The Swineherd

From Andersen's Fairy Tales, by Hans Christian Andersen

Hans Christian Andersen wrote this tale in the nineteenth century as one of his many stories exploring vanity, superficiality and the consequences of prizing appearances over substance. Unlike his more sentimental works, this story offers no redemption for its Princess — she refuses genuine beauty (the rose and the nightingale) because they are natural rather than artificial, but eagerly debases herself for clever toys. The Prince's disguise exposes her values, and his final rejection is the moral pivot of the tale. Andersen's wit is sharp here, and the story rewards a reader willing to think about what we value and why. This text reflects its era; a few period terms have been modernised.

Band

Blue · Independent readers, confident, about 10 to 12

Length

long · about 1074 words in 4 sections · 2 pictures

Source

Andersen's Fairy Tales, H. C. Andersen · Project Gutenberg

First published

see the About page in the reader

Regions

Canada · United States

Included formats

• · Web reader and PDF
• · EPUB for e-readers
• · Home-print sheet
• · Folded booklet
• · Binder edition (8.5 × 11)
• · Worksheet
• · Quick Check (10 questions) with answer key
• · Read-aloud script

Readers are engineered from the original public-domain text with AI under HummingRead’s published canon and Content Philosophy, checked by automated audit and sampled by a person. Pictures are made with AI to HummingRead’s brief for each story. How a reader is made.