Post #3 Fairytale

The Swineherd
Author: Hans Christian Andersen
Written: 1841









     In children's books there are many genres to read from. Two such genres are folktales and fairytales. A folktale is a story originating in oral tradition. Folktales fall into a variety of catergories such as legends, ghost stories, fairytales, and fables. Some examples of folktales are paul Bunyon, Johnny Appleseed. Mike Fink, and Pecos Bill.

     A fairytale is a folktale defined as a story created or strongly influenced by oral traditions. Most fairytales include opening with Once upon a time, enchantment, royalty, a wicked character, a kind character, a good deed rewarded in the end, and ending with they lived happily ever after.



Hans Christian Andersen




    I chose to blog about a fairytale written by Hans Christian Andersen. Hans Christian Andersen was born in the town of Odense Denmark on Tuesday April 2nd, 1805.  It was during 1835 that he published the first installment of his fairytales. More stories completing the first volume were published in 1836 and 1837. The quality of these stories was not immediately recognized and they sold poorly.

   The fairytales Andersen is most famous for are The Little Mermaid, The Princess and the Pea, The Snow Queen, and Thumbelina, just to name a few.

For a collection of Andersen's fairytales you can access this link to read many of his fairytales. http://www.andersen.sdu.dk/vaerk/hersholt

             The fairytale I chose is The Swineherd by Hans Christian Andersen. The story was written by Andersen in 1841. The story is about a poor Prince who wants to marry the Emperor's daughter. He asked for her hand in marriage by sending her two of the most valuable things to him.  rosebush that had one rose on it. when one smelled it, it smelled so sweet they forgot their sorrows. The other was a nightingale which sang beautifully. when the Princess received the gifts, she wished they were toys that she could use. she disregarded the rose and let the bird free.
              The Prince did not give up, and decided to dress as a swineherd and went to work in the pigsty at the Emperor's palace. One night, he made a magic kettle that sang a song every time the water boiled. The Princess wanted it, but the swineherd told her she had to give him ten kisses. Reluctantly she gave in. Another night, the swineherd made a magic rattle that played all the songs in the world. The Princess had to have it. The swineherd told her she could have it for one hundred kisses. as the maids circled around them to count the kisses, the emperor had showed up.
              Enraged over what he saw, he banished the Princess and the swineherd from his kingdom. The Princess began to cry and wished she had accepted the proposal of the poor Prince. The swineherd went behind a tree and changed into his princely clothes. When she saw him, she could not help herself but to bow to the prince. The Prince disgusted on how he was treated by her, and how she would not accept a poor Prince, but act foolishly to get presents that she wanted from the swineherd. The prince left her sitting there and went back to his kingdom. There the Princess sat and cried singing the song from her toys.

         I truly enjoyed reading this fairytale. It is not your typical fairytale. The Prince and Princess do not meet and fall in love, there is no wicked character, and the is no happily ever after. This  fairytale is the exact opposite of the fairytale that we are used to reading. The tale has a moral lesson to the story. It is teaching us to not judge a person by what they are, to accept all things in life the way it is, and to not be selfish.

        This can be a great fairytale to introduce into the classroom. It has a valuable lesson that students can relate to when introduced properly. Many of the Andersen fairytales have a moral lesson to them and they are a great read.