, but made him promise that at the first opportunity he would come and visit him at Castle Breitenburgh.

The opportunity presented itself after some years, and Andersen used to say that the weeks and months of his stay at Castle Breitenburgh, belonged to the most beautiful period of his life, and truly he might say this; for Count Conrad, the owner of the castle was in the highest degree a man calculated to arouse and console the tender-hearted, poetic, and often sad spirit of his guest.

Andersen was one of those clever men who are totally devoid of vanity, and he would often express in a straightforward and touching manner his modest opinion of his own talents, and yet at the same time acknowledging how greatly he longed for and needed encouragement. And all this time within his soul, thoughts were pressing full on his creative fancy which he longed to send forth to the world, yet dreaded with pain these adverse criticisms.

Not even in his old age, when he had been recognised by the whole civilized world as a poet and author, could Andersen harden himself to treat with indifference the unjust criticisms of the most insignificant critic.

Count Conrad died in the year 1844, while Andersen was in Germany, and the loss of such a friend was to the poet very great. And although he was now a popular author, and often invited by the Danish and German nobility to visit them at their castles, the memory of his first kind friend, the owner of Breitenburgh Castle, held the foremost place in his heart.

BRIETENBURGH CASTLE.

He was popular in Denmark now, although his name as a story-writer was first recognised by the common people, who quickly appreciated and understood the vein of simplicity which runs through every page of Hans Andersen’s tales.

The characters in these stories, whether of men or animals, whether animate or inanimate, became living breathing creatures when he read his stories aloud, for in spite of his humble birth, his pronunciation of his native language was pure, correct, and noble.

While listening, it seemed not impossible that the objects described might be beings possessing souls, and the power of becoming sad or joyous, sublime or ridiculous as the author represented.

In the year 1845, King Christian VIII. of Denmark, placed a very pleasant shooting box, situated in the thickest covert of the magnificent part of Fredericksburg, at the disposal of Hans Andersen, who had been a widower for many years.

This unused building was now named “Pheasant Court,” it had a large garden and was to be used by the poet as his own, for life.

It was about this time that Andersen made a tour of the different countries of Europe, and those who knew him personally speak with delight of having met him at dinner parties, and of the glowing descriptions he would give of the places he had visited, and the persons he had met during his travels.

Scottish scenery charmed him, and he would speak of Sir Walter Scott and Robert Burns, to whom he was introduced, in the most glowing terms. Among his friends nearer home were the two renowned Swedish ladies, ‘Frederika Bremer, and Jenny Lind,” both of whom had a touching sisterly affection for the poet.

His love of flowers was a poet’s love of the beautiful, and even from the first appearance of that decay of nature which was to remove him at last from earth, he would have fresh flowers in his room daily, often remarking on their beauty and fragrance.

In 1872 Andersen had suffered from a severe illness, while visiting at Rolighed, the country residence of a merchant named Melchior. Finding himself as he thought better he returned home, but was still obliged to keep in his room the whole winter.

In the spring of 1873 he travelled to Switzerland, and there went through a course of goats’ milk, among the mountains at Glion, on the lake of Geneva.

He there became so much better and stronger that he was able to take long drives, and returned to his home full of hope, that his health was quite restored.

But this hope soon faded, and in the spring of 1875 it became evident that his days were numbered. But he was not forsaken by his friends. Frau Melchior watched over him with tender care, and as the summer passed and he became weaker, she had him removed to their country house, Rolighed.

The king came to visit him many times, and the crown prince much oftener, and he was also visited frequently by men and women of high position. Not only were his last days brightened by these attentions, but from his own hopeful and poetic character.

Days passed and as he grew weaker he was greatly comforted by the tender care that surrounded him, and while talking with his visitors he would often cut out and paste together a little figure in which the poetic art would show itself, even as in his fairy tales the charm of the characters introduced would represent his own poetic imagination.

ANDERSEN’S MONUMENT.

Hans Christian Andersen died August 4th, 1875, at the age of 70. He had on that day been sleeping peacefully for some hours, and at about eleven o’clock at night Frau Melchior left the bedside for a moment, and when she returned, after scarcely two minutes absence, he was gone. He had only breathed one gentle sigh and awoke, not again on earth, but in heaven.

A statue bearing his name and called “The Asylum for Little children,” has been erected among the very old trees of the Rosenburg Castle gardens, not many steps from that of Christian IV., the most celebrated and popular of the Oldenburg line of kings. In the Danish National Songs, this king is extolled in a verse beginning—

“King Christian stood by the top-mast high.”

Andersen’s statue was unveiled June 26th, 1880.