What the Old Man Does is Always Right

What the Old Man Does is Always Right: Danish folktale from Hans Christian AndersenThis story by Hans Christian Andersen is about an old man and his loving wife who never sees a problem with anything he does. The only thing they own of any value is a horse, which they decide to sell or trade for something more useful. The man sets off for town and, after several trades along the way, comes home with a bag of rotten apples. As always, his wife was delighted with the result. Andersen called this story one of his best ever tales… but was it really his work?

Our source for the story was the Project Gutenberg e-book Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen. Like many early children’s writers, some of Andersen’s stories re-told folktales that he had heard as a child. This is one of these. The folktale that inspired it is almost certainly Gudbrand on the Hillside from Norway.

Video Version

This is an episode of The Fairytaler, a Danish animated television series based on the works of Hans Christian Andersen. The series was created in 1998 to celebrate Andersen’s 200th birthday and ran through to 2005. Watch and enjoy!

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