Hans Christian Andersen - Fairy Tales - Introduction

Hans Christian Andersen, let’s call him Hans, is best known today for his fairy tales. In his own time he was better known for other writings such as poetry, short stories, novels, autobiography, and his travelogues, at least to begin with -- he traveled all over Europe, Africa, Asia, and even to America. He spent a lot of time as a house guest to well off benefactors and even stayed so long with Charles Dickens at his home in Kent, that the Dickens family had to ask Hans to leave. But that’s another story.