How we cite our quotes: (Tale Title.Paragraph)
Quote #7
From prison directly to an almost heavenly freedom, to love and friendship; that also Jurgen was to try. No man would offer another man a glass to drain that contained nothing but bitterness. How should God then be able to do it, He who is all goodness? (A Story from the Dunes.137)
And here's that old religious conundrum: If God is so good, why do bad things happen in the world? It's comforting to know that even a pious, smarty pants like Andersen struggled to answer this question for himself.
Quote #8
"Amber is the most beautiful incense; from it comes the smell of God's great church: Nature." (The Sunshine's Story.18)
Nature = God's great church. It's a cool metaphor, if you think about it. So, like, could hiking be a form of prayer? Is littering an actual sin?
Quote #9
His bookshelf was filled with books, and one of them, which he called the book of books, he read often. It was the Bible, and in that was the whole history of the world and humanity: the creation, the flood, and the King of Kings. "Everything that has happened or will happen is written about in that book," claimed Godfather. "So much in one book, that is worth thinking about!" (What the Whole Family Said.9-10)
The Bible is the number one best seller of all time for a reason. But we here at Shmoop think there are other books out there that are worth reading as well. Like Andersen's, for example.