Bibliotek i Västmanland

During the mouse king’s feast, many dishes were served one after the other. There were so many that one might have thought two meals were being served! At the end of this orgy, there remained only the sausage skewers. Someone then spoke of the soup from a sausage skewer that should be made, but on one knew how to prepare it. The king announced that among all the young mice, the one who made the best soup from a sausage skewer during the year would become his wife. Only four poor mice dared to accept the challenge: they all went off by themselves, ready to do anything to make the best soup!

Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875) was a Danish author, poet and artist. Celebrated for children’s literature, his most cherished fairy tales include 'The Emperor's New Clothes', 'The Little Mermaid', 'The Nightingale', 'The Steadfast Tin Soldier', 'The Snow Queen', 'The Ugly Duckling' and 'The Little Match Girl'. His books have been translated into every living language, and today there is no child or adult that has not met Andersen's whimsical characters. His fairy tales have been adapted to stage and screen countless times, most notably by Disney with the animated films "The Little Mermaid" in 1989 and "Frozen", which is loosely based on "The Snow Queen", in 2013.

Thanks to Andersen's contribution to children's literature, his birth date, April 2, is celebrated as International Children's Book Day.