Editing Hans Christian Andersen (section)

===Early work===
{{Quote box |align=right| width=30em |quote=It doesn't matter about being born in a duckyard, as long as you are hatched from a swan's egg.|source="[[The Ugly Duckling]]"}}

A very early fairy tale by Andersen, "[[The Tallow Candle]]" ({{langx|da|Tællelyset}}), was discovered in a Danish archive in October 2012. The story, written in the 1820s, is about a candle that does not feel appreciated. It was written while Andersen was still in school and dedicated to one of his benefactors. The story remained in that family's possession until it was found among other family papers in a local archive.<ref>{{cite web |last=Stockmann |first=Camilla |date=12 December 2012 |title=Local historian finds Hans Christian Andersen's first fairy tale |url=https://politiken.dk/newsinenglish_/art5435657/Local-historian-finds-Hans-Christian-Andersenrsquos-first-fairy-tale |access-date=17 November 2023 |website=Politiken.dk |archive-date=18 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231118232142/https://politiken.dk/newsinenglish_/art5435657/Local-historian-finds-Hans-Christian-Andersenrsquos-first-fairy-tale |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1829, Andersen enjoyed considerable success with the short story "A Journey on Foot from [[Holmen, Copenhagen|Holmen]]'s Canal to the East Point of [[Amager]]." Its protagonist meets characters ranging from [[Saint Peter]] to a talking cat. Andersen followed this success with a theatrical piece, ''Love on St. Nicholas Church Tower'', and a short volume of poems. He made little progress in writing and publishing immediately following these poems, but did receive a small travel grant from the king in 1833. This enabled Andersen to set out on the first of many journeys throughout Europe. At [[Canton of Jura|Jura]], near [[Le Locle]], Switzerland, Andersen wrote the story "Agnete and the Merman." The same year, he spent an evening in the Italian seaside village of [[Sestri Levante]], which inspired the title of "The Bay of Fables."<ref>{{cite web |title=Premio e Festival Andersen di Sestri Levante |url=https://andersensestri.it/ |url-status= |access-date=17 November 2023 |website=Andersen Premio e Festival |language=it}}</ref> Andersen arrived in [[Rome]] in October 1834. His travels in Italy were reflected in his first novel, a fictionalized autobiography titled ''[[The Improvisatore]]'' ({{lang|da|Improvisatoren}}), published in 1835 to instant acclaim.<ref name="Murray2013">{{cite book|first=Christopher John |last=Murray|title=Encyclopedia of the Romantic Era, 1760–1850|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8GS8DWMLRYEC&pg=PA20|year=2013|publisher=[[Routledge]]|isbn=978-1-135-45579-8|page=20}}</ref><ref name="Sjåvik2006">{{cite book|first=Jan |last=Sjåvik|title=Historical Dictionary of Scandinavian Literature and Theater|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tCBpiKsi7a0C&pg=RA1-PA8|year=2006|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-6501-3|page=20}}</ref>