Hans Christian Andersen

What the Moon Saw Hans Christian Andersen

Considered as a sequel to Stories and Tales, this book contains tales and sketches various in character; and following, as it does, an earlier volume, care has been taken to intersperse with the children's tales stories which, by their graver character and deeper meaning, are calculated to interest those 'children of a larger growth' who can find instruction as well as amusement in the play of fancy and imagination, though the realm be that of fiction, and the instruction be conveyed in a simple form. The series of sketches of What the Moon Saw, with which the present volume opens, arose from the experiences of Andersen, when as a youth he went to seek his fortune in the capital of his native land; and the story entitled Under the Willow Tree is said likewise to have its foundation in fact; indeed, it seems redolent of the truth of that natural human love and suffering which is so truly said to 'make the whole world kin.'