The Tinderbox

Words can't ever get across here the effect this tale by Hans Christian Anderson had on me.
The story of a soldier tempted into descending into the bowels of a tree to retrieve a tinderbox resonates to this day.
The story is pretty standard, but the elements of it had a marked effect on me, so much so that, even now, it envokes a deep, emotional pull thats hard to describe.
Whether its the notion of descending underground into another world - something i'm sure made me respond the same way to "The Secret Garden" and "The Pied Piper" - or the idea of the bizarre creature that is the dog with saucer-sized eyes, i can't get across how much this story affected me.
Out of everything from my childhood, this is the one thing that strikes a deep, visceral chord whenever i think about it.
And i wonder what my children are experiencing now might have the same effect.