The Tinder Box

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The Tinder Box is a Danish fairy tale written by Hans Christian Andersen. Andrew Lang included it in The Yellow Fairy Book.

[edit] Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

A soldier returning home met a witch. She told him that if he went down in a hollow tree, he could have as much money as he wished. There would be three rooms, with a dog with eyes as large as saucers guarding copper, a dog with eyes as large as millstones guarding silver, and a dog with eyes as large as the Round Tower at Copenhagen, but if he put the dogs on her apron, they would be harmless. She would pull him back up when he had as much money as he wished, and all she asked was that he bring her a tinder-box from the rooms. He came back with the gold and, after a second venture, with the tinder-box. When the witch asked for it, he demanded to know why, and when she would not tell him, he cut off her head.

He came to a town where the princess was hidden, because there was a prophecy that she would marry a common soldier, and the king wished to prevent it. He spent all the gold and became poor again, losing all the friends he had made by spending it. He used the tinder box to light a candle end, and the dog with eyes as large as saucers appeared. He had it fetch him money, and soon lived well again. Then, out of curiosity, he had the dog bring him the princess while she slept, and kissed her before he sent her back.

The princess remembered it as a dream, and told her parents. They set an old woman to watch her, and when the soldier sent the dog again, the old woman ran after and marked the house the dog went in. The soldier noticed it and marked all the houses about, so they could not find it. The next night, the queen tied a bag with a hole in it about the princess's neck, and filled it with flour. When the dog took the princess, the flour left a trail, and they caught the soldier.

He was to be hanged, but he bribed a shoemaker's boy to bring him the tinder box and just before he was to be hanged, struck it. The three dogs overwhelmed the soldiers and court, and the soldier married the princess and became king.