[00:00.00]Text
[00:02.90]Hans Christian Anderson's Own Fairy Tale(II)
[00:09.38]In Copenhagen,Hans Christian lived in an attic in an old house,
[00:17.24]where he had a good view of the city.
[00:21.50]But there was one big fact that he could not see right under his own nose.
[00:29.15]The plays and poetry that he wrote were not very good.
[00:35.50]Hans Christian made friends with a few kind people.
[00:39.16]Among them was Jonas Collin of the Royal Theater.
[00:45.04]This kind man collected funds from friends to send the young writer to school.
[00:52.90]Hans felt most at ease with children.
[00:57.86]He ate his dinner in turn at the homes of six friends.
[01:03.63]In each home the children begged him for stories.
[01:09.38]Hans told a tale so vividly that you could see
[01:15.65]and hear toy soldiers marching and toy horses galloping.
[01:22.91]I hese are kept today in the Andersen Museum,
[01:32.34]which is in the house where he was horn in Odense.
[01:37.99]Andersen remained single all his life.
[01:42.84]The good Collin family
[01:46.89]three generations of them--became all the family he was ever to have.
[01:53.84]They all loved him,but they advised him not to write any more poetry and plays,
[02:01.60]and to try to get a government job.
[02:05.96]They talked as he later made the animals talk in his stories:
[02:11.74]"I tell you this for your own good,"said the Hen to the Ugly Duckling,"
[02:18.58]you should learn to lay eggs like me."
[02:23.62]In the Ugly Ducking Hans Christian told the story of his own life.
[02:30.39]When his first book of fairy tales was published in 1835,
[02:36.94]Andersen didn't think it would be successful,
[02:41.99]but children readthe stories and wanted more.
[02:47.63]So,encouraged by their interest,he began what we know today as his great work.
[02:55.99]For 37 years,a new book of Andersen's fairy tales came out each Christmas.
[03:04.95]The books were full of everyday truth,of wonder,of sad beauty,of humor.
[03:15.71]Children and their parents had never read such tales before.
[03:21.95]Andersen's tales are a poet's way of telling us the truth about ourselves.
[03:28.61]He looked deeply into the heart of things.
[03:33.16]Even in a child's toy lost in the street,
[03:38.44]he could see some story with the light of gold in it.
[03:44.18]All of us laugh at the humor of The Emperor's New Clothes,
[03:49.75]but we remember the story every time men pretend to be something that they are not
[03:57.40]Although he was now famous,he was more kind-hearted than ever.
[04:04.17]One day on the street he met a man who had once treated him badly.
[04:10.44]The old and unhappy man said that he was sorry for what he had done.
[04:17.49]Andersen forgave the man and comforted him.
[04:22.14]The Prince who had told Andersen to learn a useful trade was now the King.
[04:29.71]He invited the writer to his palace and told him that he might ask for any favor
[04:37.86]Andersen replied simply,"But I don't need anything at all."
[04:44.84]He was already loved all over the world.
[04:50.59]The awkward figure and kind ugly face had become so famous
[04:57.74]that his friends,the children,recognized him wherever he was.
[05:04.12]His books were translated into many different languages
[05:10.07]and read all over the world.
[05:13.91]He was received at the royal courts of Europe and admired by many kings.
[05:21.36]The greatest writers of the day,from Dickens to Victor Hugo,
[05:27.39]looked upon him as one of themselves.
[05:31.94]Among them,he at last learned happily
[05:38.18] that"it doesn't matter if you are born in a duck-yard,
[05:43.46]as long as you come from a swan's egg."
[05:48.63]Happiest of all was the day he returned to the"duck-yard,
[05:54.38]"nearly 50 years after he had left it.
[05:59.44]All Odense took part in the great celebration for the shoemaker's son
[06:06.89]who was now the prince of fairy tales.
[06:12.04]A great dinner was held in his honor.
[06:16.40]That night,hundreds of people came to his window and called to him.
[06:23.45]What was then in his full heart
[06:28.02]that gentle heart that had been lonely for so long
[06:34.08]was best expressed in his own words:
[06:38.84]"To God and man,my thanks,my love." |