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"The Tinderbox" (Danish: Fyrtøjet) is a literary fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen
about a soldier who acquires a magic tinderboxcapable of summoning three powerful dogs to do his bidding. When the soldier has one of the dogs transport a sleeping princess to his room,
he is sentenced to death but cunningly summons the dogs to save his life."
According to Wikipedia

***

So I've been told this story since I was very young, as my dad is the best and educated me
in only the cream of the crop of classic literature.
This particular story however, has stuck with me for one reason-
The dogs.
They are without doubt one of the most eerie, yet intriguing literary trio I've ever read about.

Though all accounts say that are guarding progressively more precious wealth,
the original story is a bit lax on the description of these dogs,
except for one detail:
The first dog had eyes 'the size of teacups' The second dog had eyes 'the size of water wheels'

And the third dog had eyes 'the size of the Round Tower'

So.
The more I've returned to this as an adult, I realize just how creepy, as well as how perfectly open to interpretation this is-
because really, they don't hurt the main character, and they help him out and find him a hot babe to marry and even save his life,
but just.
Just.

In the beginning they're just sitting there, each of them alone in an empty room, on a chest of treasure.
Staring.

What.
The crap.

SO

I'll try to categorize all of these different (beautiful) interpretations. I did my best to find the original artist (I couldn't with about three),
so if you're curious about the designer,
click any of these and it'll have the artist in the title!

CATEGORY 1: Mostly Regular
This is the category where it seems like they're just overly large dogs- the eyes aren't even that big proportionally

I think these two are rather beautiful, obviously meant to be more ethereal or even playful than eerie and unnerving

This good puppy just looks happy to help. He's a friend and a boy.

All I could think of for this next one was Incubus the Nightmare by Henry Fuseli

That Cocker Spaniel is planning a murder- I don't care what you say.

CATEGORY 2: A Little Off. Just. Just a Little.
His face says it all, man. These are the dogs that just seem to have anime-ratio eye sizes

Here's a good pug. A curly-tailed cutie.

This poster says 'The Tinderbox', but it just looks like a regular chihuahua to me . . .

What have you seen to render you so traumatized, my friend?

Hey look it's Wendy the whippet

CATEGORY 3: Accommodating The Eyes
These artists solved the 'big eyes' dilemma by making the dogs themselves bigger, so as not to make the eyes too proportionally obscene.

These dogs seem more to have amorphous blobs of liquid than eyes

I bet Harry didn't know Sirius had some distant cousins!

(This next artist's rendition is the one I grew up with, I'm pretty sure. Explains a lot about my characters, don't it?)
Despite the fact that the two biggest guys' eyes aren't the size of water wheels or 'the round tower', the orb-like stippled pupil design is still something that's gonna stick with you.
Pluto what are you doing. Disney. Disney have you seen this

I think the green tongue is the most distinctive part of this v design, but you can't deny-
that dog's eyes are bigger than that guy's head and his hat together,
the pupil alone is as big as the human's eye

A nervous boy and a dexterous boy, respectively

v This Bulldog dwarfs bulls v
It's interesting to me that instead of emphasizing the size of the eye by the lack of a pupil, this artist has gone in the other direction.

This is the only live-action, theater production I could find. I find it intriguing that the dogs on the right look like the tired, conservative parents of the dog on the left, with the running emo-esque eye shadow and filed teeth.

CATEGORY 4: SCREW ACCOMMODATING THE EYESHere's where things get fun!
This guy holds a special place in my heart with his humanish grabby arms and google eyes.

"Hey- Hey man. You uh- you fillin up your knapsack there?
S'that what you're doin'?
Ah- that's cool, my dude. I just
can't
stop
watching

"'Cause if you take anything more than what you're supposed to
I'll eat you alive
but if you don't, we'll be friends forever!

Classmates cheatin' off your test be like

Alright, time to step it-
. . .
up

Okaayyyyyyy- things are starting to get
a little wei-
OH

oh my
Cylindrical eyes, eh?
I see that and raise you

I'd love to know who put the collar on that dog.
Who owns him? Who takes him to the optometrist?
I wanna know

Like two big ol' brass gongs
I also think the pointed tongue is an interesting touch.

Well,
up to this point the heads of the dogs have at least tapered to fit the eyeballs,
but do you know what happens if they don't?

NIGHTMARES!
NIGHTMARES HAPPEN!I mean justLOOK AT THIS
MY GOSHPROPS TO YOU, HEINRICH STRUBI take my hat and the hat of everyone in my vicinity off to you.
You have broken EVERY mold and made
The Most Unforgettable design for these mother-hubbards.

Phew.

Well, weird as that was,
I still don't think I've been scarred for life,
and you know,
that's always an achieveme-

BISCUITS AND GRAVY!!!
I'M OUTThat's- that's it. I'm out.Good night ladies and gentlemen.
Sweet dreams

Description
body div#devskin0 hr { }

"The Tinderbox" (Danish: Fyrtøjet) is a literary fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen
about a soldier who acquires a magic tinderboxcapable of summoning three powerful dogs to do his bidding. When the soldier has one of the dogs transport a sleeping princess to his room,
he is sentenced to death but cunningly summons the dogs to save his life."
According to Wikipedia

***

So I've been told this story since I was very young, as my dad is the best and educated me
in only the cream of the crop of classic literature.
This particular story however, has stuck with me for one reason-
The dogs.
They are without doubt one of the most eerie, yet intriguing literary trio I've ever read about.

Though all accounts say that are guarding progressively more precious wealth,
the original story is a bit lax on the description of these dogs,
except for one detail:
The first dog had eyes 'the size of teacups' The second dog had eyes 'the size of water wheels'

And the third dog had eyes 'the size of the Round Tower'

So.
The more I've returned to this as an adult, I realize just how creepy, as well as how perfectly open to interpretation this is-
because really, they don't hurt the main character, and they help him out and find him a hot babe to marry and even save his life,
but just.
Just.

In the beginning they're just sitting there, each of them alone in an empty room, on a chest of treasure.
Staring.

What.
The crap.

SO

I'll try to categorize all of these different (beautiful) interpretations. I did my best to find the original artist (I couldn't with about three),
so if you're curious about the designer,
click any of these and it'll have the artist in the title!

CATEGORY 1: Mostly Regular
This is the category where it seems like they're just overly large dogs- the eyes aren't even that big proportionally

I think these two are rather beautiful, obviously meant to be more ethereal or even playful than eerie and unnerving

This good puppy just looks happy to help. He's a friend and a boy.

All I could think of for this next one was Incubus the Nightmare by Henry Fuseli

That Cocker Spaniel is planning a murder- I don't care what you say.

CATEGORY 2: A Little Off. Just. Just a Little.
His face says it all, man. These are the dogs that just seem to have anime-ratio eye sizes

Here's a good pug. A curly-tailed cutie.

This poster says 'The Tinderbox', but it just looks like a regular chihuahua to me . . .

What have you seen to render you so traumatized, my friend?

Hey look it's Wendy the whippet

CATEGORY 3: Accommodating The Eyes
These artists solved the 'big eyes' dilemma by making the dogs themselves bigger, so as not to make the eyes too proportionally obscene.

These dogs seem more to have amorphous blobs of liquid than eyes

I bet Harry didn't know Sirius had some distant cousins!

(This next artist's rendition is the one I grew up with, I'm pretty sure. Explains a lot about my characters, don't it?)
Despite the fact that the two biggest guys' eyes aren't the size of water wheels or 'the round tower', the orb-like stippled pupil design is still something that's gonna stick with you.
Pluto what are you doing. Disney. Disney have you seen this

I think the green tongue is the most distinctive part of this v design, but you can't deny-
that dog's eyes are bigger than that guy's head and his hat together,
the pupil alone is as big as the human's eye

A nervous boy and a dexterous boy, respectively

v This Bulldog dwarfs bulls v
It's interesting to me that instead of emphasizing the size of the eye by the lack of a pupil, this artist has gone in the other direction.

This is the only live-action, theater production I could find. I find it intriguing that the dogs on the right look like the tired, conservative parents of the dog on the left, with the running emo-esque eye shadow and filed teeth.

CATEGORY 4: SCREW ACCOMMODATING THE EYESHere's where things get fun!
This guy holds a special place in my heart with his humanish grabby arms and google eyes.

"Hey- Hey man. You uh- you fillin up your knapsack there?
S'that what you're doin'?
Ah- that's cool, my dude. I just
can't
stop
watching

"'Cause if you take anything more than what you're supposed to
I'll eat you alive
but if you don't, we'll be friends forever!

Classmates cheatin' off your test be like

Alright, time to step it-
. . .
up

Okaayyyyyyy- things are starting to get
a little wei-
OH

oh my
Cylindrical eyes, eh?
I see that and raise you

I'd love to know who put the collar on that dog.
Who owns him? Who takes him to the optometrist?
I wanna know

Like two big ol' brass gongs
I also think the pointed tongue is an interesting touch.

Well,
up to this point the heads of the dogs have at least tapered to fit the eyeballs,
but do you know what happens if they don't?

NIGHTMARES!
NIGHTMARES HAPPEN!I mean justLOOK AT THIS
MY GOSHPROPS TO YOU, HEINRICH STRUBI take my hat and the hat of everyone in my vicinity off to you.
You have broken EVERY mold and made
The Most Unforgettable design for these mother-hubbards.

Phew.

Well, weird as that was,
I still don't think I've been scarred for life,
and you know,
that's always an achieveme-

BISCUITS AND GRAVY!!!
I'M OUTThat's- that's it. I'm out.Good night ladies and gentlemen.
Sweet dreams