ANDERSEN, HANS CHRISTIAN (1805-1875), Danish Storyteller

Anderson wrote many plays and novels in his homeland of Denmark, but his international fame rests on his fairy tales, which have been translated into dozens of languages. Toward the end of his life, as he was discussing the music to be used at his funeral with the musician who composed it, Andersen put in one request: "Most of those who will walk my funeral will be small children, so make the beat keep time with little steps." Two sex researchers in the early twentieth century, Magnus Hirschfeld and Edward I. Stevenson, refer to him as being gay.