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The Bell-Deep

From Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, by Hans Christian Andersen

Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish author who wrote fairy tales and stories in the nineteenth century; this tale was first published in the mid-1800s. It is one of his darker, more reflective stories, blending Danish folklore with real history—King Canute was murdered in St. Alban's church in Odense in 1086. This text reflects its era; a few period terms have been modernised. The tale is worth a reader's time because it shows how stories, memory and the air itself preserve what people try to forget, and because it asks whether the schoolmaster's facts or the grandmother's imagination tell the truer account of the world.

Band
Blue · Independent readers, confidentTypical starting range: ages 12–14
Length
long · about 1025 words in 4 sections · 2 pictures
Source
Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, H. C. Andersen
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
  • · Teacher’s Edition (members)

Lesson at a glance

Reading
about 10 minutes at this band
Pause questions
1
Words to Know
10
Quick Check
10 questions, with the answer key
Let’s Talk
2 questions for afterwards
Worksheet
questions, an activity and a drawing prompt

About 40 minutes with one story, all of it.

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.

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The same story

The Bell-Deep at other bands

Green band

The Bell-Deep

H. C. Andersen

medium · 826 words · also in Blue, Red

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Red band

The Bell-deep

H. C. Andersen

long · 1268 words · also in Green, Blue

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