The teacher's father had died in a hot air ballooning accident: the balloon had exploded two minutes after he had parachuted his son to safety. The boy had to learn to survive alone and this was how he became a teacher. His dream was to have his own hot air balloon one day, but when his wife left him all he had left was a little flea, and they swore never to leave each other. But, when they arrived in the savage country, the princess of this country ordered that the flea remain with her, and the teacher had to find a way to get it back! Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875) was a Danish author, poet and artist. Celebrated for children's literature, his most cherished fairy tales include "The Emperor's New Clothes", "The Little Mermaid", "The Nightingale", "The Steadfast Tin Soldier", "The Snow Queen", "The Ugly Duckling" and "The Little Match Girl". His books have been translated into every living language, and today there is no child or adult that has not met Andersen's whimsical characters. His fairy tales have been adapted to stage and screen countless times, most notably by Disney with the animated films "The Little Mermaid" in 1989 and "Frozen", which is loosely based on "The Snow Queen", in 2013. Thanks to Andersen's contribution to children's literature, his birth date, April 2, is celebrated as International Children's Book Day.