{"id":814,"date":"2012-12-15T12:24:20","date_gmt":"2012-12-15T12:24:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/?p=814"},"modified":"2012-12-15T12:24:21","modified_gmt":"2012-12-15T12:24:21","slug":"hc-andersen-sensation-goes-global","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/2012\/12\/15\/hc-andersen-sensation-goes-global\/","title":{"rendered":"H.C. Andersen Sensation Goes Global"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Candle\"<\/a>What! Suddenly a Danish word is mentioned by media all over the world! \ud83d\ude42 The word in question is\u00a0T\u00e6llelyset<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 The Tallow Candle \u2013 the name of the supposedly first\u00a0eventyr<\/strong>\u00a0(fairytale) from the quill of H.C. Andersen, Denmark\u2019s most famous author of all times. Now, this would certainly have been \u201dlet\u2019s yawn\u201d material if it hadn\u2019t been for the fact that this rare text was\u00a0discovered for the first time just two months ago<\/em>!<\/p>\n

According to the Danish\u00a0avis<\/strong>\u00a0[a-VEES] (newspaper)\u00a0Politiken<\/em>, a Fyn historian accidentally discovered the yellowed sheets of paper at the bottom of a huge archive box. Fyn \u2013 or Funen, as some English-speakers like to call it \u2013 is the Danish \u201dmiddle island\u201d (between Copenhagen and Jutland). It was here, in the tranquil city of Odense, that Hans Christian was born in 1805, and would embark on a long career as a \u201dman of imagination\u201d. Two centuries later he is beloved all over the world for fairytales such as\u00a0Den grimme \u00e6lling\u00a0<\/strong>(The Ugly Duckling) and\u00a0Den lille havfrue<\/strong>\u00a0(The Little Mermaid).<\/p>\n

Now\u00a0T\u00e6llelyset<\/strong>\u00a0hits the world, after an H.C. expert has spent a couple of months verifying that the story is indeed Andersen\u2019s. It seems to have been written in the 1820\u2019s as a thank-you to a woman called Madam Bunkeflod. Many of Andersen\u2019s greatest fairytales were written in the 1830\u2019s, and\u00a0T\u00e6llelyset<\/strong>\u00a0reflects that. It\u2019s young Andersen practicing his dance steps before he could really dance (if you get me!)<\/p>\n

The main character in\u00a0T\u00e6llelyset<\/strong>\u00a0is \u2013 a\u00a0t\u00e6llelys<\/strong>. (If that\u2019s strange, just think about the living candle character in Disney\u2019s movie\u00a0The Beauty and the Beast<\/em>!) The poor candle is dirtied by uncomprehending fingers, until it finally finds true love when a\u00a0fyrt\u00f8j<\/strong>\u00a0(tinderbox) lights its fire. (Yeah, that sounds corny to me too!)<\/p>\n

Today, only Danes with an interest in history or literature know the word\u00a0t\u00e6llelys<\/strong>, as the ones we buy in shops are always\u00a0stearinlys<\/strong>\u00a0(stearin candles).<\/p>\n

Why should you take your time to read about a candle? Says H.C. Andersen expert Ejnar Stig Askgaard:<\/p>\n

\u201dIt\u2019s like a high to be able to work with his first attempt at a fairy tale. It was a great experience to read it for the first time.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

The (short!) fairytale can be read in English here:<\/strong> http:\/\/politiken.dk\/newsinenglish\/ECE1841044\/hans-christian-andersens-the-tallow-candle\/<\/a><\/p>\n

If you dare to try, the Danish original can be found here:\u00a0<\/strong>http:\/\/politiken.dk\/kultur\/kultur620px\/ECE1840771\/hc-andersens-foerste-eventyr-taellelyset\/<\/a><\/p>\n

You can even read it in Spanish:\u00a0<\/strong>http:\/\/cultura.elpais.com\/cultura\/2012\/12\/13\/actualidad\/1355423371_188716.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Have you found it in other languages? Please add them to the comments section! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

What! Suddenly a Danish word is mentioned by media all over the world! \ud83d\ude42 The word in question is\u00a0T\u00e6llelyset\u00a0\u2013 The Tallow Candle \u2013 the name of the supposedly first\u00a0eventyr\u00a0(fairytale) from the quill of H.C. Andersen, Denmark\u2019s most famous author of all times. Now, this would certainly have been \u201dlet\u2019s yawn\u201d material if it hadn\u2019t been…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":2130,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[930,252462,252461,89914,143,252460],"class_list":["post-814","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-english","tag-funen","tag-fyn","tag-h-c-andersen","tag-spanish","tag-taellelyset"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/76"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=814"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":819,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814\/revisions\/819"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}