Hans Christian Andersen - a few words on his originality

The Tinder-Box is the first published fairy tale by H. C. Andersen. It's a story about a soldier who is on the way home. He crosses paths with a witch who wants him to climb in the underground. His reward is anything he can find there, she wants just an old tinder-box which belonged to her grandmother. Of course, this object is more valuable than anything else he might get for himself and a soldier is smart enough to recognize her intentions.

Let's go to the essence - it's a plot copied from Aladdin's Magic Lamp. We have identical characters, identical starting point, even the same scene and the situation where the soldier (or Aladdin) wants to marry a princess (in both cases) but somehow loses the power of the magic tinder-box (lamp), although in slightly different sequences. Andersen was a big fan of Arabian Nights which he described as probably the most influential book in his life (apart from the Bible).

This is a less known story by Andersen, published as the second of his fairy tales. It's a story about a rich and stupid Claus who angers poor and smart Claus. Smart Claus tricks the stupid one to kill his horses, his own grandmother and finally drowns himself together with his wife. Smart Claus also earned good money by the way.

The very same story belongs to the collection of folktales from Norway. It's titled Big Peter and Little Peter. If take a few minutes to read both, you'll find the famous fairy tale writer borrowed all the tricks and subplots from the folktale, changing only less important details like names and occupations of characters.

But Andersen's story wasn't criticized for the lack of originality. It was just too brutal for the taste of the critics.

It's the third Andersen's fairy tale and still one of his most popular works. Yet the story about the girl who was so delicate, she couldn't sleep on the pea even after twenty mattresses were placed over, is far from being original. Andersen heard it when he was still a kid. It's actually a tale of Swedish origin (Princess Who Lay on Seven Peas). As we can see, he even kept the reason for distraction!

Thumbelina is the fifth among his published fairy tales, if we are examining them in chronological order. (Don't worry, the fourth is not very original either, I just intend to use it for another article - about Andersen's fairy tales based on real people.) Thumbelina is, of course, a rewriting of popular English folktale Tom Thumb.

Just like Tom Thumb, it starts with a woman yearning for a kid, hoping to have one, even if it is not bigger than a thumb. But a kid in the size of a thumb is a kid in constant danger. While Tom Thumb obviously enjoys in danger and jumps from one adrenaline adventure to another, Thumbelina gets into trouble for reasons outside of her control. But the essence is the same - long list of incidents with non-stop surprising turnarounds. While the Tom Thumb becomes a member of King Arthur's court, Thumbelina marries with a prince and establishes her own royal court.

I have already written a lot about Undine by Friedrich de la Motte Fouque, one of the most popular novellas of the 19th century. Andersen was a great fan of the story. He obviously recognized himself in the tragic story about the water spirit disappointed in love. There is a whole letter correspondence about his thoughts on Undine and ideas for Little Mermaid. While he managed to write one of the most beautiful fairy tales ever, he miserably failed at the ending.

The paragraph about good behavior by which the kids can help the unhappy mermaid at achieving her ultimate goal - the immortal soul - is written like pure blackmail. But let's not stray from the subject - Little Mermaid is essentially Undine for kids.

The particular story which inspired Andersen is 'Of that which happened to a King and three Impostors'. It's a story about three weavers who are actually tricksters.

The weavers visit a king and promise him to make a special cloth which could be seen only by legitimate sons of their supposed fathers. For illegitimate sons believed to be legitimate such cloth would be invisible. Of course, they were supplied with large quantities of silk, gold, silver, and other precious materials. And of course nobody ever saw their cloth but nobody also admitted it is invisible to him.

The king rode naked through the city until a negro who didn't care about his own origin announced the truth to the world.

As you can see, Andersen changed only a few details. The story in Emperor's New Clothes is the same.

The Wild Swans (sometimes titled White Swans) is a retelling of old Norse tale Twelve Wild Ducks also known as the version by Brothers Grimm (Six Swans). In all versions, it's essentially a story about a king who marries a witch who hates his children from a previous marriage. She turns the boys into birds, but the girl is able to save them if she only remains silent and makes a shirt from nettles or similar material.

Despite getting into life-threatening danger she remains silent and completes the task just before she is executed. Andersen faithfully followed the plot, adding only some cosmetic details and a few religious elements.

We are dealing again with one of the most beautiful and sad fairy tales. This story of a girl who spends the New Year's Eve alone, in coldness, dark, without shoes, comforting herself only by switching her matches is very similar to the Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Dickens published his story two years before Andersen and both writers personally knew each other. Andersen actually visited Dickens two times what had somehow tragicomic consequences but this is a material for another occasion.

Anyway, the idea of visions and ghost was the same, although we must admit endings of both stories differ by miles.

Red Shoes is not among best-known fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen, yet it deserves our intention despite being very similar to several Scandinavian folktales, like Old Nick and a girl, or maybe Twelve Dancing Princesses from Grimms' collection. It also uses the idea from Snow White where the evil queen dances in red hot shoes until she dies. Andersen 'saves' the protagonist in his story, but the girl loses her legs. The ending brings another strong religious note, one of the signature characteristics of Andersen's writings.

Conclusion - H. C. Anderen didn't build his career as a fairy tale writer on originality of plots, especially at his earlier works, which himself denoted as better than later ones. This is actually one of his advantages because the majority of popular fairy tales follow only a few pretty predictable formulas. Without losing time to reinvent the wheel he focused on adding his personal experience, humor, emotions, and beliefs which together with an already existing and proved plot formed a unique and pleasurable experience for his audience.

If you are willing to try, it's actually pretty easy to write your own fairy tale and earn some money by the way.

All used images are in public domain. Their authors are (in order of apperance of their 

Dalziel Brothers (George 1815-1902, Edward 1817-1905, Margaret 1819-1894, John 1822-1869, Thomas 1823-1906)
Alfred Walter Bayes (1832-1909)
William Heath Robinson (1872-1944)
Eleanor Vere Boyle (1825-1916)
Maria Louise Kirk (1860-1930)
John Reinhard Weguelin (1849-1927)
Alice Havers (1850-1890)
Lorenz Frolich (1820-1908)