The fame and popularity of Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen rested largely on his children’s fairy tales, written over a period of some 37 years and translated into scores of languages. Andersen was well aware of this fact—so much so that late in life, he told the musician who was to compose a march for his funeral, “Most of the people who will walk after me will be children, so make the beat keep time with little steps.”

Today in the Word, January 15, 1993