Hans Christian Andersen is famous for writing over 160 fairy tales, including The Ugly Duckling, The Snow Queen, The Little Match Girl, The Princess and the Pea, and The Little Mermaid, have become literary classics enjoyed by children and adults the world over. Andersen was born on April 2, 1805, in Odense, Denmark to a very poor family. His father, who died when Andersen was only 11, would entertain him with old Danish legends and stories from The Arabian Nights, which influenced his writings as an adult. In 1867 he returned to Odense to be honored by his country. He published his last fairy tales in 1872, and after a long illness, he died in Copenhagen on August 4, 1875.