The Little Match Girl
On the last evening of the year, a poor little girl runs barefoot and bareheaded through the streets. She has lost her mother's slippers. Her feet are red and blue with cold. She carries a lot of matches in her apron. All day long, no one wanted to buy a match from her or give her any money. And so the girl runs through the cold night, hungry and half frozen.
She sits down in a corner between two houses and curls up. The girl doesn't dare go home because she hasn't sold a single match all day. She is afraid of being beaten by her father, and besides, it is cold and draughty there. The girl takes one of the matches from her hand and lights it against the wall of the house. The flame glows brightly and warmly. She dreams of a stove with a warm fire burning in it. As she reaches out to put her feet near the stove, the burnt match in her hand goes out.
She lights another match on the wall. Where the wall had been just a moment ago, the girl now sees a table set with expensive porcelain and a delicious steaming goose stuffed with plums and apples. The goose jumps off the table and waddles towards the girl. Then the match goes out and all that remains is the thick, cold wall.
Once again, the girl lights a sulphur match and sees a beautifully decorated Christmas tree in front of her. As she reaches out her hand towards the thousands of lights on the green branches, the sulphur match goes out. Her gaze wanders to the stars in the sky. One of the stars falls, leaving a long trail of fire across the sky. The girl remembers her grandmother telling her that this means a person is dying and their soul is ascending to God.
The girl lights another sulphur match on the wall of the house and everything around her glows and shines. Her old grandmother stands before her. The girl asks her grandmother to take her with her. She lifts the girl into her arms and, in splendour and joy, they both ascend, feeling no cold, no hunger and no fear. They are with God.
The next morning, a small, smiling, dead girl sits in the corner between two houses. She wanted to warm herself, people say, not realising the splendour in which she has entered into the New Year's joy with the old grandmother.
Hans Christian Andersen