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See also Funeral, Graveyard

Keywords:

Death, graveyard, cross

Description of this motif: Graves are a place for melancholy, sorrow and memories, and so it is in Andersen's tales, for example in the "The Old Tombstone". The emphasis is on memories of the dead, even when oblivion prevails, as in the mercyless story "The Wind Tells about Valdemar Daae and His Daughters":

The stork had given her shelter to the day of her death. I sang at her funeral," said the Wind, "as I had sung at her father's; I know where his grave is, and her grave, but no one else knows.

Now there are new times, changed times. The old highway is lost in the fields, old cemeteries have been made into new roads, and soon the steam engine, with its row of cars, will come to rush over the forgotten graves of unknown ancestors. Whew, whew, whew! On, on!

Example :

The tale has not been translated (by Hersholt) and is therefore quoted in Danish. Further information and links.

Man siger at høit i Norden laae en mægtig Drot jordet i Kjæmpehøien tæt ved det aabne Hav; hver Nat reiste den Døde sig, [og sad en usalig Aand paa] sin Gravhøi. Da kom et Skib forbi, [der var en Skjald om] bord, han saae den usalige Aand og spurgte: [Hvad kan skaffe] Dig Fred og Hvile? [ ] svarede han. Fred og Hvile har jeg først [naar min Gjerning] her paa Jorden lever i Eftermælet. Og [Skjalden... s] in Harpe sang hans Idræt og den døde sank [...] Taagen synker ved Solens Glands, Fred [ ] Græstørven, Fred oven over hvor Skjaldens [ ] fra Mund til Mund.