The Red Shoes, by Hans Christian Andersen

Hans Christian Andersen at the Wikipedia: click here

The Red Shoes at the Wikipedia: click here

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Presentation, by Tamara Martín

Biography

He was born in Odense, Denmark, in 1805. When he was 14 years old he travelled to Copenhagen because he wanted to be a singer or an actor (but he did not succeed).
While he was there, he met a famous theatre director names Jonas Collin. He recognized his talent and he paid for his studies.
In 1822, he attended Slagelse School. He stayed there for 3 years, and he wrote the poem The Dying Child while he was there.
Between 1828 and 1829 he wrote his short story A Walk from Holmen’s Canal to the East Point of the Island of Amager in the Years 1828 and 1829, and in 1840 he wrote his autobiography, The Adventure of my Life, 1855.
In the next 10 years he visited different countries.
In 1835, he began to become famous for his children’s books, for example The Little Mermaid in 1837 and The Ugly Duckling in 1843.
In Odense there is a museum dedicated to the memory of the life and works of this wonderful storyteller.

 The Red Shoes

The story tells us about a little poor girl. The girl goes barefoot because she doesn’t have any money to buy a pair of shoes. An old rich woman adopts her and takes care of her. One day the rich old lady buys her a new pair of red shoes. An old soldier puts a spell on them that makes them dance. She goes to church with the red shoes, but this is highly improper. Out of the church the girl starts dancing, and she cannot stop her feet. One day, there is a ball; the girl goes there and her feet cannot stop dancing anymore. The woman is sick and dies; the girl goes to the funeral with her red shoes, and she goes on dancing. She goes on dancing along the streets and fields until she finds an executioner; she asks him to cut her feet off. She walks with crutches, but her amputated feet go on dancing before her. Finally, when she feels sorry for dancing in the church and in the funeral, a beam of light takes her to heaven.

QUESTIONS

Karen has three different pairs of shores along the story. Can you describe them?
Talk about the different characters
Karen
Old Mother Shoemaker
The old lady
The queen
The old soldier
The executioner
What does the mirror say to Karen?
The mirror is a very important object in a lot of stories. Do you remember another story where there was a mirror and it had a capital role?
The first time Karen goes to the church, what does she go for?
And the second time?
What kind of shoes do people has to wear at church? Why?
The old soldier casts a magical spell to the shoes. What are the words and the actions?
Talk about the ball.
What was the angel’s curse?
What was the girl’s sin?
What happened to Karen after she had her feet cut off?
Who helped her at last?
Did she go to the church at the end of the story? What happened?

VOCABULARY

barefoot, clumsy, well meant, mourning, parson, sew /sóu/, flocked, train, thriving (thrive), patent leather, aisle, bygone, starched (starch), covenant, choir /kuàia/, knelt (kneel), unfenced (fence), graveyard, sword /sòd/, shrivel down, thorn, window pane, quiver, crutches (crutch), hobble, roll (organ), pew