The Snail and the Rosebush by Hans Christian Andersen. Short summary

5 seconds

The rose bush produced beautiful flowers every year that delighted those around it with their sight and fragrance. Under the bush lived a snail who kept promising to surprise the world with something. Then she said that she did not care about the world.

1 minute

In the middle of the garden there was a rose bush. Every spring it blossomed with marvelous buds. Under the bush lived a snail. It was full of confidence that it would soon reveal something great to the world—better than just roses.

The bush was too well-mannered to cross her. He only asked when it would happen. But after all, snails despise haste.

Years went by. The bush blossomed, its buds opened, delighted people and showered petals. And the snail kept promising the world a great miracle.

But over time, her rhetoric changed. She began to reproach the bush for not developing: the same roses year after year.

The bush asked how the snail had progressed in showing the world the great miracle. «What is the world to me? — answered the snail. — It’s not worth me!»

The bush eventually became earth. But it remembered how its roses were plucked by people and how their faces lit up with joy at it. The snail, sealed in its shell, had also become earth. But it had nothing to remember.