In the classic “Babette’s Feast,” a mysterious Frenchwoman prepares sumptuous feast for a gathering of religious ascetics and, in doing so, introduces them to the true essence of grace. In “The Immortal Story,” a miserly old tea-trader living in Canton wishes for power and finds redemption as he turns an oft-told sailors’ tale into reality for a young man and woman. And in the magnificent novella , Dinesen tells of the powerful yet restrained rapport between a noble Wagnerian beauty and rakish artist.