The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep by Hans Christian Andersen. Short summary

5 seconds

Two porcelain figurines decided to escape from the closet. They escaped through the chimney to the roof. But the shepherdess, seeing how big the world was, got scared and wanted to go back into the closet.

1 minute

In the closet were two porcelain figurines, Shepherdess and Chimney Sweeper, standing side by side. They loved each other. Next to it was a figure of a Chinese man who could nod his head. The Chinaman imagined that he was the Shepherdess’ grandfather and wanted to marry her off to the nasty Goatfoot, a mahogany figurine.

The girl swam and begged her grandfather to change his mind, but he thought this union was the best. After all, the Goatfoot was reputed to be rich.

Then the lovers decided to run away. They climbed down a cabinet leg and hid in a puppet theater. Then they climbed out through the chimney to the roof.

But there the Shepherdess saw a huge, immense world — and she was frightened. «I want to go back in the closet!» — she whimpered. The chimney sweep loved her very much, so he gave in to her wish.

When they returned to the living room, it turned out that Grandpa Chinaman, in his zeal to stop his granddaughter, had fallen off the sideboard and split into three pieces. The shepherdess began to worry that it was her fault he had died. But the Chinaman was glued back together. He no longer nodded his head and did not agree to the Goatfoot’s marriage to his granddaughter. So the Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweeper were able to be together.