A Little Tin Soldier

"The Steadfast Tin Soldier" (Danish: Den standhaftige tinsoldat) is a fairy tale written by Hans Christian Andersen about a tin soldier's love for a paper ballerina. The tale was first published in Copenhagen in 1838.
"The Steadfast Tin Soldier" is the first tale Andersen wrote that has neither a literary model nor a folk tale source. It marks a new independence in his writing, and is the zenith of his evocation of the nineteenth-century nursery world with its toy dancers, castles, and swans.