The Tallow Candle It sizzled and fizzled as the flames fired the cauldron..

it was the Tallow Candles cradle - and out of the warm cradle came a flawless candle; solid, shining white and slim it was formed in a way that made everyone who saw it believe that it was a promise of a bright and radiant future promises that everyone who loo!ed on believed it would really want to !eep and fulfil. The sheep a fine little sheep was the candles mother, and the melting pot its father. Its mother had given it a shiny white body and an in!ling about life, but from its father it had been given a craving for the flaming fire that would eventually go through its marrow and bone and shine for it in life. Thats how it was born and had grown; and with the best and brightest anticipation cast itself into e"istence. There it met so many, many strange creations that it became involved with, wanting to learn about life and perhaps find the place where it would best fit in. #ut it had too much faith in the world that only cared about itself, and not at all about the Tallow Candle. $ world that failed to understand the value of the candle, and thus tried to use it for its own benefit, holding the candle wrongly; blac! fingers leaving bigger and bigger blemishes on its pristine white innocence which eventually faded away, completely covered by the dirt of a surrounding world that had come much too close; much closer than the candle could endure, as it had been unable to tell grime from purity although it remained pristine and unspoiled inside. %alse friends found they could not reach its inner self and angrily cast the candle away as useless. The filthy outer shell !ept all the good away scared as they were to be tainted with grime and blemishes and they stayed away. &o there was the poor Tallow Candle, solitary and left alone, at a loss at what to do. 'e(ected by the good, it now realised it had only been a tool to further the wic!ed. It felt so unbelievably unhappy, because it had spent its life to no good end in fact it had perhaps sullied the better parts of its surroundings. It

(ust could not determine why it had been created or where it belonged; why it had been put on this earth perhaps to end up ruining itself and others. )ore and more, and deeper and deeper, it contemplated but the more it considered itself, the more despondent it became, finding nothing good, no real substance for itself, no real goal for the e"istence it had been given at its birth. $s if the grimy cape had also covered its eyes. #ut then it met a little flame, a tinder bo". It !new the candle better than the Tallow Candle !new itself. The tinder bo" had such a clear view straight through the outer shell and inside it found so much good. It came closer and there was bright e"pectation in the candle it lit and its heart melted. *ut burst the flame, li!e the triumphant torch of a blissful wedding. +ight burst out bright and clear all around, bathing the way forward with light for its surroundings its true friends who were now able to see! truth in the glow of the candle. The body too was strong enough to give sustenance to the fiery flame. *ne drop upon another, li!e the seeds of a new life, tric!led round and chubby down the candle, covering the old grime with their bodies. They were not (ust the bodily, but also the spiritual issue of the marriage. $nd the Tallow Candle had found its right place in life and shown that it was a real candle, and went on to shine for many a year, pleasing itself and the other creations around it. H.C. Andersen.
The Tallow Candle, is a literary fairytale short story, -.. words long, by /anish writer 0ans Christian $ndersen 123.4 23-45. It was written in the 236.s, ma!ing it one of his earliest wor!s and his first !nown wor! in the fairytale genre, but its e"istence was apparently un!nown to scholars or the public for almost two centuries. $ copy of the manuscript was discovered in a filing bo" in the 7ational $rchives of %unen in *ctober 6.26. The manuscript was discovered in late 6.26 in a suitcase with documents of the 8lum family in the local branch of the /anish 7ational $rchives in %unen, /enmar!. The first to chance upon the document was a couple doing amateur research into their family history, but they thought nothing of it since it seemed unrelated to genealogy. +ater the archivist and local historian 9sben #rage noted the document:s signature and realized that it might be an original 0. C. $ndersen document. /anish e"perts confirmed its authorship in /ecember 6.26. $ndersen scholars agree that the wor! is not of the same literary ;uality as his later tales, and that it has many similarities with other writings from his time at the +atinate schools in &lagelse and 9lsinore. It was dedicated to )adame #un!eflod, a vicar:s widow and one of the young $ndersen:s benefactors. *ne scholar argued that the tale was overly didactic and moralistic, and lac!ing $ndersen:s later sense of humor, probably to impress his benefactress, who had paid for his education. /anish author and $ndersen specialist <ohannes )=llehave opined that the tale could have been written by any bright 24year-old and that it displayed nothing of $ndersen:s later virtuosity. 8lot - $ tallow candle, whose parents are a sheep and a melting pot, becomes more and more disheartened as it cannot find a purpose in life. It meets a tinderbo" who lights a flame on the candle, and it finally finds its right place in life and spreads (oy and happiness for itself and its fellow creatures.