It contains what appears to be every story ever written by Hans Christian Andersen! Long stories (The Ice Maiden), short stories (The Princess and the Pea), well-known stories (The Little Mermaid), unknown stories (She was Good for Nothing) and dozens of others are all contained within these pages! They are also readable! Instead they are somehow magically more approachable and I can almost remember why I loved Hans Christian Andersen so much as a child (selected stories from, at least). So if you, like me, are determined to try and re-visit your childhood via fairy tales written by Hans Christian Andersen no matter what, at least take pity on yourself--or pity on your children if you're trying to read the stories to them--and read this version. I really loved the stories in this book. I was surprised about the endings in some of them, but in a good way. I would highly suggest this book to anyone over 18 who loves fairy tales with twisted endings. Contents: A Story, By the Almshouse Window, The Angel, Anne Lisbeth, The Conceited Apple-branch, Beauty of Form and Beauty of Mind, The Beetle who went on his Travels, The Bell, The Bell-deep, The Bird of Popular Song, The Bishop of Borglum and his Warriors, The Bottle Neck, The Buckwheat, The Butterfly, A Cheerful Temper, The Child in the Grave, Children's Prattle, The Farm-yard Cock and the Weather-cock, The Daisy, The Darning-Needle, Delaying is not Forgetting, The Drop of Water, The Dryad, Jack the Dullard, The Dumb Book, The Elf of the Rose, The Elfin Hill, The Emperor's New Suit, The Fir Tree, The Flax, The Flying Trunk, The Shepherd's Story of the Bond of Friendship, The Girl Who Trod on the Loaf, The Goblin and the Huckster, The Golden Treasure, The Goloshes of Fortune, She was Good for Nothing, Grandmother, A Great Grief, The Happy Family, A Leaf from Heaven, Holger Danske, Ib and Little Christina, The Ice Maiden, The Jewish Maiden, The Jumper, The Last Dream of the Old Oak, The Last Pearl, Little Claus and Big Claus, The Little Elder-tree Mother, Little Ida's Flowers, The Little Match-seller, The Little Mermaid, Little Tiny or Thumbelina, Little Tuk, The Loveliest Rose in the World, The Mail-coach Passengers, The Marsh King's Daughter, The Metal Pig, The Money-box, What the Moon Saw, The Neighbouring Families, The Nightingale, There is no Doubt about it, In the Nursery, The Old Bachelor's Nightcap, The Old Church Bell, The Old Grave-stone, The Old House, What the Old Man Does is Always Right, The Old Street Lamp, Ole-Luk-Oie, the Dream God, Ole the Tower-keeper, Our Aunt, The Garden of Paradise, The Pea Blossom, The Pen and the Inkstand, The Philosopher's Stone, The Phoenix Bird, The Portuguese Duck, The Porter's Son, Poultry Meg's Family, The Princess and the Pea, The Psyche, The Puppet-show Man, The Races, The Red Shoes, Everything in the Right Place, A Rose from Homer's Grave, The Snail and the Rose-tree, A Story from the Sand-hills, The Saucy Boy, The Shadow, The Shepherdess and the Sheep, The Silver Shilling, The Shirt-collar, The Snow Man, The Snow Queen, The Snowdrop, Something, Soup from a Sausage Skewer, The Storks, The Storm Shakes the Shield, The Story of a Mother, The Sunbeam and the Captive, The Swan's Nest, The Swineherd, The Thistle's Experiences, The Thorny Road of Honor, In a Thousand Years, The Brave Tin Soldier, The Tinder-box, The Toad, The Top and Ball, The Travelling Companion, Two Brothers, Two Maidens, The Ugly Duckling, Under the Willow Tree, In the Uttermost Parts of the Sea, What One Can Invent, The Wicked Prince, The Wild Swans, The Will-o-the-Wisp in the Town, Says the Wild Woman, The Story of the Wind, The Windmill, The Story of the Year