The Galoshes of Fortune have the power of carrying the person who wears them instantly to any time and place they desire – but is this really a good thing? 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.

"The Galoshes of Fortune" is a literary fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen about a set of time-travelling boots, considered to be inspired by the folktale of the "seven-league boots". The tale was first published by C. A. Reitzel in Copenhagen, Denmark on 19 May 1838 with The True Soldier (one-act verse play) and "That Was Done by the Zombie" (poem) in Three Poetical Works. Reitzel paid Andersen 40 rixdollars for the story. In the tale, Andersen continues to perfect his colloquial style. Andersen read the tale aloud in the late 1830s with his novel Only a Fiddler. The tale irritated the young Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard with its satirical portrait of a bird that babbles on endlessly in a philosophical vein.

"The Galoshes of Fortune" is a literary fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen about a set of time-travelling boots, considered to be inspired by the folktale of the "seven-league boots". The tale was first published by C. A. Reitzel in Copenhagen, Denmark on 19 May 1838 with The True Soldier (one-act verse play) and "That Was Done by the Zombie" (poem) in Three Poetical Works. Reitzel paid Andersen 40 rixdollars for the story. In the tale, Andersen continues to perfect his colloquial style. Andersen read the tale aloud in the late 1830s with his novel Only a Fiddler. The tale irritated the young Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard with its satirical portrait of a bird that babbles on endlessly in a philosophical vein.