One of the segments in "Fantasia 2000" is based on a Hans Christian Andersen story called "The Steadfast Tin Soldier." This is a charming, bittersweet love story about a tin soldier with one leg who falls in love with a ballerina doll. I've included the original story on this page to help explain the details on the building. You can get a glimpse of the steadfast soldier on the left side of the jack-in-the-box photo. In true Disney fashion, the film version of the story has a happier ending than the original.
"The Steadfast Tin Soldier"
by
Hans Christian Andersen
There were once upon a time five-and-twenty tin soldiers -- all brothers, for they were made out of the same old tin spoon. Their uniforms were red and yellow; they shouldered arms and looked straight ahead. The first words they heard in this world, when the lid was taken off their box, were, "Hurrah! Tin soldiers!" This was shouted by a little boy as he clapped his hands. They had been given to him because it was his birthday, and he began setting them out on the table. Each soldier was exactly like the next, except one, who had been made last when the tin was running short. There he stood as firmly on his one leg as the rest did on two and he is the one who became famous.
There were many other playthings on the table. But the nicest of all was a pretty little castle made out of cardboard, with windows through which one could see into the room. In front of the castle stood some little trees surrounding a tiny mirror which looked like a lake. Wax swans were floating about, and were reflected in the glass. That was all very pretty, but the prettiest was a little lady who stood in the open doorway of the castle. She, too, was cut out of paper, but she had on a dress of the finest gauze, with a scarf of narrow blue ribbon around her shoulders. The ribbon scarf was fastened in the middle by a glittering paper rose almost as large as her head. The lady had both her arms outstretched, for she was a dancer, and one leg was raised so high behind her that the tin soldier couldn't see it and he thought that she, too, had only one leg.
That's the wife for me! he thought; but she is so grand and lives in a castle, while I have only a box with four-and-twenty others. This is no place for her! But I must make her acquaintance. Then he stationed himself next to a snuffbox on the table. From there he could watch the dainty lady, who continued to stand on one leg without losing her balance.
When night came all the other tin soldiers were put into their box, and the people of the house went to bed. Then the toys began to play at visiting, dancing, and fighting. The tin soldiers rattled in their box, for they wanted to be out, too, but they could not raise the lid. The nutcrackers played at leapfrog and the slate pencil ran about the slate. There was so much noise that the canary woke up and began to talk to them -- in poetry, if you please! The only two who did not stir from their places were the tin soldier and the little dancer. She remained on tiptoe, with both arms outstretched. He stood steadfastly on his one leg, never moving his eyes from her face.
The clock struck twelve, and crack! Off flew the lid of the snuffbox. But there was no snuff inside, only a little black imp -- that was the charm of it. "Hello, tin soldier!" said the imp. "Don't look at things that aren't intended for the likes of you!"
But the tin soldier took no notice and seemed not to hear him.
"Very well, very well! Wait till tomorrow!" said the imp, peevishly.
When it was morning and the children were up, the tin soldier was put on the windowsill. Whether it was the wind or the little black imp, I don't know, but all at once the window flew open and out fell the little soldier, head over heels, from the third story window! That was a terrible fall, I can tell you! He landed on his head with his leg in the air, his gun wedged between two paving stones.
The nursery maid and the little boy rushed down to look for him but, though they were so near they almost stepped on him, they did not see him. If the tin soldier had only shouted, "Here I am!" they would certainly have found him, but he did not think it right to shout, when he was in uniform.
Then it began to drizzle. Soon the drops came faster, and there was a regular downpour. When it was over, two little boys came along.
"Just look!" cried one. "Here is a tin soldier! Let's send him sailing."
So they made a little boat out of newspaper, put the tin soldier in it and made him sail up and down the gutter. Both the boys ran along beside him, clapping their hands. What great waves there were in the gutter and what a swift current! The paper boat tossed up and down, and in the middle of the stream it went so fast that the tin soldier trembled. But he remained steadfast, showing no emotion and looking straight in front of him, shouldering his gun. Suddenly the boat passed into a long tunnel that was as dark as his box had been. "Where can I be now?" he wondered. "Oh, dear! This is the black imp's fault! Ah, if only the little lady were sitting beside me in the boat, it could be twice as dark for all I'd care!"
Then there came along a great water rat that lived in the tunnel.
"Where's your passport?" asked the rat. "Out with your passport!"
But the tin soldier was silent and grasped his gun more firmly. The boat sped on and the rat behind it. Ugh! How he gnashed his teeth as he cried to chips of wood and straw: "Catch him, catch him! He hasn't paid the toll! He hasn't shown his passport!"
The current became swifter and stronger. The tin soldier could already see daylight where the tunnel ended. In his ears there sounded a roaring enough to frighten any brave man. Just imagine! At the end of the tunnel the gutter emptied into a great canal that was just as dangerous for him as it would be for us to go down a waterfall.
It came nearer and nearer; on went the boat, the poor tin soldier keeping himself as stiff as he could. No one could say of him afterwards that he had flinched. The boat whirled three, four times and became filled to the brim with water. It began to sink! The tin soldier was standing up to his neck in water. Deeper and deeper sank the boat. Softer and softer grew the paper. Now the water was over his head. He was thinking of the pretty little dancer, whose face he would never see again, and there sounded in his ears, over and over:
Forward, forward, soldier bold,
Death's before thee, grim and cold!
The paper came apart, and the soldier fell right through -- but at that moment he was swallowed by a great fish! Inside it was even darker than in the tunnel. It was really very close quarters! But the steadfast little tin soldier lay full length, shouldering his gun.
Up and down swam the fish, then it made the most dreadful contortions and suddenly became quite still. It was as if lightning had passed through it; the daylight streamed in and a voice exclaimed, "Why, here is the little tin soldier!" The fish had been caught and taken to market, then sold and brought into the kitchen, where the cook had cut it open with a great knife.
She picked up the soldier between her fingers and carried him into the room, where everyone wanted to see the hero who had been found inside a fish. The tin soldier was not at all proud. They put him on the table and -- what strange things do happen in this world -- the tin soldier was in the same room in which he had been before! He saw the same children and the same toys on the table. There was the same grand castle with the pretty little dancer. She was still standing on one leg with the other high behind her. She too was steadfast. That touched the tin shoulder. He looked at her, but she said nothing.
Suddenly one of the little boys picked up the tin soldier and, for no reason, threw him into the stove. Doubtless the little black imp in the snuffbox was at the bottom of that, too.
There the tin soldier lay and felt a truly terrible heat. Whether he was suffering from real fire or from love he did not know. All his color had disappeared. Whether this had happened on his travels or whether it was the result of trouble, who can say? He looked at the little lady, she looked at him, and he felt that he was melting. He remained steadfast with his gun at his shoulder.
Then a door opened, the draft caught up the little dancer, and off she flew like a sylph to the tin soldier in the stove, burst into flames -- and that was the end of her! The tin soldier melted down into a small lump, and next morning when the maid was taking out the ashes, she found him in the shape of a heart. There was nothing left of the little dancer but her gilt rose, burned as black as a cinder.
(As printed in _The World's Best Fairy Tales_, a Reader's Digest Anthology, copyright 1967)
Donald and Daisy also make an appearance in the Fantasia 2000 section, representing the "Pomp and Circumstance" segment of the film, which tells the story of Noah's Ark.
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