akorn - Mighty Old Tales Retold

Lucky Peer - Part V

With great fanfare, the morning paper told of the debut as something out of the ordinary, the drama critic reserving his privilege of expressing his opinion in a following issue. The merchant invited Peer and the singing master to a grand dinner. It was an observance -- a testimony of his and his wife's interest in the young man, who had been born in the house, in the same year and on the very same day as their own son.

Lucky Peer - Part IV

The journey home was made with a glad and light heart. Grandmother deeply thanked our Lord that Peer was to outlive her. She had delightful traveling companions in the railway carriage -- the pharmacist and his daughter; they talked about Peer, and loved Peer as if they were of the same family. He was to become a great actor, said the pharmacist. His voice had now returned, too, and there was a fortune in such a throat as his. 

Lucky Peer - Part III

"Now get that playacting out of your head," said Herr Gabriel the next morning, "and let's get busy with some science."
Peer had come near to thinking like young Madsen, that a fellow was wasting his delightful youth being shut in and sitting with a book in his hand.

Lucky Peer - Part II

A good many thoughts went through little Peer's head. And one Sunday, when he was dressed in his best clothes, he went out without saying a word about it to his mother or his grandmother, not even to Miss Frandsen, who always gave him good advice; he went straight to the orchestra conductor; he thought this man was the most important one there was outside the ballet. 

Lucky Peer - Part I

In the most fashionable street in the city stood a fine old house; the wall around had bits of glass worked into it, so that when the sun or the moon shone it looked as if it were covered with diamonds. That was a sign of wealth, and there was great wealth inside.

Danish Popular Legends

Denmark is rich in old legends of heroes, of churches and manor houses, of hills and fields, and of the bottomless moorland. These stories date from the days of the great plague, from times of war, and from times of peace. They live on in books or on the tongues of people.

The Most Incredible Thing

Whosoever could do the most incredible thing was to have the king's daughter and half of his kingdom.

The Candles

There was once a big wax candle who had the highest opinion of his merits. 
"I," he said, "am made of the purest wax, and cast in the best mold. I burn more brilliantly than any other candle, and I outlast them all. I belong in the high chandelier or the silver candlestick."

The Comet

Now there came a comet with its shiny nucleus and its menacing tail. People from the great castles and people from the poor huts gazed at it. So did the crowds in the street, and so did the man who went his solitary way across the pathless heath.

Chicken Grethe's Family

Chicken Grethe was the only human tenant of the fine new house that was built for the hens and ducks on the estate. It was built where the old baronial castle had stood with its tower, crow's-perch gable, moat, and drawbridge.