The Tinder Box - Hans Christian Andersen - ★★
AUTHOR: Hans Christian Andersen
GENRE: Fairytale, Classic.
PUBLICATION DATE: May 8, 1835
RATING: 2 stars.
In a Nutshell: A classic fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen. Hasn’t aged well, though the comic edition I read resolves many of the issues in the original story. I read this for nostalgia and came away questioning my younger self’s reading choices. 🤭
Reading ‘Isabella Nagg and the Pot of Basil’ reminded me of the existence of this story that I had read in my childhood. I didn’t recollect anything about the plot except that it had three dogs with huge eyes. So I decided to reread it again after all these years.
Oh boy!
Present-me is convinced that Past-me was so fascinated by the dogs that she ignored all the other red flags. 😏
This is the first story published by Danish storyteller Hans Christian Andersen in 1835, and it has some elements in common with Aladdin. Reading this tale made me realise why it is not more popular. It is not at all a happy story for anyone except the lead character, nor does it have any good morals worth following. Perhaps it suited its time, but it doesn’t fit the ethos of the present century.
The lead character is a soldier with no morals. He has no hesitation killing someone who didn’t harm him or kidnapping a young woman without her awareness and even kissing her when she isn’t awake. He spends money without restraint, and doesn’t even learn a lesson when he loses all his wealth midway the story, because the minute he regains access to riches, he turns into the same old spendthrift. In other words, he isn't a character worth being a lead and has no redeeming qualities.
None of the other characters in the story get much attention. Most don’t even get a lengthy active role, ending up with blink-and-you-miss appearances and fates they don’t deserve. There is a princess in this story, and as is the case with almost all fairy tales, she has no independent agency. We don’t even get to hear a word from her; all she needs to do is be pretty and marry the self-serving soldier when he wishes for her hand.
The dogs are amazing though. I can see why my childhood self was so in awe of them and their gigantic eyes.
As this story is in the public domain, I first accessed it in its original textual version using this link:
I honestly didn’t expect it to go so poorly for me. But I hated almost everything about it. When I found the comic adaptation of the same in my library, I decided to read it as well just to see how a children’s comic would handle the more heinous aspects of the story. Surprisingly, this version (against which I have posted my GR review) does a great job. It sanitises much of the problematic content, culling out all the scenes of killing and brutality present in the original. It also gives the princess a voice, thereby giving us the fake satisfaction of learning that she wanted to marry the handsome soldier. (The comic does retain the consent-less kissing, but at least it is a chaste peck on the cheek rather than anything more intimate.) I liked the comic version of the story much better than the original, even though it wasn’t perfect.
Overall, this is one of those short classics that are better read keeping in mind the year they were written in. It is a fairytale without a likeable hero or a moral, so the only reason you might pick this up could be to learn all the things you aren’t supposed to do in life.
Definitely not recommended to children except in the comic book version.
2 stars, both for the comic book adaptation.
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