The Little Match Girl by Andersen

The Little Match Girl is a famous story. The Danish author, Hans Christian Andersen wrote it in 1845, around 170 years ago, still it is popular.The story goes like this:

It was New Years’ Eve, snowing heavily. The weather was very cold, as always this time of the year. Still, everybody was happy in the streets. They celebrated the coming new year. People went shopping for nice dinners and bought presents for each other.

A poor young girl had only hopes, not happiness. She sold matches in the streets, for a living, every day. She hoped that she could sell some matches and buy some food for her family. She lived with her father and grandmother. Her mother died long ago. Her father was ill.

She had no coat, only a scarf. She had no shoes, to save her feet from the cold, only slippers. They were too large for her feet. In fact they were her grandmother’s slippers. They didn’t have money to buy slippers or shoes for her.

When she tried to cross the street, she lost one of the slippers. She went back to collect it. The slipper was broken. She could not wear it anymore. She started to cry. Her legs were very cold, they turned blue. What to do now? Should she go home? She didn’t sell any matches. She has no money to buy food. She decided to walk barefoot in the freezing street. She felt pain in her legs.

She sat down at a corner and waited for customers to buy matches from her. She waited for a long time, but nobody wanted to buy. Everybody was busy with their celebrations. The girl was hungry and cold. Her hands turned blue. Snow covered her hair and shoulders.  She smelled a roast chicken from a house. She thought, ‘people are celebrating in every house today. But my family has nothing to eat.’

She didn’t give up hope. She wanted to sell all the matches and buy a nice chicken for her family. But nobody bought a match from her.

She tried to warm up her feet, but could not. Her fingers were so cold that she didn’t feel them anymore. Should she go home? No way, they have nothing to eat, and anyway, their house is also cold.

Then she thought, ‘I could light a match to warm my fingers. Only one stick.’ She took one match out of a box and struck it. It gave out a warm flame and she held her hands over it. The fire warmed her fingers and it made her happy. She felt good. But it didn’t last long, the flame went out. She struck another match. She looked at the flame and she saw a beautiful table in it, with a lot of food. The little girl reached her hands towards the table, but the flame went out again.

She struck the third match. In the flame she saw her mother, smiling at her. The girl started to cry, ‘mother, mother, please take me with you’. The flames went out again and she quickly struck a lot of matches. She wanted to see her mother again. She smiled when she saw her mother, who looked so beautiful and lovely.

The smile was on her face when people found her the next morning. She froze to death on the last evening of the old year.

‘She wanted to warm herself’, the people said. Nobody knew why she had a beautiful smile on her face.

• What is this story about? Can you tell in one sentence?
• Why did she have to work in the streets?
• What do you think, did she go to school?
• Do children still work in India or do all the children go to school?