Hans Christian Andersen based a few of his tales on stories from Danish oral traditions. The Tinderbox is one of these tales along with The Travelling-Companion, The Swineherd, All That Father Does Is Best, Simple Simon, Little Claus and Big Claus and The Wild Swans.

The following tales are similar to The Tinderbox tale, AT-562. I have included the English language tales of this type which have been gathered by title by D. L. Ashliman in his A Guide to Folktales in the English Language. Sometimes I include tales of other classifications when I deem them relevant to the theme. The tales come from many cultures and are similar to the story in various ways. I have placed the tales in alphabetical order with bibliographic information and links to texts of the stories if a text is available on the internet.

The Blue Light
Hagop’s Wish
Lars, My Lad!
Soldier of the Blue Light
The Tinderbox

Text available at The Blue Light.

The story of The Blue Light is German.

This tale is AT-562.

An English language version is available in:

Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm. The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm. Jack Zipes, translator. New York: Bantam, 1987.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in paperback.

Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm. Household Tales. Margaret Hunt, translator. London: George Bell, 1884. no. 116.

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A web version of this tale does not exist due to copyright restrictions.

The story of Hagop's Wish is Armenian.

This tale is AT-562.

An English language version is available in:

Villa, Susie Hoogasian. 100 Armenian Tales. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1966. no. 21.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in hardcover.

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A web version of this tale does not exist due to copyright restrictions.

The story of Lars, My Lad! is from Sweden.

This tale is AT-562.

An English language version is available in:

Boose, Claire, ed. Scandinavian Folk and Fairy Tales: Tales from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland. New York: Avenel Books: 1984. p. 169.

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Soldier of the Blue Light

A web version of this tale does not exist due to copyright restrictions.

The story of Soldier of the Blue Light is from Kentucky, USA.

This tale is AT-562.

An English language version is available in:

Roberts, Leonard W. South From Hell-fer-Sartin: Kentucky Mountain Folk Tales. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1955. no. 22.

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This is the version of the tale presented on the site with annotations at The Tinderbox.

This tale is AT-562.

An English language version is available in:

Andersen, Hans Christian. The Complete Fairy Tales and Stories. Erik Christian Haugaard, translator. Garden City, New York: Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1983. no. 1.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in paperback.

Opie, Iona and Peter. The Classic Fairy Tales. New York: Oxford University Press, 1974. p. 272.
Amazon.com: Buy the book inpaperback.

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