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ArtistA whimsical picture book illustration of a one-legged tin soldier standing bravely atop a wooden table in a cozy old-fashioned nursery. Toys, paper castles, and a dancer made of paper surround him. Moonlight streams through a window, casting long shadows and giving the scene a quiet, heroic melancholy. The mood is tender, brave, and bittersweet, with finely detailed textures and soft lighting. Style by Anton Pieck × Leo and Diane Dillon.
The Tin Soldier is one of twenty-five identical tin soldiers, all cast from an old spoon and therefore brothers. He is the only one with only one leg, because he was the last figure cast and there wasn't enough tin left. This, however, makes him no less brave than the others.
He falls in love with a paper cutout of a dancer adorned with a sequined brooch. She raises one leg so high that it is not visible. The tin soldier thinks she only has one leg, like himself, and believes that they would make a good couple. That night, he watches the dancer intently but is warned by a troll to stop; it can be assumed that the troll himself has his eye on the dancer. The next morning, he falls out of the window—"perhaps it was the wind or the troll who slammed the window shut"—and is found by two street urchins who float him in a newspaper boat in the gutter. Despite the wild ride, he remains steadfast and brave. He encounters a water rat who demands to see his passport, but manages to escape. He goes down into the canal, the boat capsizes, and he is swallowed by a fish.
Inside the fish, it is dark, but the tin soldier continues to stand firm. Suddenly, it flashes "like lightning" through the fish, it becomes bright, and a voice calls out: "Tin soldier!" The fish had been caught and sold at the market—the steadfast tin soldier has returned to his original home. There, however, he is immediately thrown into the furnace by a boy for no apparent reason. A gust of wind blows the dancer into the furnace as well. She burns, while the tin soldier melts into a small, heart-shaped lump, which the maid finds in the furnace the next day, along with the dancer's charred brooch.
