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 they should be known by other people, not only his own small circle of friends, Andersen laughed at the idea, but decided to do it just for fun. He would write them down as he told them. Now this is easier said than done, for when you begin to put pen to paper your inclination is to write a thing like an essay and not as if you were talking to somebody. Yet what you feel when you read Hans Andersen's stories is just this, that they are told and not written. He printed first a tiny volume, and called it "Fairy Tales as Told to Children"; it cost ten cents. In this volume were "The Tinder Box," "Little Claus and Big Claus," and "Little Ida's Flowers," and this was followed by a second part with "Thumbeline" and "The Traveling Companion," and then a third number appeared containing "The Emperor's New Clothes" and "The Little Mermaid." The three parts made the first volume of his tales.

Andersen still refused to take these "small things," as he called them, seriously. He was certainly not encouraged by the critics, for they were too stupid and conventional to see the point of these tales. Some were too grand even to look at them, and some were shocked. One wrote that no child should be allowed to read "The Tinder Box," for it wasn't at all nice that a Princess should ride on a dog's back, and be kissed by a soldier. Hans Andersen was advised by these dense people not to waste any more time on such things. There was also much scolding about the con