THE HAPPY FAMILY by Hans Christian Andersen
I am happy to report that like all literary giants Hans Christian Andersen felt compelled to write a story about SNAILS. THE HAPPY FAMILY is sadly not his best work but has some excellent touches. It is about the two great white snails who come from 'the most aristocratic race in the world...The forest had been planted for them, and the nobleman's castle had been built entirely that they might be...boiled till they became black, and then were laid on a silver dish'.
They adopt a 'little common snail' and the story is about their quest to find this snail a bride. Slugs ('black snails without houses') are given short shrift since they are 'so vulgar and conceited too', and in the end a little lady-snail is found, who shows her breeding by taking eight days to make the journey to the wedding. The young couple produce numerous progeny but as the 'young ones were never boiled or laid in silver dishes', they conclude that all the people in the world are dead and so the whole family are'entirely and perfectly happy'.
They adopt a 'little common snail' and the story is about their quest to find this snail a bride. Slugs ('black snails without houses') are given short shrift since they are 'so vulgar and conceited too', and in the end a little lady-snail is found, who shows her breeding by taking eight days to make the journey to the wedding. The young couple produce numerous progeny but as the 'young ones were never boiled or laid in silver dishes', they conclude that all the people in the world are dead and so the whole family are'entirely and perfectly happy'.
posted by Clare Dudman at 8:53 am
2 Comments:
I really appreciate people like you who take their chance in such an excellent way to give an impression on certain topics. Thanks for having me here.
And thank YOU, Jim Scherff, for your kind comment.
Clare.
Post a Comment
Comments are subject to moderation.
<< Home