The Nightingale

The world’s most famous Dane, Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875) and his wonderful fairy tales are loved all over the globe. Besides being a master of the written word, he was also a very talented illustrator. No doubt, had he lived today he would probably have tried his hand on cartooning as well and maybe created some of his fairy tales as comic strips. All in all he wrote 157 fairy tales. Here is the comic strip version of one of his most beloved fairy tales - The Nightingale, re-created by the Danish cartoonist Werner Wejp-Olsen. The Nightingale tells the story off a little bird whose wonderful singing saves the life of the all-powerful Chinese emperor. It is also a tribute to Jenny Lind, a famous Swedish opera singer with whom Andersen was deeply in love.

Keywords: fairy tales, Nightingale, comic strip, cartoon, story, humour, bedtime, classroom