THE LITTLE MATCH-SELLER

                                  1872

                 FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN

                        THE LITTLE MATCH-SELLER

                       by Hans Christian Andersen



IT was terribly cold and nearly dark on the last evening of the

old year, and the snow was falling fast. In the cold and the darkness,

a poor little girl, with bare head and naked feet, roamed through

the streets. It is true she had on a pair of slippers when she left

home, but they were not of much use. They were very large, so large,

indeed, that they had belonged to her mother, and the poor little

creature had lost them in running across the street to avoid two

carriages that were rolling along at a terrible rate. One of the

slippers she could not find, and a boy seized upon the other and ran

away with it, saying that he could use it as a cradle, when he had

children of his own. So the little girl went on with her little

naked feet, which were quite red and blue with the cold. In an old

apron she carried a number of matches, and had a bundle of them in her

hands. No one had bought anything of her the whole day, nor had any

one given here even a penny. Shivering with cold and hunger, she crept

along; poor little child, she looked the picture of misery. The

snowflakes fell on her long, fair hair, which hung in curls on her

shoulders, but she regarded them not.

Lights were shining from every window, and there was a savory

smell of roast goose, for it was New-year's eve- yes, she remembered

that. In a corner, between two houses, one of which projected beyond

the other, she sank down and huddled herself together. She had drawn

her little feet under her, but she could not keep off the cold; and

she dared not go home, for she had sold no matches, and could not take

home even a penny of money. Her father would certainly beat her;

besides, it was almost as cold at home as here, for they had only

the roof to cover them, through which the wind howled, although the

largest holes had been stopped up with straw and rags. Her little

hands were almost frozen with the cold. Ah! perhaps a burning match

might be some good, if she could draw it from the bundle and strike it

against the wall, just to warm her fingers. She drew one

out-"scratch!" how it sputtered as it burnt! It gave a warm, bright

light, like a little candle, as she held her hand over it. It was

really a wonderful light. It seemed to the little girl that she was

sitting by a large iron stove, with polished brass feet and a brass

ornament. How the fire burned! and seemed so beautifully warm that the

child stretched out her feet as if to warm them, when, lo! the flame

of the match went out, the stove vanished, and she had only the

remains of the half-burnt match in her hand.

She rubbed another match on the wall. It burst into a flame, and

where its light fell upon the wall it became as transparent as a veil,

and she could see into the room. The table was covered with a snowy

white table-cloth, on which stood a splendid dinner service, and a

steaming roast goose, stuffed with apples and dried plums. And what

was still more wonderful, the goose jumped down from the dish and

waddled across the floor, with a knife and fork in its breast, to

the little girl. Then the match went out, and there remained nothing

but the thick, damp, cold wall before her.

She lighted another match, and then she found herself sitting

under a beautiful Christmas-tree. It was larger and more beautifully

decorated than the one which she had seen through the glass door at

the rich merchant's. Thousands of tapers were burning upon the green

branches, and colored pictures, like those she had seen in the

show-windows, looked down upon it all. The little one stretched out

her hand towards them, and the match went out.

The Christmas lights rose higher and higher, till they looked to

her like the stars in the sky. Then she saw a star fall, leaving

behind it a bright streak of fire. "Some one is dying," thought the

little girl, for her old grandmother, the only one who had ever

loved her, and who was now dead, had told her that when a star

falls, a soul was going up to God.

She again rubbed a match on the wall, and the light shone round

her; in the brightness stood her old grandmother, clear and shining,

yet mild and loving in her appearance. "Grandmother," cried the little

one, "O take me with you; I know you will go away when the match burns

out; you will vanish like the warm stove, the roast goose, and the

large, glorious Christmas-tree." And she made haste to light the whole

bundle of matches, for she wished to keep her grandmother there. And

the matches glowed with a light that was brighter than the noon-day,

and her grandmother had never appeared so large or so beautiful. She

took the little girl in her arms, and they both flew upwards in

brightness and joy far above the earth, where there was neither cold

nor hunger nor pain, for they were with God.

In the dawn of morning there lay the poor little one, with pale

cheeks and smiling mouth, leaning against the wall; she had been

frozen to death on the last evening of the year; and the New-year's

sun rose and shone upon a little corpse! The child still sat, in the

stiffness of death, holding the matches in her hand, one bundle of

which was burnt. "She tried to warm herself," said some. No one

imagined what beautiful things she had seen, nor into what glory she

had entered with her grandmother, on New-year's day.

                        THE END

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