Showing results by author "Hans Christian Andersen" in All Categories

What happens when an evil queen envies a princess for her beauty? How does the poor son of a farmer become the killer of giants? And what price is too high for a mermaid to become a human?

Uniting universal themes with a wonderfully personal vision of the world, Hans Christian Andersen found magic in the landscape of childhood. His talking animals and living toys shine a sparkling light on the strange wisdom of innocence and the deceptive nature of adulthood. These stories have now been adapted into countless classic films (including The Little Mermaid, The Red Shoes, and Frozen - which was based on “The Snow Queen”) and have become part of our everyday speech, such as when we talk about “ugly ducklings” and “the emperor’s new clothes.”

The Angel (Danish: Engelen) is a literary fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen. The tale was first published with three others in New Fairy Tales. First Volume. First Collection by C.A. Reitzel in November 1843. The four tales were received by the Danish critics with great acclaim. A child has died, and an angel is escorting him to Heaven. They wander over the earth for a while, visiting the child's favorite places. Along the way they gather flowers to transplant into the gardens of Heaven. The angel takes the child to a poverty-stricken area where a dead field lily lies in a trash heap.

Anne Lisbeth's complexion was like peaches and cream; her eyes were bright, her teeth shiny white; she was young, gay, and beautiful to look upon; her steps were light and her mind was even lighter. What would come of all this? "That awful brat," people said about her baby; and indeed he wasn't pretty, so he was left with the ditchdigger's wife.

It was in the month of May. The wind still blew cold, but bushes and trees, field and meadow, all alike said the spring had come. There was store of flowers even in the wild hedges; and there spring carried on his affairs, and preached from a little apple tree, where one branch hung fresh and blooming, covered with delicate pink blossoms that were just ready to open.

All the apple trees in the garden were blooming. They had hastened to cover themselves with blossoms before their green leaves were fully unfolded. All the ducklings were in the farmyard, and so was the cat; it basked in the sun and tried to lick the sunshine from its own paws.

Up north in Jutland there is a place known as the wild moor. There is a convent there. Many years ago there was a ship stranded not too far off shore. Instead of helping, the bishop’s men went and stole and plundered and murdered. Those poor people were all left dead and bloody.

Near the grass-covered rampart which encircles Copenhagen lies a great red house with many windows; in these grow balsams and plants of southernwood; the interior is sufficiently poverty-stricken; and poor and old are the people who inhabit it. The building is the Vartu Almshouse.

"Ding-dong! Ding-dong!" rings out from the Bell Deep in the Odense River. And what sort of river is that? Why, every child in Odense Town knows it well. It flows around the foot of the gardens, from the locks to the water mill, under the wooden bridges. Yellow water lilies grow in the river, and brown, featherlike reeds, and the black, velvety bulrushes, so high and so thick. Decayed old willow trees, bent and gnarled, hang far over the water beside the monks' marsh and the pale meadows; but a little above are the many gardens, each very different from the next.

On the day that the emperor's horse received his golden horseshoes as a reward for his heroic deeds, the beetle who shared his stable was very jealous. The smith refused to make shoes for his little feet and the beetle's anger went up a notch. So, furious, he left the stable and set off to discover the world alone.

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 went to visit one of the little towns in the island of Zealand.

It is wintertime, and the earth is covered with a layer of snow, as smooth as if it were marble cut from a mountain. The sky is high and clear, and the wind as sharp as an elfin-forged sword; the trees stand like white coral, or resemble blooming almond branches, and the air is as fresh as it is in the high Alps. The night is beautiful with streaming northern lights and countless twinkling stars.

In the narrow streets of the big town, toward evening when the sun was setting and the clouds shone like gold on the chimney tops, people would hear a strange sound like that of a church bell. But they heard it only for a few moments before it was lost in the rumble of city carriages and the voices of the multitudes, for such noises are very distracting. "Now the evening bell is ringing," people used to say. "The sun is setting."

Magical retellings of four classic fairy tales.

"The Little Mermaid", read by Tamsin Greig: The youngest child of the Mer King lives in a beautiful underwater city. "Rumpelstiltskin", read by Stephen Mangan: A beautiful miller's daughter is locked away by the King and told she will never see her family again unless she spins straw into gold. "The Snow Queen", read by Stephen Mangan: Sebastian and Anna are best friends who do everything together. "The Little Match Girl", read by Tamsin Greig: It is bitterly cold, and the Little Match Girl is walking the icy streets in bare feet, trying to sell just one box of matches.

Disfruta con tus hijos de una selección de los mejores cuentos clásicos infantiles de 5 minutos de todos los tiempos. Por primera vez Booka produce estos magníficos audiolibros con una de las mejores actrices del doblaje en español y con música original. Te lo imaginas?. No te decepcionará. Diviértete con estos cuentos cortos de 5 minutos en los que encontrarás: Hansel y Gretel, Blancanieves,La Caperucita Roja, El Flautista de Hamelín, El soldadito de plomo...y muchos más.

Magical retellings of three classic fairy tales. The Three Billy Goats Gruff: The two younger Billy Goats Gruff want to be as big and fat as their older brother. Beauty and the Beast: Beauty is kind and loving; even though her two sisters tease her and her merchant father is too poor to buy her presents. Her father sees a beautiful rose bush on the grounds of the Beast's castle, he plucks a flower for her. The Beast is angry, and demands something precious in return.... >"The Emperor's New Clothes": The Emperor loves to wear the finest clothes in the land. Two strangers suggest that they can weave him a special suit - which is invisible.

Sebastian and Anna are best friends who do everything together. So when Sebastian falls into the hands of the evil Snow Queen, Anna is determined to rescue him. A magical retelling of the classic fairy tale, read by Stephen Mangan.

Deep beneath the ocean, there is a shimmering palace. Built of coral walls and windows of clearest amber, it is the kingdom of the merpeople. And one of these mermaids you might know well: she is the youngest, and is gifted with the most beautiful voice. Unhappy with her life as a mermaid, she dreams of living on dry land. One day, on her birthday, she ascends to the surface to find a magnificent three-masted ship drifting in calm waters. There, amongst the passengers, she meets the brown-eyed prince.

Everyone loves a bedtime story. And here are eight of the best from BBC Radio 4's Book at Bedtime, each with a Christmas theme, written by an array of literature's best-known names. They include Laurie Lee, Charles Dickens, and Hans Christian Andersen - just some of the storytellers included in this collection.

Tom Thumb, The Frog Prince, Snow White, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood. Fables, folktales and stories play a fundamental part in children's development. They use powerful imagery and symbols to entertain while conveying essential moral teachings; the stories ignite imagination, taking a firm root in children's minds, and gently initiate them to the essential moral principles of life. Our tales and stories have been carefully selected for their wisdom and power of evocation. Discover or rediscover, narrated in a warm and lively way, the best stories for kids in Chinese Mandarin.