It was New Year's Eve, the last night of the year. It had been snowing for some time and outside it was very cold and dark. A little girl in a tattered blue apron was walking slowly along the deserted streets, her head bent against the icy wind. Her feet were bare, her face white and drawn with cold and fatigue. She had been wearing sandals when she left the house, but they were too big and not very comfortable because they were her mother's. She lost one of them while she was hastily crossing the street where a speeding carriage almost knocked her down. A boy ran off with the other sandal, laughing and shouting that it was a handy thing to use as a cradle later when he had children of his own.
So now the little girl trudged along the streets, her bare feet red and blue and purple with cold. Inside the pocket of her worn apron there were lots of matchsticks, and she had a bunch of them in her hands. For hours she had been trying to sell these matches, but nobody wanted to buy them. She hadn't earn a single penny yet. She was exhausted and miserable, and trembling with cold and hunger. Snowflakes fell gently on her beautiful blond hair but she didn't notice it. Warm light shone from every window she passed and the delicious smell of roast turkey was everywhere. It was New Year's Eve, yes, she knew that...
She crouched down in a small space between two houses to get away from the cold, with her legs folded underneath her frail body. But she wasn't getting any warmer. Her whole body was freezing. She didn't want to go home because her father would certainly beat her for not having sold any matchsticks tonight. Besides, at home it would be cold, too: the roof was leaking, and the wind would blow through the holes even though the biggest of them had been patched with paper and rags. Oh, how numb her hands were...Clasping the bunch of matchsticks against her breast, she wish she could light just one of them to warm her cold little fingers. If only she was brave enough to pull out just one match, and scratch it against the wall to light it; it would do her a world of good...
And that's exactly what she did! Shrssss!.... Look how it was burning! Just like a small candle with a warm bright flame! Eagerly the little girl put her small white hand around it and held it there for some time...And now she was sitting near a warm stove. The fire made crackling noises and gave out a wonderful warmth. But when she stretched out her cold bare feet toward the fire to warm them, it went out and the stove disappeared, and she was sitting there in the cold, in the corner between two houses, with a burnt matchstick in her hand. Then she lit another match, and this time it burned and shone, and where its light fell on one of the walls, it became so thin and sheer that the girl could see right through it into the room where a table with food had been cheerfully laid out. On the white tablecloth there was fine china, and on a silver plate sat a piping hot turkey filled with prunes and apples. And then the turkey jumped off the plate onto the floor, and it rolled over and over, with the fork and knife still sticking in its back, heading straight for the little girl... Then the match went out and there was nothing left but the cold thick wall.
The little girl lit another match, and now she was sitting under a beautiful Christmas tree! The tree was even bigger and more beautiful than the one she had seen at Christmas in the living room of a very wealthy family. On the green branches there were thousands of flickering candles and lovely decorations, such as you would only see in expensive shops. Anxiously the little girl reached out for them.... Suddenly the match went out, and the Christmas lights started floating gently up, higher and higher, until at last they seemed to attach themselves to the sky, remaining there sparkling like a thousand stars. One of the lights fell, streaking a fiery line across the dark sky...
"Now somebody is dying," the little girl said to herself, for her grandmother, who was the only person ever to care for her, once said, "Whenever a star falls, a soul goes to heaven." So the little girl lit another match, and in the bright light she saw her grandmother appear, a smile on her warm, friendly face.
"Grandmother!" the little girl cried out. "Oh, please, take me with you! when the match goes out, you will go too, just like the stove, the turkey, and the beautiful Christmas tree did!" And hurriedly she lit the whole bunch of matchsticks, for she wanted so very much for her grandmother to stay. The matchsticks burned so brightly that it was even lighter than midday. Never before had her grandmother seemed so beautiful and lovely! Gently the old lady took the little girl in her arms, and in the shining light of the matchsticks they floated happily upwards, higher and higher to a place where there was no hunger and sorrow.
New year's morning found the little girl still sitting in the corner between the two houses, with red cheeks and a smile on her lips, frozen to death on the last night of the year. In her hand was a bunch of burnt matchsticks...
"Oh, the poor little girl!" people said when they saw her. "She probably wanted to warm herself with the matchsticks."
Nobody knew what beautiful things she had seen, and how happy and radiant she had entered the New Year with her grandmother...
She crouched down in a small space between two houses to get away from the cold, with her legs folded underneath her frail body. But she wasn't getting any warmer. Her whole body was freezing. She didn't want to go home because her father would certainly beat her for not having sold any matchsticks tonight. Besides, at home it would be cold, too: the roof was leaking, and the wind would blow through the holes even though the biggest of them had been patched with paper and rags. Oh, how numb her hands were...Clasping the bunch of matchsticks against her breast, she wish she could light just one of them to warm her cold little fingers. If only she was brave enough to pull out just one match, and scratch it against the wall to light it; it would do her a world of good...
And that's exactly what she did! Shrssss!.... Look how it was burning! Just like a small candle with a warm bright flame! Eagerly the little girl put her small white hand around it and held it there for some time...And now she was sitting near a warm stove. The fire made crackling noises and gave out a wonderful warmth. But when she stretched out her cold bare feet toward the fire to warm them, it went out and the stove disappeared, and she was sitting there in the cold, in the corner between two houses, with a burnt matchstick in her hand. Then she lit another match, and this time it burned and shone, and where its light fell on one of the walls, it became so thin and sheer that the girl could see right through it into the room where a table with food had been cheerfully laid out. On the white tablecloth there was fine china, and on a silver plate sat a piping hot turkey filled with prunes and apples. And then the turkey jumped off the plate onto the floor, and it rolled over and over, with the fork and knife still sticking in its back, heading straight for the little girl... Then the match went out and there was nothing left but the cold thick wall.
The little girl lit another match, and now she was sitting under a beautiful Christmas tree! The tree was even bigger and more beautiful than the one she had seen at Christmas in the living room of a very wealthy family. On the green branches there were thousands of flickering candles and lovely decorations, such as you would only see in expensive shops. Anxiously the little girl reached out for them.... Suddenly the match went out, and the Christmas lights started floating gently up, higher and higher, until at last they seemed to attach themselves to the sky, remaining there sparkling like a thousand stars. One of the lights fell, streaking a fiery line across the dark sky...
"Now somebody is dying," the little girl said to herself, for her grandmother, who was the only person ever to care for her, once said, "Whenever a star falls, a soul goes to heaven." So the little girl lit another match, and in the bright light she saw her grandmother appear, a smile on her warm, friendly face.
"Grandmother!" the little girl cried out. "Oh, please, take me with you! when the match goes out, you will go too, just like the stove, the turkey, and the beautiful Christmas tree did!" And hurriedly she lit the whole bunch of matchsticks, for she wanted so very much for her grandmother to stay. The matchsticks burned so brightly that it was even lighter than midday. Never before had her grandmother seemed so beautiful and lovely! Gently the old lady took the little girl in her arms, and in the shining light of the matchsticks they floated happily upwards, higher and higher to a place where there was no hunger and sorrow.
New year's morning found the little girl still sitting in the corner between the two houses, with red cheeks and a smile on her lips, frozen to death on the last night of the year. In her hand was a bunch of burnt matchsticks...
"Oh, the poor little girl!" people said when they saw her. "She probably wanted to warm herself with the matchsticks."
Nobody knew what beautiful things she had seen, and how happy and radiant she had entered the New Year with her grandmother...
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