Whatever the elf put the tongue on could speak!

“The elf first put the tongue on the tub.”

. . . the elf stole away the grocer’s wife’s tongue, for she did not want it while she slept. And now whatever he put it upon was able to speak just as well as the lady herself. It was a good thing the tongue could be in only one place at a time, or what a noise there would have been!

The elf first put the tongue on the tub . . .

From the story “The Elf at the Grocer’s.”

Hans Andersen’s Fairy Tales.

By William Woodburn.

Illustrated by Gordon Robinson.

W. & R. Chambers, Limited: London & Edinburgh. 1917.

 

Talking Laundry!

THE SHIRT-COLLAR.

“Mistress widow!” cried the shirt-collar, “little mistress widow, I am getting very warm! I am turning quite another being, all my creases are coming out; you are burning a hole in me! Ugh! I propose to you!”

 

Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen.

Henry Altemus Company: Philadelphia. Ca 1920.

 

The Taboo of Red Shoes!

THE RED SHOES.

They fitted her, and were bought. But the old lady knew nothing of their being red, for she would never have allowed Karen to be confirmed in red shoes, as she was now to be.

Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen.

Henry Altemus Company: Philadelphia. Ca 1920.

Ugly Duck Becomes a Swan!

“And, lo! it was no longer a clumsy, ugly, dark-gray bird, but a – swan!”

THE UGLY DUCKLING  (From the tale by Hans Christian Andersen)

Fairy Tales Every Child Should Know.

Edited by: Hamilton Wright Mabie.

Illustrated and Decorated by: Mary Hamilton Fry.

George Sully & Company: New York. 1915.