Image caption The story is dedicated: "To Mme Bunkeflod, from her devoted HC Andersen" 
 
 An early work by Hans Christian Andersen has been found at the bottom of a box near the Danish fairy tale writer's home city, experts say. 
 
 The Tallow Candle is a short story about a revered candle that becomes grimy and neglected until its inner beauty is recognised and ignited. 
 
 The ink-written manuscript is dedicated: "To Mme Bunkeflod, from her devoted HC Andersen". 
 
 Experts say it was probably written by the Ugly Duckling author in the 1820s. 
 
 Mrs Bunkeflod is thought to be a widow whom the writer visited, read to and borrowed books from as a child. 
 
 Experts told Danish daily Politiken the script is likely the copy of an original manuscript that has since been lost. 
 
 The newspaper has translated and published a version of the story in English. 
 
 Shoemaker's son 
 
 Historian Esben Brage made the chance finding in a filing box at the National Archives of Funen in October and experts have since scrutinised the copy of the 700-word manuscript. 
 
 Image caption Andersen wrote hundreds of fairy tales which have been translated into more than 100 languages 
 
 Experts say the story's simplistic style is not on a par with Andersen's elegantly written mature works, suggesting it was written during his time at a grammar school in the mid-1820s. 
 
 Born in Odense in 1805, the son of a shoemaker and a washerwoman concentrated on poetry before his first book of fairy tales was published in 1835. 
 
 Many of Andersen's most famous works, such as the Emperor's New Clothes and the Little Mermaid, focus on perceptions of wealth and beauty - themes touched on in The Tallow Candle. 
 
 Andersen expert Ejnar Stig Askgaard described the discovery as "sensational". 
 
 "I have no doubt that it is Christian Andersen who wrote it," he said. 
 
 A dedication thought to have been written on the copy later in blue ink reads: "To P Plum from his friend Bunkeflod." 
 
 The Plum and Bunkeflod families were close friends, and Hans Christian Andersen had a close relationship with Mme Bunkeflod, Politiken reported. 
 
 Before he died in 1875, Andersen wrote hundreds of fairy tales which have since been translated into more than 100 languages. ||||| A Danish historian says he has discovered what he believes is a previously unknown fairy tale written by Hans Christian Andersen. 
 
 A newly found manuscript of a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen which has been located in Odense, pictured in the State Archives in Copenhagen, Denmark Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012. The story of ‘The... (Associated Press) 
 
 A newly found manuscript of a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen which has been located in Odense, pictured in the State Archives in Copenhagen, Denmark Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012. The story of ‘The... (Associated Press) 
 
 A newly found manuscript of a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen which has been located in Odense, pictured in the State Archives in Copenhagen, Denmark Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012. The story of ‘The... (Associated Press) 
 
 Retired historian Esben Brage said Thursday he found the six-page text in early October while searching in the National Archives through boxes that had belonged to wealthy families from Andersen's home-town of Odense in central Denmark. 
 
 "I was ecstatic. I immediately contacted the curator to tell him about my discovery. I had never imagined this," Brage said. 
 
 The handwritten tale, entitled "Tallow Candle," and dedicated to a vicar's widow named Bunkeflod who had lived across from Andersen's home, had been left seemingly untouched at the bottom of one of the boxes. 
 
 The short story tells the tale of how a tallow candle seeks help from a tinder box to be able to ignite itself. 
 
 A senior curator at the Hans Christian Andersen Museum in Odense said the work is likely one of the author's earliest, written seven years before his official debut in 1830. 
 
 "I often get calls about stuff thought to have been off Andersen's hand. Most of the time, it is not. This time I was thrilled," Ejnar Stig Askgaard told The Associated Press. "This is a very early attempt at prose by Andersen who was then 18." 
 
 Askgaard said Andersen knew the Bunkeflod widow well and regularly visited her, reading to her and borrowing books from her, even after he moved to Copenhagen to attend university. 
 
 "The text is not at the level of the more mature fairy tales that we know from Andersen's later writing," Askgaard said. "I have no doubts ... this has been written by Andersen." 
 
 Born to a charwoman and a shoemaker in 1805, Andersen wrote nearly 160 fairy tales in his life including classics like "The Ugly Duckling" and "The Little Mermaid." He has also written dozens of novels, poems and travel journals. ||||| The well was probably part of beer brewing, as some partially germinated barley excavated nearby suggests. 
 
 To prevent mud from getting into the well, the lowest barrel was covered with reeds. 
 
 A system of pipes at the bottom of the structure led water to the well. 
 
 It appears that barrels were recycled for various use in Medieval Odense. The excavation also unearthed three barrels stacked on top of one another and tied together that served as a basic well. 
 
 Described as being in "excellent condition," the human excrement was found in wooden barrels originally used to transport goods and store fish. Later converted into latrines, the barrels were unearthed in the center of the medieval town of Odense, the birthplace of fairy tale writer Hans Christian Andersen. "We are talking of 700-year-old latrines. And yes, they still smell bad," Maria Elisabeth Lauridsen, the archaeologist in charge of the excavation, told Discovery News. 
 
 A number of Medieval latrines -- still filled with their original contents -- have been unearthed in Denmark, according to archaeologists working in one of the largest urban archaeological excavations in Danish history. 
 
 A number of Medieval wooden barrels have been uncovered in Denmark, revealing their less- than-glamorous contents. 
 
 Originally built to transport goods and store fish, the barrels were converted into latrines — still filled with their original contents. 
 
 "We are talking about 700-year-old latrines. And yes, they still smell bad," Maria Elisabeth Lauridsen, the archaeologist in charge of the excavation, told Discovery News. 
 
 Photos: Digging Up a Medieval Latrine 
 
 Unearthed in the center of the Medieval town of Odense, the birthplace of the fairy tale writer Hans Christian Andersen, the barrels are believed to have served a toilet area. 
 
 "The excavation is characterized by great conditions for preservation and is located on a Medieval site that has been found to contain brick houses, half-timbered houses and stables," Lauridsen said. 
 
 Described as being in "excellent condition," the human excrement can give scientists unique insight into what people ate in Denmark in the Middle Ages. 
 
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 "Preliminary results of analysis show that raspberries were popular in Odense in the 1300s. The contents also contain small pieces of moss, leather and fabric which were used as toilet paper," Lauridsen said. 
 
 It appears that barrels were recycled for various use in Medieval Odense. The excavation unearthed three barrels stacked on top of one another and tied together that served as a basic well. 
 
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 A system of pipes at the bottom of the structure led water to the well. To prevent mud from getting into the well, the lowest barrel was covered with reeds. 
 
 "This well has probably been a part of beer brewing. We have excavated nearby a stock of partially germinated barley which is commonly used in the brewing process," Lauridsen said. 
 
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 Visitors can go on a free tour of the excavation every Tuesday and Thursday at 1:00 pm and can visit the archaeologists' workshop every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from noon to 3:00. 
 
 "We are finding new and exciting information about the life that was lived in Odense during the 14th century," Lauridsen said. 
 
 Image: Human excrement still smelling bad has been found in these 700 year old barrel latrines. Credit: Odense City Museum.
– A Danish historian has found what he believes is an early Hans Christian Anderson manuscript buried at the bottom of a box in the National Archives of Funen. "I was ecstatic," the historian says. "I had never imagined this." The handwritten story, titled "Tallow Candle," tells the story of a neglected candle that can't light itself until its inner beauty is recognized, the BBC reports. The dedication reads, "To Mme Bunkeflod, from her devoted HC Andersen." Andersen had a close relationship with a widow named Mme Bunkeflod. "I often get calls about stuff thought to have been off Andersen's hand. Most of the time, it is not," the senior curator at Odense's Hans Christian Andersen museum tells the AP. " This time I was thrilled." Experts say the piece lacks the grace of Andersen's later work, and was likely written around 1823, while he was still in grammar school. "This is a very early attempt at prose by Andersen, who was then 18," the curator says. You can read an English translation here.