Work Text:
It was the last evening of the year.
While the snow was falling fast, a little girl was selling matches to people on the cold street.
"Buy some matches! Matches!"
but the people all shrugged and passed by the girl in a hurry.
"Dear lady, please buy some matches!"
"I already have a lot of matches at home."
It began to snow even more.
And the cold wind got fiercer.
'Ah, it's so cold. I would rather go home. But if i go home without selling a single match, father will beat me up..."
The little girl blew on her red frozen hands and walked with quick steps.
"Buy some matches! Please buy some matches!"
But no one bought a single match from her.
The little girl was so hungry since she had not eaten anything all day.
Savory smell of food came out of all the houses on the street.
"Ah,delicious smell..I should quickly sell the matches so i could go home. If it goes on like this, i won't get home all night."
The little girl started to walk again with no hat and no coat.
The shoes she was wearing looked much bigger than her feet.
"There are more people over there."
When the little girl was about to cross the big road, the two large carriages suddenly rushed towards her from the other side.
"Oops!"
The girl hurriedly avoided the carriages.
But she lost her shoes when she crossed the road in a hurry.
"Oh, what should i do now? They were the only shoes my mother had left me."
Thr girl wandered barefoot, looking for her mother's precious shoes.
She even dug in the snow with her frozen hands. Then she saw a shoe lying on the other side of the road.
"Ah! There it is."
But it was then that -
"Hehe, what good luck!"
A naughty boy suddenly grabbed the shoe and ran away with it.
"No! Give it back to me!" She cried.
But the boy was already gone.
The little girl looked for the other shoe but she could not find it.
So she had to walk on the cold snow in her naked feet.
"Ah, my feet are cold!"
It was when she was passing by a house that she realized she could see through the window. She saw a mother giving delicious food to her child.
They looker so happy.
"Only if my mother was alive...she would give me delicious food too."
Just then, a good idead came into her mind.
"It will get warmer if i light a match."
The little girl drew out a match carefully and struck it on the wall.
A red flame sputtered.
Then a big brass stove appearee in the flame.
"Ah, it looks so warm! I should war myself at the stove."
The girl went close to the stove to warm herself.
But thw flame of the match went out at that moment. The stove also vanished intonthe air. There was only a half-burnt match in the little girl's hand.
"I wish it had gone out a little later..."
She could do nothing but strike another match. The light of the blazing flamr fell on the wall. This time, a steaming roast goose and a sweet cake appeared.
"Oh, they looks so delicious!"
The little girl swallowed hard and looked at the tempting food.
Then the steaming roast goose started to waddle towards her.
"Ah, this is not the tome for just looking. I should eat them before they disappear."
The girl stretched out her hand to grab the food.
But the light of the match went out again and all food vanished. There was only the cold wall in front of the little girl's eyes. She quickly struck the third match. All of sudden, the girl was sitting under a christmas tree with so many candlee lit on it. This christmas tree was much more splendid that the one she had seen through the rich man's window.
"How beautiful it is!"
The little girl stretched out her hand to touch the christmas tree.
Then the match went out agaib in a wispy smoke. At that moment, the lighed candles on the christmas tree rose up to the sky,shining brightly.
The sparkling parade of the candles in the night sky was so wonderful. The candles in the night sky and became stars.
"Wow,they are beautiful!"
The little girl forgot about her hunger and looked at the twinkling stars in the night sky.
It was then that, amongst the many stars, the little girl saw a shooting star with a long tail behind it.
"Someone is dying."
The girl remembered what her grandmother, now dead,said.
' When a star falls, a soul is going up to heaven. '
The grandmother dearly loved the girl.
"Ah, i really miss my grandmother!"
The little girl struck the fourth match.
The flame blazed up.
And what happened?
The light shone around her and there stood her grandmother!
"Grandma, how i missed you!" The girl threw herself into her grandmother's arms.
Grandmother gave her a kind smile and patted her on the back.
The little girl told grandmother all the hardships and the sad things she had to go through.
"Grandma,please don't leave me again. Will you disspear just like the warm stove, the steaming roast and tje beautiful christmas tree?"
The girl never wanted to let her grandmother go. So she hung on to her.
But the flame grew weaker. And the shape of grandmother grew weaker as well.
"No, grandma! Please don't go anywhere. I beg you! Don't leave me alone!"
The little girl drew out all the matches.
"If i light all these matches, grandma wouldn't leave me."
The little girl lit the whole bundle of matches.
Then it became brighter than noonday. And the grandmother appeared clearly again.
"Ah, my dear grandma, please stay with me fron now on. I don't want to be lonely again, grandma."
Grandmother felt sorry for the little girl and hugged her tight. Then a streak of bright light shone in the night sky. The girl still in grandmother's arms, rose high up in the sky following the light.
"Grandma, where are we going?"
Grandmother answered with a smile.
"We are going to heaven."
"What is heaven like?" asked the little girl.
"It's always warm in heaven,like spring. The flowers are always in bloom, and singing birds fly around. You can also have as much delicious food as you want. And your mother is waiting for you to heaven. Let's live together happily as before. We will never seperated again.
The little girl was very happy to hear what her grandmother said.
The little girl went up to heaven and become a star in the night sky. Her happy heart brilliantly sparkled.
The newbsun of the new year came up thr next day. The people on the street found the girl leaning against the wall under the dim light of dawn. With her eyes softly closed, she looked as if in sleep. Hee cheeks were pale but her lips were smiling.
Thr new year's sun rose and shone brighly upon thr girl's head. She was holding tighlty the bundle of matches that had been burnt.
Some matches were scattered around her.
"Poor thing! She must have been trying to warm herself with the matches."
One by one thr people gathered around the little girl. They all felt sorry for her. But no one knee what beautiful things she had seen in the light of the matches, or what a happy new year she had greeted the night before.