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The Child in the Grave

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Danish

ebook

First published January 1, 1859

12 people want to read

About the author

Hans Christian Andersen

7,792 books3,545 followers
Hans Christian Andersen (often referred to in Scandinavia as H.C. Andersen) was a Danish author and poet. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, Andersen is best remembered for his fairy tales. Andersen's popularity is not limited to children; his stories — called eventyr, or "fairy-tales" — express themes that transcend age and nationality.

Andersen's fairy tales, which have been translated into more than 125 languages, have become culturally embedded in the West's collective consciousness, readily accessible to children, but presenting lessons of virtue and resilience in the face of adversity for mature readers as well. Some of his most famous fairy tales include "The Little Mermaid", "The Ugly Duckling", "The Nightingale", "The Emperor's New Clothes" and many more. His stories have inspired plays, ballets, and both live-action and animated films.

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5 stars
5 (11%)
4 stars
11 (25%)
3 stars
17 (39%)
2 stars
6 (13%)
1 star
4 (9%)
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
Profile Image for Fatima.
76 reviews23 followers
June 11, 2025
قصة موجعة رغم بساطتها وقصرها، ، عن الألم الذي لا تُنهيه الدموع، بل تحتضنه السماء...
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(اقتباس)
_المرء عندما يفقد أحد أولاده يشعر دوماً بأن من فَقده منهم هو الولد الأغلى من بينهم. وعندما يكون ذلك الطفل المتوفى الطفل الأصغر سناً والصبي الوحيد فلابد أن تكون المأساة حينئذ أكثر كآبة._
Profile Image for Elinor  Loredan.
667 reviews29 followers
Read
May 9, 2020
Grief can easily take over our lives, but we need to remember who still remains to help and love.
I love stories that feature Death personified!
Profile Image for Zain.
145 reviews35 followers
May 16, 2016
It's a wonderful story but fair warning to any mother out there or even soon-to-be mothers, or parents and future parents in general, this will especially be hard to sit through.
Profile Image for Overlady.
550 reviews9 followers
January 23, 2021
Meh. Readable but not memorable. Nothing special whatsoever about this story.
Profile Image for Amelia Bujar.
1,823 reviews1 follower
July 13, 2024
FULL REVIEW ON MY WEBSITE
https://thebookcornerchronicles.com/2...

This one was really not for me. Maybe reading children stories as an adult isn’t the best thing to do for some people.

I personally found this story to be very boring and uninteresting. I really had hard time reading it because I just couldn’t get into the story.

The story is pretty quick read, but that’s the only good thing about this story for me personally.

The writing style in this one was very generic which every fairytale has.
22 reviews
June 5, 2020
First time I read this story, I know Danish and it was fun to see how the language then looked like. The story itself is very simple but also shows that solace can be found even in the most tragic moments.
3 reviews
February 10, 2020
To be fair, it was only a twelve minute read.

But it was a very one note, boring, and predictable 12 minutes with no colorful language and much melodrama.
Profile Image for Dave.
1,356 reviews11 followers
September 28, 2020
Sad, but Anderson gives a great lesson through this story.
Profile Image for K. Anna Kraft.
1,177 reviews39 followers
June 8, 2023
I have arranged my takeaway thoughts into a haiku:

"So much more is lost
Beyond your own welfare, when
You give up to grief."
Profile Image for Abdullah.
74 reviews15 followers
December 27, 2016
"There's no tragedy in life like the death of a child. Things never get back to the way they were"
-Dwight D. Eisenhower
83 reviews
Read
April 22, 2016
Traditional Lit #15

The Child in the Grave was about a family and their child/sibling died. The whole family mourned but the mother was not getting better. One day, she went out to the child's grave and Death appeared. Death put it's cloak around her and she saw her son and her son saw her. He was extremely excited and explained that he was very happy to be with other children in God's Paradise. After that, she "woke up" and was laying on her child's grave.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews

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