The Brave Tin Soldier

About the legend

Being

Tin Soldier (literary creation)

Cultural meaning

The tin soldier stands for steadfastness (Danish standhaftighed): staying calm and true to yourself, whatever happens. The paper dancer mirrors him, for she too stands steady and waits. Andersen invented this story himself instead of retelling an old folk tale, which makes it a literary fairy tale (Danish kunsteventyr): a story that feels old but has one known author.

Fun fact

In Andersen's tale, all twenty-five soldiers are brothers, 'born of the same old tin spoon'. The last one was cast when the tin ran out, and that is why he has only one leg!

Cultural notes

Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875) grew up poor in Odense, where his mother was a washerwoman. 'Den standhaftige Tinsoldat' was published in Copenhagen on 2 October 1838 in Eventyr, fortalte for Børn. Ny Samling. Første Hefte, and it was one of the first tales Andersen invented entirely himself. The tale has been adapted many times, from the ballets of August Bournonville and George Balanchine to a segment of Disney's Fantasia 2000.

About this retelling

Abridged literary adaptation A retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's literary fairy tale The Steadfast Tin Soldier (1838).

Andersen's tale ends in fire: one of the boys throws the soldier into the stove for no reason, a gust of wind carries the dancer in after him, the soldier melts into a little tin heart, and only her spangle is left, burned black. This retelling follows Andersen's journey closely but ends gently: a gust of wind carries the soldier to the warm hearth, he is not afraid and nothing hurts, and he becomes a shining tin heart beside the dancer, who is unharmed. A few details are changed for children. The dancer stands on top of the castle, not in its doorway, and the cook opens the fish without a knife. In Andersen the soldier will not call out because he is in uniform, and 'soldiers never cry'; here his tin voice is too small to be heard, and he cries happy tin tears. Andersen's jealous goblin is here only grumpy.

Sources

• Den standhaftige Tinsoldat (from Eventyr, fortalte for Børn. Ny Samling. Første Hefte, 1838) — Hans Christian Andersen, tr. Jean Hersholt
• Wikipedia: The Steadfast Tin Soldier

Themes

• courage
• steadfastness
• devotion
• resilience
• H.C. Andersen
• tin soldier
• paper dancer
• steadfast
• Copenhagen
• Denmark
• fairy tale
• literary fairy tale
• courage
• one leg
• paper boat
• fish

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