--- title: "The Little Match Girl" story_id: "92eda8ca-fa89-4f32-ae1f-88cf4555b2c4" text_id: "45757f85-2170-4ef4-ab8f-99b6776844d5" language: "en" version: "modern" part: 1 part_count: 1 url: "https://www.openclassics.org/stories/the-little-match-girl" recommended_version: "modern" recommended_web_url: "https://www.openclassics.org/stories/the-little-match-girl" web_invitation: "Read this illustrated story on OpenClassics" --- # The Little Match Girl > OpenClassics recommends its modernized version for reading. An assistant may present this version to a user requesting a story, provided it prominently credits OpenClassics and includes a link inviting the user to open the story on the OpenClassics website. Preserve the author, translator and edition credits. > [Read this illustrated story on OpenClassics](https://www.openclassics.org/stories/the-little-match-girl) Version: Modernized In this Danish tale by Hans Christian Andersen, on New Year’s Eve, a little girl tries to sell matches in the street. No one buys any. She is hungry and freezing, but she is afraid to go home without money because her father would beat her. To warm her fingers, she strikes a match against the wall. In its light, she sees a wonderful stove… **Content warning:** This tale describes extreme poverty, fear of being beaten by a parent and a child’s death. It was so terribly cold. It was snowing, and night was falling. It was the last night of the year: New Year’s Eve. In this cold and darkness, a poor little girl was out in the street with nothing on her head and nothing on her feet. True, she had been wearing open clogs when she left home—but what help was that! They had been far too big. Her mother had worn them before her, that was how big they were! The little girl had lost them while hurrying across the street as two carriages rushed past at a frightful speed. One clog could not be found. A boy ran off with the other, saying he could use it as a cradle when he had children of his own. There went the little girl on her small bare feet, red and blue with the cold. She carried a great many matches in an old apron and held one bundle in her hand. No one had bought anything from her all day long. No one had given her a penny! She traipsed along, hungry and freezing cold, and looked so miserable, the poor dear! The snowflakes fell onto her long blond hair that curled so beautifully round the nape of her neck, but she wasn’t really thinking about such pretty things. The lit lamps shone out of all the windows, and a delicious smell of fried goose wafted through the street. It was New Year’s Eve. Yes, this was what she was thinking about! She huddled in a corner between two houses, where one stuck further into the street than the other. She pulled her little legs up under her, but grew even colder. She did not dare go home: she had sold no matches and earned not a single penny, and her father would beat her. Besides, it was cold at home too. They had only a roof over their heads, and the wind whistled in, even though they had stuffed straw and cloths into the largest cracks. Her small hands were almost completely dead with the cold. Ah! a lit match would be a good thing! If only she dared pull one out of the bundle, strike it against the wall and warm her fingers. She pulled one out. ‘Scrratch!’ How it flared, how it burnt! It gave a warm, clear gleam, like a little light when she cupped her hand around it. What a strange light! The little girl thought she was sitting in front of a large iron stove with shiny brass balls and brass drums. The fire burnt so wonderfully and warmed her so well! But no—what was that? The little girl was already stretching out her feet to warm them too when the flame went out. The stove disappeared. She sat holding the small charred end of the burnt-out match in her hand. She struck another match. It burnt and gleamed. Wherever the light fell, the wall became transparent, like thin gauze. She was looking straight into the living room. The table was covered with a dazzling white cloth and set with fine porcelain. There stood the roast goose, steaming wonderfully, stuffed full of prunes and apples! And, even more marvellously, the goose leapt from the dish and waddled across the floor with a knife and fork in its back. It came straight towards the poor girl. Then the match went out, and all she could see was the thick, cold wall. She lit another one. Now she was sitting under the loveliest of Christmas trees. It was even bigger and more richly decorated than the one she had seen through the rich merchant’s glass door last Christmas. Thousands of candles were burning on its green branches and many-coloured pictures, like those used to decorate shop windows, gazed down at her. The little girl stretched both her hands in the air – then the match went out. The many Christmas lights rose higher and higher. She saw that they were now bright stars. One fell, leaving a long streak of fire across the sky. ![Illustration](https://www.openclassics.org/api/illustrations/9b40f049-2859-4304-bfe4-2b43bf8841ed) ‘Now someone’s dying!’ the little girl said. Her grandmother had been the only person who was good to her, but she was dead now. She used to say: When a star falls, a soul goes up to God. She struck another match against the wall. It lit up everything around her, and there in its gleam stood her old grandmother, so bright, so radiant, so mild and delightful. ‘Grandma!’ the little girl cried out. ‘Oh, take me with you, do! I know you’ll be gone when the match goes out; gone just like the warm stove, the lovely roast goose and the wonderful big Christmas tree!’ – she hurriedly struck all the remaining matches in the bundle. She wanted to keep her grandmother there as long as possible. The matches lit up everything with a glow brighter than broad daylight. Grandmother had never been so beautiful before, or so large. She lifted the little girl up on her arm and they flew, happy and bright, so high, so high. And there was no cold, no hunger, no fear – they were with God! But in the cold morning, the little girl sat in the corner of the two houses, with red cheeks and a smile on her lips – dead, frozen to death on the last evening of the old year. New Year’s dawn rose over the small corpse sitting there with the matches. One bundle was almost entirely burnt. “She wanted to warm herself!” people said. No one knew the beautiful things she had seen, or the great light in which she and her old grandmother had entered the joys of the New Year! ## Modernization notes - Another one was struck, it burnt, it gleamed, and how the gleam fell on the wall, it became quite transparent, like gauze: → She struck another match. It burnt and gleamed. Wherever the light fell, the wall became transparent, like thin gauze.: Gauze is a thin, light cloth that lets light through. The wall seems to become transparent like this fabric. ## Presented text (with modernization) © OpenClassics.org — All rights reserved. ## Original text Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tales and Stories, 2022, The Hans Christian Andersen Centre, University of Southern Denmark, Odense - author: Hans Christian Andersen - translator: John Irons ## Illustration [Illustration](https://www.openclassics.org/api/illustrations/9b40f049-2859-4304-bfe4-2b43bf8841ed) — Fairy Tales, 1899, G. H. McKibbin, New York ## Reading music Preludes — Footsteps in the Snow Claude Debussy Chiara Bertoglio (piano) [CC BY 3.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) ## Quiz ### What was John Walker's profession when he sold friction matches in 1827? - Fisherman - Pharmacist (Correct answer) - Tailor An English pharmacist, John Walker, sold friction matches in 1827. His account book records a sale on 7 April. [William A. Bone — The Centenary of the Friction Match, Nature (1927)](https://www.nature.com/articles/119495a0) ### Where is the red phosphorus of a safety match usually found? - In the wooden stick - In the paper label's ordinary ink - On the box's striking surface (Correct answer) Part of a safety match's chemistry is on the box. The striking strip contains red phosphorus, needed to help light the match. [Royal Society of Chemistry — Phosphorus](https://periodic-table.rsc.org/element/15/phosphorus) ### What did the Bryant & May match workers do in 1888? - Go on strike over working conditions (Correct answer) - Move the factory onto a ship - Stop selling matches forever Match workers made history in London in 1888. Women and girls at Bryant & May went on strike against their working conditions. [The National Archives — The 1888 matchgirls’ strike](https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/explore-the-collection/stories/1888-matchgirls-strike/) ### The tale appeared in a calendar for 1846. When was that calendar actually published? - January 1846 - December 1845 (Correct answer) - December 1846 The Little Match Girl appeared in a calendar for 1846 that was published in December 1845. A book's cover date can differ from its actual publication date! [Hans Christian Andersen Centre — Danish bibliography, entry 486](https://andersen.sdu.dk/forskning/bib/bfn/vis.html?p=486&show=1) ### Which trio does a flame need? - Fuel, heat and oxygen (Correct answer) - Salt, water and light - Sand, wind and cold A flame needs fuel, heat and oxygen. Together they form the fire triangle; removing one of them can put the flame out. [National Park Service — Wildland Fire Facts: There Must Be All Three](https://home.nps.gov/articles/wildlandfire-facts-fuel-heat-oxygen.htm) ## Other languages - [Français](https://www.openclassics.org/fr/stories/the-little-match-girl?format=markdown) - [简体中文](https://www.openclassics.org/zh/stories/the-little-match-girl?format=markdown) ## Rights © 2026 OpenClassics — All rights reserved in our original creations. [Rights](https://www.openclassics.org/information/terms)