When the ailing health of the celebrated Danish author of fairytales, Hans Christian Andersen, was declining rapidly, he consulted a composer about his funeral music: "Most of the people that will walk after me will be children, so make the beat keep time with little steps." Yet despite his evident love of children, Andersen never married. After developing liver cancer, he was unable to care for himself. He moved into the house of some friends near Copenhagen, where he could see the ocean from his room. One morning he quietly finished his tea, and was found a few minutes later lying in his bed, dead. In his hands was a farewell letter written forty-five years earlier by the only woman he had ever loved. --- #hanschristianandersen #fairytales #writer #author #danish #literature #history #lastwords #quotes #shorts #onthisday #todayinhistory #lovestory