The Steadfast Tin Soldier

Hans Christian Andersen is the best of all children's writers and this may be the best of the the best stories he wrote. A little tin soldier is formed in the factory just as they ran out of tin; he has only one leg. Nevertheless, he forges on, and, to his great joy, he meets and falls in love with a beautiful paper ballerina. A jealous goblin sends the little tin soldier off on a series of dangerous adventures and he ends up in the belly of a fish, caught and cooked for the Christmas dinner of his very same household. No happy ending here, though, but one that is deeply hopeful and redemptive.