The Little Match Girl

girl, with bare head and bare feet, was walking
through the streets. When she left her own
house she certainly had had slippers on; but
what could they do? They were very big
slippers, and her mother had used them till
then, so big were they. The little maid lost them
as she slipped across the road, where two
carriages were rattling by terribly fast. One
slipper was not to be found again, and a boy
ran away with the other. He said he could use
it for a cradle when he had children of his own.

So now the little girl went with her little naked
feet, which were quite red and blue with the
cold. In an old apron she carried a number of
matches, and a bundle of them in her hand. No
one had bought anything of her all day; no one
had given her a copper. Hungry and cold she
went, and drew herself together, poor little
thing! The snowflakes fell on her long yellow
hair, which curled prettily over her neck; but
she did not think of that now. In all the windows
lights were shining, and there was a glorious
smell of roast goose out there in the street; it
was no doubt New Year's Eve. Yes, she
thought of that!

In a corner formed by two houses, one of
which was a little farther from the street than
the other, she sat down and crept close. She
had drawn up her little feet, but she was still
colder, and she did not dare to go home, for
she had sold no matches, and she had not a
single cent; her father would