Explore "The Steadfast Tin Soldier" by Hans Christian Andersen on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
THERE were once five and twenty tin soldiers. They were brothers, for they had all been made out of the same old tin spoon. They all shouldered their bayonets, held themselves upright, and looked straight before them. Their uniforms were very smart-looking -- red and blue -- and very splendid. The first thing they heard in the world, when the lid was taken off the box in which they lay, was the words "Tin soldiers! " These words were spoken by a little boy, who clapped his hands for joy. The soldiers had been given him because it was his birthday, and now he was putting them out upon the table.
Each was exactly like the rest to a hair, except one who had but one leg. He had been cast last of all, and there had not been quite enough tin to finish him; but he stood as firmly upon his one leg as the others upon their two, and it was he whose fortunes became so remarkable.