December 17, 2012 9:01 am A historian in Denmark may have
discovered Hans Christian Andersen’s first fairy tale ever. The
story, called “The Tallow Candle,” was discovered at the bottom
of an old box in Denmark’s national library. Politiken Denmark
spoke with Ejnar Stig Askgaard of the Odense City Museum, who
has been studying the discovery: “This is a sensational
discovery. Partly because it must be seen as Andersen’s first
fairy tale, and partly because it shows that he was interested
in the fairy tale as a young man, before his authorship began”,
Askgaard says. “And I am in no doubt that it has been written by
Andersen”, he adds. The front page of the story is dedicated to
a Madam Bunkenflod, who lived across the street from Andersen’s
childhood home. Discovery writes: Historians know that the
writer visited her often as a child, borrowing her books. “The
fairy tale was a present. A present of thanks to a woman whose
home had been very important to him,” Askgaard said. The
Bunkeflod family then sent the ma