Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales. Second Series

Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales. Second Series is a collection of fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen. Andersen was a Danish author and poet mostly known for his fairy tales for children. Excerpt: «FAR away, in the land to which the swallows fly when it is winter, dwelt a king who had eleven sons, and one daughter, named Eliza. The eleven brothers were princes, and each went to school with a star on his breast and a sword by his side. They wrote with diamond pencils on golden slates and learned their lessons so quickly and read so easily that every one knew they were princes. Their sister Eliza sat on a little stool of plate-glass and had a book full of pictures, which had cost as much as half a kingdom. Happy, indeed, were these children; but they were not long to remain so, for their father, the king, married a queen who did not love the children, and who proved to be a wicked sorceress.»