Scandinavian literature summaries - 2023

Short summary - Elder-tree Mother
Hans Christian Andersen

Mom was going to give elder tea to her son who had caught a cold. An old man came to visit, who always had a fairy tale ready. When a fairy tale suddenly “came” to the old man, elder branches appeared from under the lid of the teapot, and from them an affectionate old woman smiled - Elder Mother (Dryad). The old man told about the elder bush in the corner of the courtyard in Novaya Slobidka, under which the old sailor and his wife recall their youth. When the boy objected that this was not a fairy tale, Mother replied that the fairy tale would begin now, because the most wonderful fairy tales grow out of reality. She took the boy by the hand and they found themselves in the arbor, and Mother turned into a pretty girl.

Sitting astride a cane with a horse's head, the children played on the lawn, then in the garden, which grew out of a flower from a girl's wreath, they flew over Denmark in all seasons. The boy became a young man, a sailor, but carried with him a flower given by a girl. After many years, he was sitting with his old wife in the garden under an elder tree, and the Elder Mother took two flowers from her wreath and placed them on their heads like crowns, and also called her real name - Remembrance. She affectionately nodded to the old people, and they were sitting in golden crowns, their eyes were closed, and ... The boy was lying in bed, and the old man was about to leave.