The Land Of Fairy Tale

Thomas Lange’s novel The Land of Fairy Tale captures the timeless beauty and unique landscapes of West and North Jutland. First published in 1865, it remains as captivating now as it was then, painting vivid scenes of coastal dunes, sandbars, and dramatic natural events.

An evocative portrayal of Jutland’s coastal landscapes and the mysterious Church Clerk, Thisenius.

In The Land of Fairy Tale, Lange transports readers to the treeless coastal and dune regions of West and North Jutland. He vividly describes the vast horizons, the dangerous sandbars at Blaavandshuk, the dunes at Skallingen, and the long stretch of land north of Skagen where the Kattegat and Skagerrak waters converge. Remarkably, many of these natural features have remained largely unchanged over time.

Storm floods occasionally sweep through the area, and dramatic sunsets are a common sight. One such sunset once frightened Marie when she first arrived at the Rectory, as she mistook it for a fierce, threatening fire. The novel centers on the enigmatic Church Clerk, Thisenius, whose story is told through the eyes of the author both as a boy and later as a young man.

In 1930, a century after Lange settled in Ho, a bronze bust of the author and poet was unveiled in the garden of Ho Rectory, thanks to the efforts of the then-incumbent pastor, J. Andreassen. The bust sits on a granite plinth inscribed with the words: “Here both the Child and the Poet found The Land of Fairy Tale.” On the reverse side, a verse by the pastor reads:

• In Nature you sensed the quiet sounds of the divine voice.
• Heard the soul’s strings plucked in a mournful song.
• Skallingen and the western strand, heather, marsh and dunes
• Became your ”Land of Fairy Tale”.

When the Rectory was renovated in 1979, half of its garden was dedicated as a public memorial to Thomas Lange, with the bust serving as the centerpiece of the Thomas Lange Garden.