Which Hans Christian Andersen tale features a steadfast tin soldier in love with a paper ballerina?
Answer
The Steadfast Tin Soldier
Hans Christian Andersen’s tale featuring a tin soldier in love with a paper ballerina is The Steadfast Tin Soldier.
The story concerns one of a set of identical tin soldiers who has only one leg because he was cast from the last of the melted metal. He falls in love with a paper dancer who appears to stand on one leg. A goblin warns him away, and a series of accidents carries the soldier from a home to the street, a canal, and the belly of a fish.
The soldier’s defining quality is his steadfastness: he remains composed through danger and misfortune. The tale was first published in 1838 and is one of Andersen’s best-known stories about toys and household objects.
The original story has a somber ending and is not the same as later cheerful adaptations. It is also distinct from The Tinderbox, whose soldier is a human adventurer rather than a toy.