Fairy Tale of the Month - The TInderbox by Andersen

 

Andersen’s Tinderbox is a bit problematic today.  A solider makes a deal with a witch and then double crosses her (she is a witch after all) and then he falls involve with a princess who is locked up, eventually asking his magical dogs to carry him to his rooms so he can stare at her while she sleeps. 

               I mean, it does make one a tad bit uncomfortable in that light.

               But there is a certain charm to the tale.  Perhaps it is the dogs with the big eyes; after all, big eyes are usually a symbol of innocence.  Perhaps it is the charm of a solider making good.

               No, it’s the dogs.

               Anderson’s story is far more political than most people acknowledge.  It’s not entirely hidden.  It’s true that the solider does get the princess and gets to be king, but this is only after the King and Queen are thrown so far up in the air by the dogs, that when their bodies return to earth they are smashed to pieces.  A little bit of the French Revolution as it were.

               And then there is the matter of the Queen in the story, who is far more proactive than the King, who basically is a “yes, dear” type of a guy, at the very least.

               In part, the sequence could be a comment on politics in general, but there is also a connection to Carloine Matilda (sister of George III) who had married the Danish King Christian VII when she was 15.  After the marriage she discovered that her husband was mentally unstable, and, eventually she had an affair with his doctor, Strunese.  (Her husband’s mistress was Boots Katrine).  She and her lover lost the power struggle, her lover was executed and she was imprisoned in Kronberg Castle (better known as Elsinore Castle, and therefore, Hamlet’s home).  She never saw her two children again (a son by her husband who became king, and a daughter, who was mostly likely Struense’s).  She eventually was released into her brother’s custody  and lived at Celle Castle in Hanover until her death at age 23. (There is a book and a movie based on this event.  The movie stars Mads Mikkelson and is called A Royal Affair).

               The person Caroline Matilda lost the power struggle to was her mother-in-law Dowager Queen Juliane Marie, who was considered as cunning as Caroline Matilda was beautiful.  Julianne Marie’s rule was consider conservative, stifling, and controlling.

               Or, there is the story of Princess Leonara Christiana, daughter of Christian IV who was imprisoned in Christiansburg Castle in Copenhagen because her husband offered the Danish throne to the Elector of Brandenburg.  Leonora Christiana was imprisoned from 1663-1685 and wrote a diary of her imprisonment.

               Leonora Christiana was also very beautiful.

               Both castles have copper roofs.

               Andersen might a bit more subversive than we think.