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| Special Thanks to my Personal Faery Friend for the Button Art: Ye Olde Faery Shoppe |
This week's selection for Fairy Tale Fridays was The Snowman by Hans Christian Andersen. It's a fairly short tale, indicative of the season, and may even have a few similarities to the well-known classic, Frosty the Snowman. However, instead of the sweet tale that ends with a happy ending, Andersen's tale turns a bit depressing and leaves the reader (at least this one!) a bit sad.
As with many of Andersen's tales, I had high hopes for this tale because it starts out so beautifully written. Here's a quick excerpt for a quick example . . .
"The snowman had two triangular pieces of tile for eyes, and a children's rake for a mouth, which meant that he had teeth. His birth had been greeted by the boys with shouts of joy, to the sound of sleigh bells and the cracking of whips."Unfortunately, not long after this, we are introduced to an annoying dog that is constantly telling the snowman to leave, that he will leave before to long, just as the snowman did last year and the year before. He puts a damper on the snowman's positive attitude. In fact, it was the dog that then brought the stove to the snowman's attention. Once this happened, the snowman became mesmerized and did not even notice when he began to melt, grow smaller, and even lost his head!
Personally, I will stick to the Frosty version . . . the one that we will see again at the next snowfall, but in the meantime . . .
So he said "Let's run
and have some fun
Now before I melt away."
What did you think of The Snowman this week? Were you a fan or would you rather pass?
UPCOMING TALES:
Friday, December 17th: The Elves by The Brothers Grimm
Friday, December 24th: The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen
Friday, December 31st: Thumbling by The Brothers Grimm
Friday, January 7th: The Ice Maiden by Hans Christian Andersen
Friday, January 14th: Your Choice, Classic or Modern!
Friday, January 21st: Fairy Tale Fridays Happy Ending & Wrap-Up Post
I wasn't a fan of this one either.
ReplyDeleteI think I really had to over think this tale to like it. I do love Frosty though! I think Andersen should have ended with the "so he said goodbye saying don't you cry, I'll be back again someday!" line - much more happily ever after appropriate!
ReplyDeletecarolsnotebook . . . Glad I wasn't the only one!
ReplyDeletelisa :) . . . I agree about the alternate ending! Let's just pretend that's how it ends! :)