On This Day

In the spring of 1805, Napoleon Bonaparte was busying himself in his duties as France's emperor/conqueror of Europe, President Thos. Jefferson was settling into his second term in office. Far away in the west, at Fort Mandan, in present-day North Dakota, Sacagawea, teenage mom/explorer-to-be, was looking after her newborn son, Jean-Baptiste. Little "Pompy" Charbonneau would grow up to be a fur trapper and frontier scout, a very different sort of life than that of the tender-hearted soul who made his entrance at this time/space intersection: April 2, 1805/Odense, Denmark.

Who'd have thought that homely, dyslexic Hans Christian Andersen would grow up to grace the world with Thumbelina, The Ugly Duckling, The Snow Queen, and The Little Mermaid. Hardly anyone.