A Surprise Evening
After dinner in Faaborg we all moved
upstairs to a special room for dessert and coffee. Our driver whispered in my
ear, “Something special is going to happen. A nice surprise.”
Because this was unusual, I was
suspicious, but I didn’t say anything to anyone. Suddenly there was a loud
knock on the door. Lo and behold in came Hans Christian Anderson dressed in top
hat and tails. He began to spin a tale and tell us about himself.
The flamboyant character told us, “I
was born April 2, 1805 on the island of Fuen.
My parents were poor but happy. I was a rather strange child who
preferred playing with my puppets to playing with other children. I wrote in my
diary every day. I was young, about
12, when my father died. I was very close to my grandmother.
“I
was very self assured and knew at an early age that I would be famous. I went
to Copenhagen when I was 14 to try a theater career. But it failed. However,
while on the stage I was seen by a fellow who later became my patron. He sent
me to Latin school where I wrote forbidden poetry. I also wrote some novels but
they enjoyed only minimal success.
“When I was 30 I started telling
fairy tales to children so I could watch their reaction. Then I would write
them down and those are the stories that made me famous. My stories always had
a moral to them and sometimes people didn’t like that and thought I was
too moralistic.”
For generations children have grown
up with The Ugly Duckling, The Emperor’s
New Clothes, The Little Mermaid and more.
This actor apparently built a
successful career impersonating the famous author. He was most entertaining. He
continued to tell us that Anderson had fallen in love twice. Once with the
actress, Jenny Lind. However, he never married.
In his later years Anderson would
write to lords and noblemen stating that he would be arriving on a certain date
and to have a room ready for him. He also would tell them how long he planned
to stay. For some time people were honored to be selected as a host to this
famous man.
But as the years went by he
developed a reputation for being a sponger and taking advantage of others’
generosity, and he himself was not inclined to be of a very generous nature.
However, since his diary writing was so well known everyone was afraid to
refuse him hospitality and maybe end up as an unwelcome character in one of his
tales.
Our story teller concluded with, “I
died in 1875 at the age of 70 in Copenhagen and I had three million Krona in
the bank!”
It was a most pleasant and fun
evening and a nice end to a long day of biking.
I had taken the Texas heat with me and that year Denmark was a good 15
degrees hotter than normal. Lucky me!
