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Narrator: The grandmother takes the little girl in her arms and both of them flew in
brightness and joy above the earth, very, very high, and up there was neither cold, nor

hunger, nor fear, they were with God. But in the corner, leaning against the wall, sat
the little girl with red cheeks and smiling mouth, frozen to death on the last evening of
the old year. The New Year’s sun rose upon a little pathetic figure. The child sat there,
stiff and cold, holding the matches, of which one bundle was almost burned. The next
morning, a man and his wife see the little girl. He tries to wake her up.

Man: Hello, child? Are you cold? Do you need a blanket?

Narrator: The little girl did not move. The man shakes the little girl. But she was still.

Man: I think she is dead. I can’t feel her breath.

Wife: Oh God! The poor girl died in the cold…on New Year’s Eve!

Man: She probably tried to keep herself warm with the matches. I hope she rests in peace.

Narrator: No one imagined what beautiful things she had seen, and how happily she had
gone with her old grandmother into the bright New Year.

The End

—An adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s ‘The Little Match Girl’

About the Author
Hans Christian Andersen (1805−1875) a Danish author and a prolific writer of plays, novels, poems. But he is best
known for his fairy tales.
He has written more than one hundred and fifty fairy tales which have been translated into more than one hundred and
twenty-five languages. His most famous fairy tales include ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’, ‘The Little
Mermaid’, ‘The Nightingale’, ‘The Steadfast Tin Soldier’, ‘The Red Shoes’, ‘The Princess and the Pea’, ‘The Snow Queen’,
‘The Ugly Duckling’, ‘The Little Match Girl’ and ‘Thumbelina’.

Time to answer

A. Choose the correct answer.

1. What is the main theme of the story?

poverty and hunger hope and imagination

love and kindness love and family
2. On which day does the story take place?

Christmas Eve Christmas Day

New Year’s Day New Year’s Eve

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