Well, you do have somewhat of a couple of points. I mistrust Snopes as well, for general reasons, but then again Wikipedia is often used as a source and they are not the greatest resource in the world.
Plus, I happen to have fond memories of several Hans Christian Anderson tales, but then again they were never meant to be taken as Gospel, so this story went quickly from a Good Remembrance to a Nice Thought once the possibility of a mere imagining came up.
I will leave it to others to peruse the search engines and determine its validity...
Actually, Wikipedia has better medical information than WebMD. The scientists doing the research are the ones putting the info on it. And, it's all on one page, plus you don't have to go through all those WebMD ads from the pharma companies.