Hans Christian Anderson's

Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875) — the beloved Danish creator of The Little Mermaid and The Ugly Duckling and The Emperor’s New Clothes — really wanted to be famous for anything other than fairy tales? He spent years trying to make it big as a serious novelist and playwright, but the world just kept saying, “No thanks, tell us more about talking tin soldiers and tragically misunderstood swans.”

In fact, he was a bit salty about it. He considered his fairy tales just light work — like the literary equivalent of doodling in the margins — while his “real” writing career was supposed to be on the dramatic stage. But, alas, no standing ovations there. The irony? His fairy tales became legendary, while his serious stuff now gathers more dust than a forgotten attic trunk in one of his own stories.

And then there’s his legendary awkwardness. Andersen was famously intense and socially... let’s say memorable. He once visited Charles Dickens in England and ended up staying five weeks longer than anyone expected. Dickens was so traumatised he reportedly left a note on the guest bed afterward: “Hans Christian Andersen’s nightmare.”

So yes — the man who gave the world tales of magical transformations and melancholy sea creatures was, in real life, a one-man awkward anecdote machine. And somehow, that just makes him even more relatable.

Some of his stories are known by different titles. For example, the same story may be known as:
•Batchelor's Nighcap,
•The Batchelor's Nighcap,
•The Old Batchelor's Nighcap, or
•Old Batchelor's Nighcap
so the story's alphabetically listed under "B", "O" and also "T".