In
"The Most Extraordinary Thing" he is the vehicle of a piece of social
satire, and narrowly escapes the lot which the Fates seem especially to
have prepared for inventors, viz., to make the fortune of some
unscrupulous clown while they themselves die in poverty. In "The
Porter's Son" he is an aspiring artist, full of the fire of genius, and
he wins his princess by conquering that many-headed ogre with which
every self-made man has to battle--the world's envy, and malice, and
contempt for a lowly origin. It is easy to multiply examples, but these
may suffice.
In another species of fairy-tale, which Andersen may be said to have
invented, incident seems to be secondary to the moral purpose, which is
yet so artfully hidden that it requires a certain maturity of intellect
to detect it. In this field Andersen has done his noblest work and
earned his immortality. Who can read that marvellous little tale, "The
Ugly Duckling," without perceiving that it is a subtle, most exquisite
revenge the poet is taking upon the humdrum Philistine world, which
despised and humiliated him, before he lifted his wings and flew away
with the swans, who knew him as their brother? And yet, as a child, I
remember reading this tale with ever fresh delight, though I never for a
moment suspected its moral.
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