Hans Christian Andersen based a few of his tales on stories from Danish oral traditions. The Tinderbox is one of these tales along with The Travelling-Companion, The Swineherd, All That Father Does Is Best, Simple Simon, Little Claus and Big Claus and The Wild Swans.
The following tales are similar to The Tinderbox tale, AT-562. I have included the English language tales of this type which have been gathered by title by D. L. Ashliman in his A Guide to Folktales in the English Language.Sometimes I include tales of other classifications when I deem them relevant to the theme. The tales come from many cultures and are similar to the story in various ways. I have placed the tales in alphabetical order with bibliographic information and links to texts of the stories if a text is available on the internet.
Text available at The Blue Light.
The story of The Blue Light is German.
This tale is AT-562.
An English language version is available in:
Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm. The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm. Jack Zipes, translator. New York: Bantam, 1987.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in paperback.
Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm. Household Tales. Margaret Hunt, translator. London: George Bell, 1884. no. 116.
A web version of this tale does not exist due to copyright restrictions.
The story of Hagop's Wish is Armenian.
This tale is AT-562.
An English language version is available in:
Villa, Susie Hoogasian. 100 Armenian Tales. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1966. no. 21.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in hardcover.
A web version of this tale does not exist due to copyright restrictions.
The story of Lars, My Lad! is from Sweden.
This tale is AT-562.
An English language version is available in:
Boose, Claire, ed. Scandinavian Folk and Fairy Tales: Tales from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland. New York: Avenel Books: 1984. p. 169.
A web version of this tale does not exist due to copyright restrictions.
The story of Soldier of the Blue Light is from Kentucky, USA.
This tale is AT-562.
An English language version is available in:
Roberts, Leonard W. South From Hell-fer-Sartin: Kentucky Mountain Folk Tales. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1955. no. 22.
This is the version of the tale presented on the site with annotations at The Tinderbox.
This tale is AT-562.
An English language version is available in:
Andersen, Hans Christian. The Complete Fairy Tales and Stories. Erik Christian Haugaard, translator. Garden City, New York: Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1983. no. 1.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in paperback.
Opie, Iona and Peter. The Classic Fairy Tales. New York: Oxford University Press, 1974. p. 272.
Amazon.com: Buy the book inpaperback.
