Весьма актуальная во все времена сказка о бездарном человеке, который непременно решил сделаться поэтом, но не смог, и по совету знахарки пошел в критики.
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.
The end sounds like a satire on critics--if one cannot do something, the next best thing is critiquing the work of those who can do it. I think, too, that the story is about having ability for something or not having it. The old woman simply is unable to teach the man how to imagine because he does not have the talent for it, and imagination is hard to teach.
The mantra of writers today ... and I guess, of writers at every moment in history. Thank you, Mr. Andersen for pointing this out !
"There was once a young man who was studying to be a poet. To write poems, he knew, only consists in being able to invent something; but he ... had been born too late— everything had been written and told about."
“Happy people who were born a thousand years ago!” said he. “It was an easy matter for them to become immortal. Happy even was he who was born a hundred years ago, for then there was still something about which a poem could be written. Now the world is written out, and what can I write...?”
The solution :
Said the woman. “Go straight into the crowd of people; look at them in the right way. Have an ear to hear and the right heart to feel, and you will soon invent something."