The Little Match Girl

"The Little Match Girl" is a story by Hans Christian Andersen. It was first published in December 1845. Andersen got the idea to write the story after seeing a print by Johan Thomas Lundbye of a little girl selling matches. The story has been adapted to various media including an animated movie.

"The Little Match Girl"
Illustration by Bayes
Author	Hans Christian Andersen
Country	Denmark
Language	Danish
Characters	The Little Match Girl Grandmother
Genre(s)	Literary fairy tale
Published in	Dansk Folkekalender for 1846
Media type	Print
Publication date	December 1845

Story

A little match girl in poverty lights all the matches she carries to keep herself warm on a cold New Year's Eve. Afraid of beating by her father when she could not sell any match, she could not return home. In the glow of the firelight, she saw four vision and one of them was of a wonderful Christmas tree and a festive dinner. In the sky, she sees a shooting star, which her late grandmother had told means someone is on their way to Heaven. The last vision is her dead grandmother, the only person to ever show her any love. The little match girl dies in the cold, and ascends into Heaven with her grandmother.

Related pages

• Near death experience
• Child labour

Other websites

• "The Little Match Girl" Jean Hersholt's English translation
• Den Lille Pige med Svovlstikkerne Archived 2005-10-24 at the Wayback Machine Original Danish text
• Surlalune Archived 2013-08-07 at the Wayback Machine: The Annotated Little Match Girl
• "The Little Matchgirl" Creative Commons audiobook