The Tallow Candle facts for kids

"The Tallow Candle" (Danish: Tællelyset) is a 700-word literary fairytale by Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875).

It was written in the 1820s, making it one of his earliest works and his first known work in the fairytale genre, but its existence was apparently unknown to scholars or the public for almost two centuries. A copy of the manuscript was discovered in a filing box in the National Archives of Funen in October 2012.

Plot

A tallow candle, whose parents are a sheep and a melting pot, becomes more and more disheartened as it cannot find a purpose in life. It meets a tinderbox who lights a flame on the candle, and it finally finds its right place in life and spreads joy and happiness for itself and its fellow creatures.

Discovery

The manuscript was discovered in late 2012 in a suitcase with documents belonging to the Plum family in the local branch of the Danish National Archives in Funen, Denmark. The first people to come across the document were a couple doing amateur research into their family history, but they thought nothing of it since it seemed unrelated to genealogy. Later the archivist and local historian Esben Brage noted the document's signature and realized that it might be an original H. C. Andersen document. Danish experts confirmed its authorship in December 2012.