This story is adapted from the original by Hans
Anderson.
On Christmas Eve, a small girl walked barefoot through the
snow. She had lost her shoes running from an angry
shopkeeper. The wind howled around her, and she shivered in
her thin dress. She longed to go home, but her father would
beat her if she came back without selling her matches.
After a while, she grew too tired to walk any further. She
curled up next to one of the big houses on the street. She
was so cold that she decided to light a match, just to warm
herself a little. She struck it, and it sparkled, but to her
surprise she saw not a flame, but a big warm stove. She held
her gloveless hands out to its warmth, but the match died, and
she was left in the darkness.
She sat there a few moments, and then thought that her father
was not likely to notice two matches gone. She lit another
one. It seemed to make th wall beside her disappear, and she
saw the dining room of a big house, set for Christmas. There
was a huge tree in the corner, and roast goose and beautiful
foods on the table. All of a sudden the goose jumped off the
table, and waddled towards her with the knife and fork still
in its back. She laughed with delight, but then the second
match burnt out.
The little girl looked up to the sky. A shooting star skidded
across the blackness. Her grandmother had once told her that
a shooting star was the soul of a person who had just died,
going to heaven. She smiled at the thought of her
grandmother, for the old woman had cared for her until her
death last Christmas.
The girl began to feel the cold again. “I’ll light all the
matches,” she thought defiantly. “I won’t go home to father
at all.” She gathered the rest of the matches, and lit them
all at once. The fire that flared up was brighter and warmer
than anything she had ever seen. In the middle of it was her
grandmother, holding out her hands. “I’ve come to take you
home,” the old lady whispered. “I’ve come so that you’ll
never be cold again.” And the young girl went to her.
The next morning they found her body amongst the snow and ice.
They saw that she had frozen to death. But they were never
able to explain the burnt matches that they found with her,
tightly grasped in her hand.
