The One Legged Tin Soldier - Adapted from Han Christian Anderson

The toymaker created all the tin soldiers so they looked exactly the same. The only one that stood out among them was the last one. Not enough tin was available to complete him so he was left with only one leg.

Other than that, he was fine.

The tin soldiers stood on display in the great toy store; right in front of the huge window. Next to the soldiers was a beautiful panorama that resembled a lake. A glass ballerina stood in the center of the lake.

The lake was really a mirror.

One of the ballerina's legs stood high up in the air. So high up, that she appeared to be standing on one leg. This attracted the one legged soldier's attention immediately.

They looked at each other. They smiled. They were happy.

But the ballerina had another admirer. Not too far away, a jack kept safe in his box, awaiting for the right moment.

A gust of wind blew the huge window open. The jack sprung out of his box and pushed the one legged soldier out of the store window; onto the streets.

The ballerina stopped smiling.

The one legged soldier did not.

Water from a nearby sewage drain caught the one legged soldier. He was brought to the depths of the city's sewer;

...and eventually out into the ocean where a fish swallowed him.

While underwater - and in the belly of a giant fish - the one legged soldier never doubted for a moment that he would see his ballerina again.

It was really dark.

The longer he stayed in the fish, the stronger his loyalty to the ballerina grew.

He was in love.

The giant fish was later on captured by a fisherman, sold to a seafood market, and then bought by the toymaker.

The toymaker almost lost himself when he gutted the fish and the one legged soldier appeared.

After rinsing the one legged soldier thoroughly, the toymaker placed the one legged soldier in the mirror lake;

...next to the ballerina.

She smiled again.

Angered at having been foiled, the jack again awaited in his box for the right moment. This time he had a more permanent plan in mind.

Not too far from the one legged soldier was a really hot furnace. As it started to heat up, the jack prepared himself.

He sprung again from his box and knocked the soldier, this time down onto the hot furnace.

The glass ballerina caught wind of the jack as well and followed not to far behind the one legged soldier.

She shattered into a million pieces.

The one legged soldier melted.

The toymaker later on found a strange heart shaped object on the furnace that appeared to be melted metal decorated with glass.

It shone as he held it up to the light.