Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish author, most renowned for his fairy tales. I enjoy reading fairy tales because it's like escaping into a totally different world where almost anything can happen. In my opinion, Andersen is one of the best fairy tale authors ever. His stories are different and have a much deeper meaning. Most fairy tales teach about bravery, friendship, not to do evil, etc. but that's it. Andersen's on the other hand also have this philosophical thing.
Some of his fairy tales have very unexpected endings, and sometimes they're not entirely happy endings. I usually hate spoilers but I guess I have to explain the stories now so WARNING: SPOILERS!! Have you read The Little Mermaid? If you think the original version is the same as the Disney movie version, you are completely wrong. Lots of children watch Disney and they wanted the children (including me at that time) to see that if they followed their heart, they'd live happily ever after. They couldn't possibly tell the real story. Why? The prince ended up marrying a princess and the poor little mermaid threw herself in the sea and dissolved into foam. END OF SPOILERS.
There are also many other stories in which the main character dies. In a way, Andersen's fairy tales are more real. In real life, things don't always turn out the way you want them to, your dreams don't always come true, and sometimes you don't get a happy ending. Kind of like Andersen's stories. But there's a deeper meaning behind all that. A deeper but usually implicit meaning.
When I first finished reading SPOILER The Little Mermaid END OF SPOILER I was like "WHAT THE HELL?! SPOILER WHY DID SHE DIE? SHE'S THE MAIN CHARACTER! MAIN CHARACTERS NEVER DIE! ANDERSEN WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH YOU?!" END OF SPOILER I hated sad endings. But in the end I realized that it wasn't entirely sad. The main character was very wise, and he/she (I respect people who hate spoilers) accepted his/her fate. It didn't matter if he/she didn't get his/her happy ending because the fact that his/her loved ones got their happy endings was already enough to make him/her happy. Pretty deep, huh? I know.
So that is basically why I love Hans Christian Andersen and think that you should read his fairy tales. One day, when you only have less than a minute to live, you'd remember this blog post and think to yourself "Why didn't I read Andersen fairy tales? Now I don't have ti-" *dies*. You'll regret it. So go! Read!
-diralien-
