A collection that contains eight stories. It includes Thumbelina, a little girl no more than a thumb-joint high, "The Emperor's New Clothes", the tale of a man who cares only for his appearance and The Little Mermaid, who longs to one day marry a human prince.

Hans Christian Andersen was born in Odense, Denmark, in 1805. At the age of 14 he went to Copenhagen to become an actor. He failed and instead went back to school, where he was very unhappy. He published his first book, an account of a walking trip in 1829. From then on he wrote many books, finding his true voice in his original fairy stories, which often had their basis in his life. He died in 1875.