shine, and the rain drop down on your country; since its inhabitants are
unworthy of such blessings."

192

By almost common consent Hans Christian
Andersen (1805-1875), the Danish author, is the
acknowledged master of all modern writers of
fairy tales. He was born in poverty, the son of
a poor shoemaker. With a naturally keen
dramatic sense, his imagination was stirred by
stories from the _Arabian Nights_ and La
Fontaine's _Fables_, by French and Spanish
soldiers marching through his native city, and
by listening to the wonderful folk tales of his
country. On a toy stage and with toy actors,
these vivid impressions took actual form. The
world continued a dramatic spectacle to him
throughout his existence. His consuming
ambition was for the stage, but he had none of
the personal graces so necessary for success.
He was ungainly and awkward, like his "ugly
duckling." But when at last he began to write,
he had the power to transfer to the page the
vivid dramas in his mind, and this power
culminated in the creation of fairy stories for
children which he began to publish in 1835. It
is usual to say that Andersen, like Peter Pan,
"never grew up," and it is certain that he
never lost the power of seeing things as
children see them. Like many great writers
whose fame now rests on the suffrages of child
readers, Andersen seems at first to have felt
that the _Tales_ were slight and beneath his
dignity. They are not all of the same high
quality. Occasionally one of them becomes "too
sentimental and sickly sweet," but the best of
them have a sturdiness that is thoroughly
refreshing.

The most acute analysis of the elements of
Andersen's greatness as the ideal writer for
children is that made by his fellow-countryman
Georg Brandes in _Eminent Authors of the
Nineteenth Century_. A briefer account on
similar lines will be found in H. J. Boyesen's
_Scandinavian Literature_. A still briefer
account, eminently satisfactory for an
introduction to Andersen, by Benjamin W. Wells,
is in Warner's _Library of the World's Best
Literature_. The interested student cannot, of