7 h 44 minAudiobook7 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the smallest thing in the room has the strongest feelings?
In Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales. Second Series, Hans Christian Andersen gives humble things a voice. Toys, birds, flowers and household objects move to the center of the story. Some tales draw on folk stories he hears as a boy in Odense; others spring from his imagination. Each brings a small cast into focus, with a mood and a point that linger.
Beneath the gentle surface, pride and loneliness have sharp edges. Characters care more for show than substance, or look down on those around them. Andersen watches the proud and the overlooked closely. Kindness, patience and faith matter here, but triumph is not certain. His friendly narrator adds jokes and comments, making these brief tales feel like stories told in the room.
What you’ll discover
- Humble things speak Meet toys, plants and household objects whose feelings bring small lives into clear view.
- Pride meets its match Watch vanity and the love of show reveal what characters fail to see.
- Gentleness with an edge Discover tales that offer comfort without promising that every story ends in triumph.
- A storyteller close by Enjoy everyday words, short scenes and a narrator ready with a joke or comment.
- Brief tales that linger Read a story in one sitting, then stay with the feeling it leaves behind.
Who will love it
You will love this if you enjoy fairy tales with a gentle bite, talking objects and animals, and short stories with a moral you can think over and share aloud.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Small plants meet hard changes with hope
- A sister's silence can save her brothers
- The Little Mermaid pays dearly for love
- Pride and boasting meet their match
- Two children face danger and wonder
- Everyday objects carry hopes and feelings
- Cleverness, luck and loyalty decide who wins
- Courts, crowns and clothes expose false show
- Humble life, honest work and the soul's light
Who’s who
- ElizaA princess who must spin eleven nettle coats in silence to free her brothers from a spell.
- The Little MermaidThe youngest sea princess, who longs for the prince and for an immortal soul, and pays with her voice.
- KarenA poor girl whose love of a pair of red shoes costs her dearly.
- The Snow ManA newly made figure who longs for the glow of the stove in the housekeeper's room.
- Little ClausA poor villager with one horse who outwits his richer, crueler neighbor, Great Claus.
- The EmperorA ruler who spends everything on clothes and is fooled by two weavers.
- The SwineherdA poor prince who disguises himself to teach a proud princess a lesson.
- The Old Street LampA retiring lamp that treasures its memories and wishes to share them with the watchman and his wife.
Formats and delivery
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- The same book in bigger, clearer type, once the book texts are online.
- Audiobook
- Read by Lucas Linden, complete. It opens once the recording is online.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 7 minutes, to read today.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Le fiabe di Hans Christian Andersen. Seconda serie
A blue-flowered flax plant clings to hope as people pull it up, soak it and spin it into thread.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
What happens when a flax plant is pulled up by the roots, a mermaid gives away her voice, or an emperor hires two weavers who promise magical cloth? These are the questions behind this collection of tales by Hans Christian Andersen.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Small plants meet hard changes with hope
The collection opens with humble growing things. In The Flax, a blue-flowered plant is pulled up, soaked, roasted, combed and spun, yet it keeps finding something to be glad about. The fern sings a sad little rhyme, but the flax answers that the song is not over.
The same spirit runs through The Daisy and The Pea Blossom. The daisy lives happily in the grass and is kissed by a lark, but she grieves when the bird is caught. In The Pea Blossom, five peas leave their shell with big plans. The last pea accepts whatever comes and lands in a crack beneath a garret window, near the bed of a poor sick girl.
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What is Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales Second Series about?
It is a collection of fairy tales by H. C. Andersen, including The Flax, The Wild Swans, The Little Mermaid, The Snow Man, The Red Shoes and The Emperor's New Clothes, each with a small moral.
Which stories are in this collection?
Among them are The Daisy, The Storks, The Red Shoes, The Little Mermaid, The Snow Man, The Old Street Lamp, The Swineherd, The Real Princess, The Emperor's New Clothes and Great Claus and Little Claus.
What is the main message of Andersen's tales?
Many stress humility, kindness and honesty, and they poke fun at pride, vanity and false show. Others celebrate patience, love and the worth of small, plain things.
The author
Hans Christian Andersen
1805–1875 · Danish fairy tale writer
Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish writer and poet born in Odense, Denmark, in 1805. He moved to Copenhagen in 1819 and died there in 1875. He wrote fairy tales, novels, poems, plays, and accounts of his travels. His first collection of fairy tales appeared in 1835.
More by H. C. Andersen
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