The Marsh King's Daughter

Here is a collection of illustrations of Andersen's little known fairy tale, which was one of my favorites as a child. I found it in an old book of my grandmother's and I did not know that anyone else even knew about it but me. The story itself can be found HERE. It is longer and more complex than most fairy tales.

The princess wept and lamented aloud; her tears moistened the elder stump, which was really not an elder stump but the Marsh King himself, he who in marshy ground lives and rules. I saw myself how the stump of the tree turned round, and was a tree no more, while long, clammy branches like arms, were extended from it. Then the poor child was terribly frightened, and started up to run away. She hastened to cross the green, slimy ground; but it will not bear any weight, much less hers. She quickly sank, and the elder stump dived immediately after her; in fact, it was he who drew her down. Great black bubbles rose up out of the moor-slime, and with these every trace of the two vanished. (Read entire story.)

 

Here is a review of the 2023 film The Marsh King's Daughter, based upon a novel by Karen Dionne, which was based upon the fairy-tale. I found it suspenseful with great performances and scenery, but not for small children.

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