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Audiobook editionPaperback · 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
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’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Ordinary things have hearts
- Hope carries the flax through change
- Small lives deserve quiet kindness
- Eliza must love without speaking
- Longing can demand a painful price
- Household adventures make room for affection
- Pride makes truth hard to admit
- A friendly voice carries deeper meanings
- Small worlds change how we see
Who’s who
- ElizaA king's daughter who searches the world for her eleven brothers, who have been turned into swans, and will endure pain and silence to free them.
- The Little MermaidThe youngest sea princess, quiet and thoughtful, who longs for the human world and for an immortal soul, and pays a heavy price to win both.
- KarenA poor girl who loves a pair of red shoes so much that she cannot pray, listen or think of anything else in church.
- Little ClausA poor villager with one horse who uses quick wits and tall tales to outsmart his richer, harsher neighbor.
- Great ClausA village man with four horses who bullies his neighbor and copies every scheme, hoping for the same riches without the cleverness.
- The EmperorA ruler who loves clothes more than his army and fears being thought unfit, which makes him easy prey for two swindlers.
- The FlaxA cheerful blue-flowered plant that treats every hardship as a step toward something better and keeps believing the song is not over.
- The Portuguese DuckA farmyard duck who boasts of her foreign birth and good heart, and sets out to look after a little singing bird.
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- Large print hardcover
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Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales. Second Series
A little mermaid trades her voice for legs, and every step she takes feels like walking on knives.
Medium level2–5 hours to read20 languages
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“Everything in its right place!”
In short
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.
Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales. Second Series at a glance
- 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
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
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.
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Which edition is right for me
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Details
- Language
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- Level
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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}
}
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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.
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.
“Everything in its right place!”
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