Summary
Summary of Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales. Second Series
Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales. Second Series at a glance
Summary: 8 min to read
- Reading time
- About 4 h 25 min3 h 30 min fast, 5 h 15 min slow
- Length
- 63,000 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
Free for 3 months
Get the full summary of Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales. Second Series, free
- 200,000+ classics as eBooks, audiobooks and 15-minute summaries, and print and large print at cost
- Up to 5 readers in your home on one plan
Key ideas
Key idea 1
Ordinary things have hearts
A flax plant feels hope as it passes from blue flower to linen to paper covered in poems. A mermaid trades her voice for legs, a poor boy rides a brass pig, and an emperor joins a procession wearing nothing. Andersen gives each small world its own feelings and stakes.
He tells these tales to children and the grown people listening nearby. Talking objects and strange bargains reveal familiar truths about pride, hope, kindness and vanity, with humor that sometimes gives way to sorrow.
Key idea 2
Hope carries the flax through change
The flax is happy among its blue flowers, even when the fern sings about an ending.
Start free to read
Key idea 3
Small lives deserve quiet kindness
A daisy beside a garden is content with the same sunshine that warms the proud flowers nearby.
Start free to read
Key idea 4
Eliza must love without speaking
After a wicked queen turns her brothers into swans and sends her away, Eliza searches for them through the forest.
Start free to read
Key idea 5
Longing can demand a painful price
Karen cannot forget red shoes, even after a kind old lady takes her in.
Start free to read
Key idea 6
Household adventures make room for affection
A mouse-king promises marriage to the young lady mouse who learns to make soup from a sausage skewer.
Start free to read
Key idea 7
Pride makes truth hard to admit
The teapot praises its spout and handle but leaves out its cracked lid.
Start free to read
Key idea 8
A friendly voice carries deeper meanings
Andersen speaks directly to his listeners, sometimes saying that a sparrow told him the story.
Start free to read
Key idea 9
Small worlds change how we see
A plant, a daisy, a stork family, a lamp and porcelain lovers all face their own forms of change, danger or scorn.
Start free to read
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
Read the rest free
Go deeper: the whole of Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales. Second Series
About 4 h 30 min to read.Start freeWho it’s for
This is for readers who love fairy tales with a wise, teasing voice, for parents looking for stories to share aloud, and for anyone who likes talking flowers, brave mermaids and objects with feelings.
What this book is
What does a flax plant feel when it is pulled up by the roots, steeped in water, roasted near a fire and combed? In these tales by Hans Andersen, it feels hope, and that hope carries it from a blue flower to white linen to paper covered in poems. A mermaid gives up her voice for a pair of legs. A poor boy rides a brass pig through moonlit Florence. An emperor walks in a procession wearing nothing at all.
H. C. Andersen, the Danish storyteller, wrote these tales for children and for the grown people listening over their shoulders. He gave ordinary objects a voice and a heart, and each one shows a small truth about pride, hope, kindness or vanity. You get the whole collection, tale by tale, with gentle humor, sharp teasing of the self-important, and now and then a sorrow that stays with you.
In this summary
- 1Ordinary things have heartsFree
- 2Hope carries the flax through change
- 3Small lives deserve quiet kindness
- 4Eliza must love without speaking
- 5Longing can demand a painful price
- 6Household adventures make room for affection
- 7Pride makes truth hard to admit
- 8A friendly voice carries deeper meanings
- 9Small worlds change how we see
Hope carries the flax through every hardship
The first tale, The Flax, shows a plant that meets every change with cheer. It stands in bloom with pretty blue flowers, and the fern sings a mournful little song about an ending. The flax answers that tomorrow the sun will shine or the rain will fall, and that it can feel itself still growing.
Then people pull it up by the roots, lay it in water and set it near a fire. It is steeped, roasted, broken and combed, then spun so quickly that it can scarcely collect its thoughts. Each time, the flax decides it has been lucky. It becomes fine white linen, then twelve garments, then rags, then white paper, and on that paper are written beautiful stories and poems that make people wiser and better.
The old oak in The Last Dream of the Old Oak shares this calm spirit. It pities the flies that live a single day, and near Christmas it dreams of its whole life. Meet each change with hope, because the song is rarely finished.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
- Nothing to pay today · Renews every year
- We email you before you pay
- Cancel online in two clicks
Take this summary with you
Send to Kindle downloads the file and opens Amazon's page: drop the file there.
Check yourself
What must Eliza do to break the spell on her brothers?
Right. “She must gather stinging nettles, weave eleven long coats, and not speak a word until the work is done.”Not quite. “She must gather stinging nettles, weave eleven long coats, and not speak a word until the work is done.”
Why do the officials praise the empty loom in The Emperor's New Clothes?
Right. “Each official sees an empty loom and praises it, because to admit the truth would mean admitting unfitness.”Not quite. “Each official sees an empty loom and praises it, because to admit the truth would mean admitting unfitness.”
What does the little mermaid surrender in exchange for legs?
Right. “The sea witch offers legs in exchange for her voice, and warns that each step will feel like knives.”Not quite. “The sea witch offers legs in exchange for her voice, and warns that each step will feel like knives.”
Go deeper: the whole of Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales. Second Series
About 4 h 30 min to read.Start freePaperback, hardcover and large print, printed for you at cost, are on their way.Email me when it is printed
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 63,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 4 h 25 min
Questions about Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales. Second Series
What is Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales, Second Series about?
It gathers nearly thirty of H. C. Andersen's tales, from The Flax and The Wild Swans to The Little Mermaid and The Emperor's New Clothes. Each short story uses talking plants, animals, objects or royal figures to show a lesson about pride, hope or kindness.
Which stories are in this collection?
Among them are The Flax, The Daisy, The Storks, The Wild Swans, The Red Shoes, The Little Mermaid, The Real Princess, The Swineherd, The Metal Pig, The Emperor's New Clothes and Great Claus and Little Claus.
Are the tales suitable for children?
Yes, children can enjoy them, and the stories read aloud well because of their clear plots, talking objects and repeated songs. Parents will also find sharp humor and lessons that grown readers appreciate on a second hearing.
What does the sausage skewer soup mean?
It is an old proverb for making something grand out of almost nothing. In the tale, four mice travel to learn the recipe, and each returns with a very different idea of what the phrase means.
What is the main message of Andersen's tales?
Andersen shows that pride and pretense make people foolish, while humility, kindness and hope bring lasting worth. He also values the small and overlooked, and he treats love and sacrifice with deep sympathy.
Cite this edition
Andersen, Hans Christian. Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales. Second Series. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/hans-andersens-fairy-tales-second-series.
Andersen, H. C. (2026). Hans Andersen's fairy tales. Second series. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/hans-andersens-fairy-tales-second-series
Andersen, Hans Christian. Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales. Second Series. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/hans-andersens-fairy-tales-second-series.
@book{andersen2026hans,
author = {Andersen, Hans Christian},
title = {Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales. Second Series},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/hans-andersens-fairy-tales-second-series}
}
Free for 3 months
Get the full summary of Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales. Second Series, free
- 200,000+ classics as eBooks, audiobooks and 15-minute summaries, and print and large print at cost
- Up to 5 readers in your home on one plan
