Discovering Hans Christian Andersen's 'lost fairytale'
Witness History
BBC
4.5 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 17 April 2026
⏱️ 11 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
In October 2012, a local historian stumbled upon a misplaced pamphlet in the Danish Archives.
It was a story called the Tallow Candle and is believed to be Hans Christian Andersen’s first fairytale.
Ejnar Askgaard, Curator and Senior Researcher at Museum Odense, verified the document.
He speaks to Surya Elango.
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(Photo: Hans Christian Andersen. Credit: Hulton-Deutsch Collection via Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:43.7 | Thank you. They wanted. Search History on BBC Sounds. You're listening to the BBC World Service, and now witness history with me, Suria Elango. |
| 0:52.2 | We're in one of Denmark's oldest cities, Odenser, in the autumn of 2012, where a lost fairy tale |
| 1:00.4 | called the tallow candle by one of the world's most legendary writers is about to be found. |
| 1:08.2 | Odenser takes its name from Odin, the Norse god of poetry and storytelling. |
| 1:14.0 | Beneath its cobbled streets sits an 11th century Viking fortress. |
| 1:18.8 | In the cathedral crypt, rest Denmark's last Viking king. |
| 1:23.0 | And according to legend, one of Odin's eyes lies at the bottom of a well here. |
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