Hans Christian Andersen

Andersen is the odd one out on this site. Everything else here is a folk tale, told by hundreds of people over centuries until the rough edges wore off. These he sat down and wrote, in Denmark, in the eighteen-thirties and forties, and they still have his fingerprints all over them.

🔑 That is why they do not end the way folk tales end. The little mermaid does not marry the prince — she throws the knife into the sea and lets him be happy. The match girl does not get rescued. The ugly duckling is not rewarded for being patient; he simply turns out to have been a swan the whole time, which is a different thing and he knows it.

He also never names the little mermaid, and the film everyone thinks of is not this story. If your child has met these characters somewhere else first, expect questions — and the questions are worth more than a version that agrees with the cartoon.