2 April 1805 - 4 August 1875
Birthplace: Odense, Funen, Denmark
Danish author, playwright & poet; best known for his fairy tales
“The whole world is a series of miracles…but we are so used to them that we call them everyday things.”
~Hans Christian Andersen, Danish author
“The Puppet-Show Man” (19 May 1851) The Complete Andersen: All of the 168 Stories by Hans Christian Andersen, trans. Jean Hersholt, New York: Heritage Press, 1949 edition, p. 47; reprint online via H.C. Andersen Centret (Hans Christian Andersen Centre), www.andersen.sdu.dk
Alternative translation: [Fairy tale – translation, Susannah Mary Paull]
“The whole world is but a series of miracles,’ said the lecturer, ‘but we are so accustomed to them that we call them everyday matters.’ And he went on explaining things to me till my skull seemed lifted from my brain, and I declared that were I not such an old fellow, I would at once become a member of the Polytechnic Institution, that I might learn to look at the bright side of everything, although I was one of the happiest of men.” (p. 375)
Alternative translation source: Hans Christian Andersen, The Puppet-Show Man” (19 May 1851) Hans Andersen’s Fairy Tales: A New Translation (1888) trans. Susannah Mary Paull (“Mrs. H.B. Paull”) Chicago, IL: S.A. Maxwell & Co., 1888, p. 375; online via University of Wisconsin & Google Books, books.google.com
Translation note:
The original Danish title of “The Puppet-Show Man” is “Marionetspilleren.” The H.C. Andersen Centret notes that the story in number 95 in the official Andersen fairy tale corpus. For more information on the original Danish publication, please click this H.C. Andersen Centret page link: http://www.andersen.sdu.dk/vaerk/register/info_e.html?vid=95
Extended excerpt: [Fairy tale. From website reprint of Jean Hersholt English text translation.]
“The whole world is a series of miracles,’ said the student, ‘but we’re so used to them that we call them everyday things.’ And he continued talking and explaining until finally my skull seemed lifted from my brain, and I honestly confessed that if I weren’t already an old fellow I would at once attend the Polytechnic Institute and learn to examine the world more closely, even though I was one of the happiest of men.”
Source note: The original Danish title of “The Puppet-Show Man” is “Marionetspilleren.”
Please see ‘Alt. Trans.’ & ‘Links’ tabs for an additional English translation and links to the original Danish publication information.
Source link [Featured English translation]: “The Puppet-Show Man” (May 1851 original|1949 ed. of Hersholt trans.|online reprint accessed 2018) online via SDU & H.C. Andersen Centret: http://www.andersen.sdu.dk/vaerk/hersholt/ThePuppetShowMan_e.html
Source link [Alternative translation]: Hans Andersen’s Fairy Tales: A New Translation (May 1851 original|1888 Paull trans.) online via Google Books: https://books.google.com/books?id=KtXkAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA375&dq=Andersen+%2B+The+whole+world+is+a+series+of+miracles
Source link [H.C. Andersen Centret, original Danish publication details]: http://www.andersen.sdu.dk/vaerk/register/info_e.html?vid=95
“There was always more to be done by kindness.”
~Hans Christian Andersen, Danish author
“The Butterfly” (1861) in The Complete Fairy Tales & Stories, trans. Erik Christian Haugaard, New York, NY: Anchor Books, 1983, p. 784
Alternative translation: [Fairy tale – translation, Jean Hersholt]
“So the Butterfly also came to ask, but he wouldn’t bite off the leaves; instead he kissed each one in turn, thinking that kindness is the best policy.” (Hersholt, p. 291)
[Alternative translation source: Hans Christian Andersen, “The Butterfly” (December 1860) The Complete Andersen: All of the 168 Stories by Hans Christian Andersen, trans. Jean Hersholt, New York: Heritage Press, 1949 edition, p. 291; reprint online via H.C. Andersen Centret (Hans Christian Andersen Centre), University of Southern Denmark (SDU), www.andersen.sdu.dk]
Translation note: The original Danish title of “The Butterfly is: “Sommerfuglen.” The H.C. Andersen Centret notes that the story in number 146 in the official Andersen fairy tale corpus. For more information on the original Danish publication, please click this H.C. Andersen Centret page link: http://www.andersen.sdu.dk/vaerk/register/info_e.html?vid=146
Extended excerpt: [Fairy tale]
“The butterfly came also to Marguerite to inquire, but he did not pluck off her leaves; he pressed a kiss on each of them, for he thought there was always more to be done by kindness.” (p. 784)
Source note: Original Danish story title: “Sommerfuglen.”
Please see ‘Alt. Trans.’ & ‘Links’ tabs for an additional English translation and links to the original Danish publication information.
Source [Featured English translation]: Library – The Complete Fairy Tales & Stories (1983) International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 0-385-18951-6
Source link [Alternative translation]: “The Butterfly” (Dec. 1860 original|1949 ed. of Hersholt trans.|online reprint accessed Mar. 2018) online via H.C. Andersen Centret: http://www.andersen.sdu.dk/vaerk/hersholt/TheButterfly_e.html
Source link [H.C. Andersen Centret, original Danish publication details]: http://www.andersen.sdu.dk/vaerk/register/info_e.html?vid=146
“Where words fail, music speaks.”
~Hans Christian Andersen, Danish author
“The Writing on the Wall” (1840) Stories for the Young, translator not named, London: Ward, Lock & Tyler, 1876, p. 437; online via Google Books, books.google.com
Alternative translation: [Fiction – Narrator (the moon) – Appears under subheading ‘Thirty-First Evening’] “He stepped into the carriage, the door was closed, the whip cracked, and the horses galloped off into the thick forest, whither my rays were not able to follow him; but as I glanced through the grated window, my rays glided over the notes, his last farewell engraved on the prison wall – where words fail, sounds can often speak.” (p. 38)
[Alternative translation source: Hans Christian Andersen, “What the Moon Saw” (1840) What the Moon Saw: and Other Tales, trans. H.W. Dulcken, London: George Routledge & Sons, 1866 ed., p. 38; online via University of California & HathiTrust, babel.hathitrust.org]
Translation note: The original Danish title of “What the Moon Saw” is: “Hvad Månen Så”
Extended excerpt: [Fiction – Narrator (the moon)]
“My rays could not follow them there, but they entered the prison cell and strove to read the writing on the wall; his last farewell, for where words fail music speaks.” (p. 437)
Source note: The original Danish title of “What the Moon Saw” is: “Hvad Månen Så.” For an additional translation, please see the ‘Alt. Trans.’ tab.
Misttribution note: Some contemporary sources have incorrectly attributed the two most common English translations of Andersen’s verse to English playwright William Shakespeare:
“Where words fail, music speaks.”
“Where words fail, sounds can often speak.”
Shakespeare didn’t write either line. Although the sentiment likely predates H.C. Andersen, he is the author who should receive credit for writing the verse.
Source link [Featured English translation]: Stories for the Young (1876 Ward, Lock & Tyler English edition) Google Books: https://books.google.com/books?id=af8BAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA438&dq=My+rays+could+not+follow+them+there,+but+they+entered+the+prison+cell+and+strove+to+read+the+writing+on+the+wall
Source link [Alternative translation]: What the Moon Saw: and Other Tales (1866 G. Routledge & Sons ed.) online via HathiTrust: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc2.ark:/13960/t3hx16q77;view=1up;seq=50
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