The Steadfast Tin Soldier

By Hans Christian Andersen 

A boy is given a gift of 25 tin soldiers.  The last one out of the box is missing one leg since there was not enough tin to finish him.  Still, this soldier stood as straight and strong on his one leg as his comrades do on two legs.  This steadfast tin soldier is placed on a shelf in sight of a beautiful tissue paper ballerina who also stands on one leg, with her other lifted high in the air.  The two fall hopelessly in love by gazing longingly at each other.

The poor tin soldier has a series of unfortunate and fortunate events happen to him.  After falling out a window, he is swept along a gutter, into the river, then into the mouth of a fish.  Just when it seems all hope is lost, the fish is caught and taken into a kitchen for dinner.  The tin soldier is surprised and overjoyed that he has ended up back in the same house, in sight of his tissue paper ballerina.  There is no simple happy ending in Anderson’s fairy tale, though.  The tin soldier is tossed into the fire place by a naughty boy just as a breeze blows the ballerina into the fire.  

After the fire dies, all that is left of the soldier is a small pile of tin, in the shape of a heart.  All that is left the ballerina is a blackened spangle from her dress.

A happy ending would have been nice.  Still, I take a powerful lesson from this tale.  After all is said and done and the soldier’s life is extinguished in the flames along with that of his love, all that remains are their hearts.  All else is destroyed.  At the end of life, it is the heart that lives on.