Monday, March 23, 2026

Hans Christian Andersen / God Can Never Die

GOD CAN NEVER DIE

(The Old God is Still Alive)

A fairytale by Hans Christian Andersen

It was a Sunday morning. The bright, warm sun was shining into the room; the mild, refreshing air was streaming in through the open window and outside beneath God’s blue sky, where field and meadow stood green and in flower, all the small birds were rejoicing. While everything outside was joy and happiness, inside the house sorrow and misery resided. Even the wife, who was otherwise always of good heart, sat there at her breakfast and gazed down despondently, finally she got up and, without having tasted a bite, dried her eyes and went over towards the door.

And it really seemed as there was a curse upon this house. It was a time of scarcity in the land; trade was doing badly; taxes were becoming more and more oppressive; year by year housekeeping money grew less, and finally the only prospect left was poverty and misery. All of this had for some time depressed the man, who was otherwise an industrious and law-abiding citizen; now thinking of the future made him despair utterly, indeed, he even stated frequently that he would do himself a mischief and put an end to this miserable, hopeless life. Nothing helped, neither what his good-humoured wife said, nor the worldly and spiritual consolations of his friends – these only made him all the more taciturn and dismal. It is easy to grasp that his poor wife also ended up by losing heart. Although her despondency was of a completely different nature, as we shall soon hear.

When the man saw that his wife too was sorrowful and wanted to leave the room, he held her back and said: ‘I will not let you go out before you tell me what’s wrong with you!’

She remained silent a while longer, after which she gave a deep sigh and said: ‘Ah, dear husband, last night I dreamt that the old God was dead, and that all the angels followed him to the grave!’

‘How can you possibility believe or think such utter rubbish!’ the man replied. ‘Don’t you know that God can never die!’

Then the good woman’s face lit up with joy, and as she affectionately pressed both her husband’s hands, she exclaimed: ‘So the old God is still alive, then!’

‘Of course!’ the man answered, ‘Who could possibly doubt it!’

Then she embraced him, looked at him with gracious eyes that gleamed with trust, peace and happiness, while saying: ‘But oh, dead husband! if the old God is still alive, why do we not trust in him and rely on him! he has counted every single hair on our heads, not one strand falls out without his willing it, he clothes the lilies in the field, gives the sparrows their food and the ravens their prey!’

At these words the man felt as if scales had fallen from his eyes, and as if all the heavy bands around his heart had been loosened; for the first time in a long while he smiled and thanked his devout, dear wife for the ruse she had used to revive his dead belief in God and called back his trust. Then the sun shone in an even friendlier fashion into the room onto contented human faces, the air wafted even more refreshingly around the smiles on their cheeks, and the birds rejoiced even more loudly in their heartfelt gratitude to God.

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