Ole Lukkoye

The Most Mysterious Fairy Tale by H.C. AndersenSome fairy tales by the great Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875) have entered our consciousness so deeply that sometimes we even forget whether they belong to the writer's pen or exist on their own. This is entirely true, perhaps, of Andersen's most instructive and mysterious fairy tale - "Ole Lukøje", published in December 1841 in the last of six collections of "Fairy Tales Told to Children". Thanks to this fairy tale, many children became acquainted with an amazing creature that bears a common children's name - Ole. But the second part of his name means "close your eyes". Ole Lukøje was known in Danish folklore long before Andersen wrote his fairy tale (read the interesting article "Where Do Dreams Come From?" in the book), but now the folkloric Ole has simply been forgotten: his place has been taken by Andersen's character with his magic umbrella that sends dreams. This edition uses the full text of the fairy tale in a wonderful translation by Anna Ganzen (the book contains an article about the translator "The January Girl"). The book is richly illustrated with cheerful, warm and kind drawings by the artist Nadezhda Fedotova. All the illustrations are made in the gesso technique, used in Russian medieval icon painting.