Ambleside Online Synopsis of Hans Christian Andersen Stories

01 The Beetle Who Went on his Travels - a bragging beetle sees the world, marries and leaves a beetle wife, and draws his own conclusions about the world and his place in it.
02 The Brave Tin Soldier - a toy soldier with a leg missing falls out a window, has adventures, admires a paper ballerina from afar, and is finally thrown into a furnace with the ballerina.
03 The Buckwheat - a proud buckwheat refuses to yield and bow, so he gets destroyed by a storm
04 The Conceited Apple-Branch - an apple blossom is humbled when painted next to a despised dandelion
05 The Emperor's New Suit - two tricksters pretend to sew a new suit for a vain emperor
06 The Fir Tree - a fir tree wants to see the world, and is cut down for Christmas, experiencing one glorious moment of splendor before being thrown in the trash heap
07 The Flax - a flax plant dreaming of glory is made into linen undergarments, and then recycled into paper for a book, and finally thrown into the furnace
08 The Girl Who Trod on the Loaf - a proud girl is adopted by a rich patroness, but her ungrateful arrogance sinks her into a muddy underworld until a tear of repentance turns her into a bird
09 The Goblin and the Huckster - a goblin wants to emulate a student and understand poetry, but his nature is too obsessed with food and jam
10 The Happy Family - snails wish to be on a rich man's table, but they live ordinary lives instead
11 The Jewish Maiden - despite the prejudice of Christians, a Jewish girl finds the love of Christ
12 The Jumper - a flea, a grasshopper and a skipjack toy have a jumping competition to win a princess
13 The Last Dream of the Old Oak - an old oak pities a happy fly who only lives for one day, then his life passes before him in a dream and he is reunited with his friends, the birds and flowers, in heaven while a storm topples him over
14 The Little Elder-tree Mother - an old man tells a story to a boy about an elder tree overseeing an old couple remembering their happy life together
15 Little Ida's Flowers - Ida's flowers live a double life, quiet during the day, but partying and dancing with Ida's dolls all night
16 The Little Match-Seller -  an abused destitute match girl has a vision of her grandmother in paradise just as she freezes to death
17 Little Tiny or Thumbelina - Tiny Thumbelina is pressured to marry a mole and live underground, but a swallow flies her to a warm land where she receives wings and marries a flower prince
18 The Loveliest Rose in the World - The loveliest rose isn't the flower, but the roses on the cheeks of children, and Jesus, who died for us
19 The Mail-Coach Passengers - all twelve months meet on a mail coach at New Years
20 The Nightingale - a real nightingale is displaced by a mechanical one, but harbors no ill-will, and sings to the Emporer as he lies dying and troubled by spirits, saving his life
21 The Old Church Bell - a church bell's life parallels that of poet John Christoper Frederick Schiller, and part of the bronze from the bell becomes a statue of the famous poet
22 The Old Grave Stone - the history of an old grave stone is told, bringing back memories to an old man of an old forgotten couple
23 The Old House - a little boy brings joy back to an old house when he pays a visit to the old man who lives there. Many years later, the boy finds a toy soldier he'd left there
24 The Pea Blossom - five peas meet their various destinies in the world
25 The Pen and the Inkstand - pen and ink argue about which of them is greater, missing the fact that God, who inspires the writer, is greater than either of them
26 The Philosopher's Stone - four brothers who each have extraordinary abilities with one of the five senses, seek a stone reputed to combine truth, beauty and goodness, but it's their blind sister with the gift of touch who discovers the mystery of the stone.
27 The Porter's Son - a humble porter's son wins a general's daughter after many years
28 The Princess and the Pea - a very short tale about a princess who was sensitive enough to feel a pea under twenty mattresses
29 The Red Shoes - a little girl's vanity compels her put on red shoes that curse her to dance herself to death
30 The Shirt-collar - a proud shirt collar never does find true love; instead, he's recycled into a paper book
31 The Silver Shilling - a shilling who cherishes honesty changes hands and has experiences with the people who find him
32 The Snail and the Rose-Tree - a cynical snail can't discourage a happy rose tree
33 The Snowdrop - an early blooming flower is pressed into a book of poems
34 Something - three brothers make something of themselves in their own individual ways
35 Soup From a Sausage Skewer - four mice set out to discover how to make soup in order to win marriage with the king; each takes a different approach and returns with a different result.
36 The Ugly Duckling - a 'duckling' is oppressed and mistreated for being ugly until he's discovered to be a swan
37 The Wicked Prince - a prince who thinks he can conquer everyone, even God, is finally overcome by a gnat bite
38 The Wild Swans - 11 princes are turned to swans by their stepmother, and their sister Eliza is sent away. Eliza breaks the spell by never speaking until she makes jackets to throw over her swan brothers
39 There Is No Doubt About It - a hen loses a feather, and the telling of that incident grows into a wild story
40 The Candles - a tallow candle doesn't get to burn in splendor with the wax candles, but it still feels blessed to give light to a widow