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little life he has, and, when I think properly over the mat- thought it would do capitally for a cradle when he some day
ter, I am of opinion that it will be necessary to do away with or other should have children himself. So the little maiden
him in all stillness! walked on with her tiny naked feet, that were quite red and
It is certainly hard, said the shadow, for he was a faith- blue from cold. She carried a quantity of matches in an old
ful servant! and then he gave a sort of sigh. apron, and she held a bundle of them in her hand. Nobody
You are a noble character! said the princess. had bought anything of her the whole livelong day; no one
The whole city was illuminated in the evening, and the had given her a single farthing.
cannons went off with a bum! bum! and the soldiers pre- She crept along trembling with cold and hunger a very
sented arms. That was a marriage! The princess and the picture of sorrow, the poor little thing!
shadow went out on the balcony to show themselves, and The flakes of snow covered her long fair hair, which fell in
get another hurrah! beautiful curls around her neck; but of that, of course, she
The learned man heard nothing of all this for they had never once now thought. From all the windows the candles
deprived him of life. were gleaming, and it smelt so deliciously of roast goose, for
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you know it was New Year s Eve; yes, of that she thought. steaming famously with its stuffing of apple and dried
In a corner formed by two houses, of which one ad- plums. And what was still more capital to behold was, the
vanced more than the other, she seated herself down and goose hopped down from the dish, reeled about on the floor
cowered together. Her little feet she had drawn close up to with knife and fork in its breast, till it came up to the poor
her, but she grew colder and colder, and to go home she did little girl; when the match went out and nothing but the
not venture, for she had not sold any matches and could thick, cold, damp wall was left behind. She lighted another
not bring a farthing of money: from her father she would match. Now there she was sitting under the most magnifi-
certainly get blows, and at home it was cold too, for above cent Christmas tree: it was still larger, and more decorated
her she had only the roof, through which the wind whistled, than the one which she had seen through the glass door in
even though the largest cracks were stopped up with straw the rich merchant s house.
and rags. Thousands of lights were burning on the green branch-
Her little hands were almost numbed with cold. Oh! a es, and gaily-colored pictures, such as she had seen in the
match might afford her a world of comfort, if she only dared shop-windows, looked down upon her. The little maiden
take a single one out of the bundle, draw it against the wall, stretched out her hands towards them when the match
and warm her fingers by it. She drew one out. Rischt! how went out. The lights of the Christmas tree rose higher and
it blazed, how it burnt! It was a warm, bright flame, like higher, she saw them now as stars in heaven; one fell down
a candle, as she held her hands over it: it was a wonder- and formed a long trail of fire.
ful light. It seemed really to the little maiden as though she Someone is just dead! said the little girl; for her old
were sitting before a large iron stove, with burnished brass grandmother, the only person who had loved her, and who
feet and a brass ornament at top. The fire burned with such was now no more, had told her, that when a star falls, a soul
blessed influence; it warmed so delightfully. The little girl ascends to God.
had already stretched out her feet to warm them too; but She drew another match against the wall: it was again
the small flame went out, the stove vanished: she had only light, and in the lustre there stood the old grandmother, so
the remains of the burnt-out match in her hand. bright and radiant, so mild, and with such an expression
She rubbed another against the wall: it burned brightly, of love.
and where the light fell on the wall, there the wall became Grandmother! cried the little one. Oh, take me with
transparent like a veil, so that she could see into the room. you! You go away when the match burns out; you vanish
On the table was spread a snow-white tablecloth; upon it like the warm stove, like the delicious roast goose, and like
was a splendid porcelain service, and the roast goose was the magnificent Christmas tree! And she rubbed the whole
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bundle of matches quickly against the wall, for she wanted
THE DREAM OF LITTLE TUK
to be quite sure of keeping her grandmother near her. And
the matches gave such a brilliant light that it was bright-
er than at noon-day: never formerly had the grandmother
been so beautiful and so tall. She took the little maiden, on
her arm, and both flew in brightness and in joy so high, so h! yes, that was little Tuk: in reality his name was not
very high, and then above was neither cold, nor hunger, nor ATuk, but that was what he called himself before he could
anxiety they were with God. speak plain: he meant it for Charles, and it is all well enough
But in the corner, at the cold hour of dawn, sat the poor if one does but know it. He had now to take care of his little
girl, with rosy cheeks and with a smiling mouth, leaning sister Augusta, who was much younger than himself, and he
against the wall frozen to death on the last evening of the was, besides, to learn his lesson at the same time; but these
old year. Stiff and stark sat the child there with her matches, two things would not do together at all. There sat the poor
of which one bundle had been burnt. She wanted to warm little fellow, with his sister on his lap, and he sang to her all
herself, people said. No one had the slightest suspicion of the songs he knew; and he glanced the while from time to
what beautiful things she had seen; no one even dreamed time into the geography-book that lay open before him. By
of the splendor in which, with her grandmother she had en- the next morning he was to have learnt all the towns in Zea-
tered on the joys of a new year. land by heart, and to know about them all that is possible
to be known.
His mother now came home, for she had been out, and
took little Augusta on her arm. Tuk ran quickly to the win-
dow, and read so eagerly that he pretty nearly read his eyes
out; for it got darker and darker, but his mother had no
money to buy a candle.
There goes the old washerwoman over the way, said his
mother, as she looked out of the window. The poor woman
can hardly drag herself along, and she must now drag the
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