"On the foam-covered sea-weeds, lay eleven white swan feathers, which she gathered up and placed together. Drops of water lay upon them; whether they were dew-drops or tears no one could say." - from The Wild Swans
It's not fair, Hans Christian Andersen! Why must your beautiful prose always tell of heartbreak and sorrow? Why do your words pierce me, even as a single word from the princess would pierce the hearts of her 11 enchanted brothers?
Jerk.
3 comments:
Is that the one where she has to weave them outfits out of asters to break the spell, and the prince keeps interrupting her painstaking labor to do stuff like marry her and then try to burn her at the stake, and the one brother has to have a wing his whole life instead of an arm because she couldn't finish all her weaving in time? Stupid interfering princes.
Poor unsung translator H. P. Paull! He deserves a little credit for the prose.
My link goes to a site with over 100 of Andersen's stories, if you don't have them all in print.
Noooo! I don't WANT to read "The Little Match Girl"! Even if she does find happiness in heaven with her grandma!
I don't WANT to read "The Little Mermaid" and have to consider the rape imagery in her transformation, like I did in college!
..."The Silver Skates"? Dammit.
(In all seriousness, I never even knew HCA wrote that many stories! Thank you, sweetheart!)
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