Original HC Andersen

An original H.C. Andersen manuscript has been discovered at an estate on the Danish island of Lolland, local media reported Wednesday.

The manuscript of one of H.C. Andersen's well-known fairy tales, The Psyche, was found during a major clean-up of Knuthenborg, an estate which is located some 150 km south of Copenhagen on the Danish island of Lolland, said Danish broadcaster TV East.

Experts on Wednesday have been at the estate to look at the documents and have now confirmed the authenticity of the manuscript.

In particular, the original manuscript includes the author's own corrections, and people can see how the fairy tale was originally supposed to be and what it has ended.

However, it is unknown how the manuscript arrived at Knuthenborg.

It has not been able to determine whether H.C. Andersen had lived in the estate at times, as he did on many other of the country's estates, said TV East.

The Psyche is number 155 in the H.C. Andersen Center's register of Andersen's literary works, and it was published for the first time on Nov. 25, 1861.

H.C. Andersen made his official debut as a writer in 1829 and became recognized in his own lifetime as an important author in the literature of the 19th century.

His fairy tales were largely published from the middle of the 1830's and forth and they are the main reason for his continued fame and popularity, especially in countries like China and Japan.

Some of his most famous fairy tales of all time include The Little Mermaid and The Ugly Duckling.