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The Dryad

From Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen

Hans Christian Andersen published "The Dryad" in the latter half of the nineteenth century, during the period of the great international exhibitions that symbolised modern progress and cosmopolitan ambition. The tale is a meditation on longing, displacement, and the price of desire—the Dryad who inhabits a chestnut tree exchanges her rooted life for one night of human experience in Paris, only to discover that the glittering city she dreamed of is also a place of exhaustion, illusion, and death. Andersen was fascinated by the tension between the natural and the artificial, the timeless and the ephemeral, and this story reflects his era: it is set against the backdrop of the 1867 Paris Exposition Universelle, an event that drew the world to the Champ de Mars and epitomised the optimism and ambition of the age. This text reflects its era; a few period terms have been modernised. The tale is worth a reader's time because it asks whether the fulfilment of longing—pursued without measure or restraint—might itself be a kind of destruction, and whether there is wisdom in the limits set for us.

Band

Silver · First-year university levelTypical starting range: adult

Length

long · about 1636 words in 5 sections · 1 picture

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)

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