Hans Christian Andersen

A misfit duckling grew up with rejection as a way of life, until he thought all hope was gone.

The Ugly Duckling is one of the best-loved of all the fairy tales of Danish storyteller Hans Christian Andersen, a contemporary and friend of Charles Dickens. Below you will find a very brief précis of the story, which reminds us that it’s not where you came from that matters, it’s where you belong.

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A fastidious prince felt he deserved a girl of royal refinement, and he certainly found one.

A young and idealistic prince thought he deserved a wife of right royal delicacy, but the daughters of the kings in neighbouring kingdoms did not meet his expectations.

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A telling satire on fashionable thinking among the elite.

Why do fashionable ideas continue to circulate among the elite, long after ordinary people have realised that they are nonsense? Andersen’s folk-tale explains it brilliantly.

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