What the Old Man Does Is Always Right

by Hans Christian Andersen, Nathaele Vogel (Illustrator)

Book by Hans Christian Andersen

Genres: Childrens, Classics, Short Stories, Fiction, Fantasy, Fairy Tales

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1861

About the author

Hans Christian Andersen (often referred to in Scandinavia as H.C. Andersen) was a Danish author and poet. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, Andersen is best remembered for his fairy tales. Andersen's popularity is not limited to children; his stories — called eventyr, or "fairy-tales" — express themes that transcend age and nationality.

Andersen's fairy tales, which have been translated into more than 125 languages, have become culturally embedded in the West's collective consciousness, readily accessible to children, but presenting lessons of virtue and resilience in the face of adversity for mature readers as well. Some of his most famous fairy tales include "The Little Mermaid", "The Ugly Duckling", "The Nightingale", "The Emperor's New Clothes" and many more. His stories have inspired plays, ballets, and both live-action and animated films.

Reviews

[Bionic Jean]

In What Father Does Is Always Right, alternatively titled, "Father's Always Right" we see a rare example of Hans Christian Andersen's droll humour.

After a cosy, chatty introductory passage about a farmhouse, which sets the scene, we are introduced to the farmer and his wife. It is market day, and the farmer is about to go off to the market to sell his horse. His wife kisses him goodbye, saying, as she usually does, to do whatever he wants because he always knows best. The story is a repeating story, of a type much loved by young children, as they anticipate what may happen next. Each time the farmer encounters someone on the road with a different animal, he stops and thinks how much better their animal is than his. Each time he swaps the one he has, not seeming to realise that he gets the worse part of the deal (although we do). At first he exchanges his horse for a cow, then the cow for a sheep, the sheep for a goose, the goose for a hen, and the hen for a sack of apples - which turn out to be rotten.

Then he goes to a pub to quench his thirst.

"There were a lot of strangers in the bar - horse-traders, cattledealers, even a couple of Englishmen, who were so rich that their pockets were bursting with gold coins. And being English, they would bet on anything." (I did laugh at that bit!)

As they chat, the farmer explains about all his swapping, and the Englishmen propose a bet, that the farmer will get into trouble from his wife when he gets home, for being so foolish. But the farmer has every confidece in his wife,

"She'll give me a kiss, and say, 'Father's always right!'" and he accepts the bet, whereupon they all make their way back to the farmer's home, to see what will happen.

The farmer recounts all his different swaps to his wife, who is delighted with each one, finding a good use for all the various animals. In the final swap she is just as thrilled to hear about his "bargain" of rotten apples, which she claims she can use to pay back a neighbour who has been mean to her, and kisses him. So the Englishmen have to give him the gold which they agreed on.

The surprise here is that it is the reader who is surprised at the ending to this story. We expect a twist of some sort, but the twist is that the farmer was right all the time. It's quite clever, light-hearted and entertaining, and fits a well-loved mould for traditional fairy tales.

"Yes, it always pays for a wife to think that whatever Father does is for the best.
That's my story, I heard it when I was a boy; and now you've heard it too, you know that Father's always right."

[Amber]

So I'm all about having a happy attitude no matter what, but the guy in this story is an idiot.

[Vaishali]

Awwwwwww :) A very, very sweet story. Too many times in this life we judge each other. What the world really needs is unconditional love. And according to Anderson, it always pays off.

[K. Anna Kraft]

I have arranged my takeaway thoughts on this fairytale into a haiku:

"Onlookers laugh, that
One can know their mate so well,
That they’re ‘always right.’"

[koouvi]

wife is soooooo sweet.

[Elinor Loredan]

I don't agree with the idea of wives saying that their husbands are always right and never questioning them. I just like the comedy of the story and also I think it can be about supporting each other instead of criticizing.

[Grace Sakelson]

Hans Christian Anderson always had a moral to his stories. In this story, the Father is making trade after trade while declining in value, but each trade is with Mother in mind. Mother, in the meantime, is making Father something to eat and thinking about his well being. The two Englishman with their barrell of Gold coins represent salvation. In the end, Mother’s support of her husband and delight in each choice, showing he’s always thinking her first. They receive salvation in the end because of their faithfulness to each other and their vocation. “Always happy, always contented, that was worth a barrel of gold.” We don’t always make the best choices in life, but with love for each other we can achieve happiness in this life and in heaven. I love this story and a must read for newly engaged or married.

[Amelia Bujar]

FULL REVIEW ON MY WEBSITE
https://thebookcornerchronicles.com/2...

This one was really not for me. Maybe reading children stories as an adult isn’t the best thing to do for some people.

I personally found this story to be very boring and uninteresting. I really had hard time reading it because I just couldn’t get into the story.

The story is pretty quick read, but that’s the only good thing about this story for me personally.

The writing style in this one was very generic which every fairytale has.

[Veronica Ippolito]

a ver, creo que es una satira a una sociedad; una critica armada con el humor de Andersen que si lo lees al principio no te das cuenta. si no me hubiese estresado que haya perdido plata le pondria 5 estrellas. creo tambien que es ese alguien que amamos mas alla de los errores que tenga y que hay veces que no nos conviene seguirlo a él (la mujer del padre muestra esa obsesion y justifica sus errores como algo que la beneficia). un amor y dependencia que no hace bien, y el hombre aprovechandose de su vulnerabilidad amorosa.

[Kyle Hamlin]

In this story the pictures make up most of the book and the colors are very rich within each page. the book is a long one and there is a lot of text within each page, but I do think that the story is a good one and it has that familiar feel to it where the story is told by the author. I think that this book would be good for 2nd grade but mostly 3rd grade.

[Sruti]

Funny story.

[Mario]

عجب

[Sinbad]

H.C Andersen forklarer forskellen mellem markedverdi og kærlighedverdi. Hvad betyder det at være ligeglad? Det finder vi ud takket være denne eventyr

[Kayla]

okay this was cute…. I mean always trust your partner i guess…..

[Afaf Ammar]

حكاية جميلة

15 December 2024

[Joseph Knecht]

A man traded a horse for a cow, then a sheep and a hen, to end up with rotten apples.

It was worth it because he had a supportive family.

[EvaLovesYA]

Læs mit review her: Eva Lucias blog (Mere detaljeret version)

Anmeldt for Visit Andersen.dk

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[Bettie]

I will tell you the story which was told to me when I was a little boy.

[Cyndi Goodgame]

Pure laughter for the simple fact that it had to be a man who wrote this.