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==Plot summary==
==Plot summary==
On a cold [[New Year's Eve]], a young, poor girl (name unconfirmed) tries to sell matches in the street. She is already [[shivering]] from cold and early [[hypothermia]].<ref>[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/littlematchgirl/notes.html#FOUR]</ref> Still she is afraid to go home because her father will beat her for not selling any matches. She shelters in a nook and sits down.<ref>[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/littlematchgirl/notes.html#FIVE]</ref>
This is the last day of the year - [[New Year's Eve]], was snowing, and the cold weather was terrible.A poor girl walks in the street, her clothes are old and broken, wearing a pair of her mother's big slippers. Her pockets contained many boxes of matches, opening the way to live. People are buying holiday food and gifts, who would care for her too? At noon, she did not sell a match, no one had given her a penny. She walked in a building window stopped, an indoor scene attracted her. She saw a beautiful [[Christmas tree]] in the house The little girl thought that her mother is sick and grandmother died, wept bitterly. The little girl wiped away her tears, continue going forward. However, people are still buying holiday gifts, all in a hurry to go home to, no one to hear her cries. [[Snowflake]]s fell on her long hair, that looked so beautiful, can no one noticed her. The little girl walked, flew over a carriage, she was scared and rushed back and her slippers fell off. After the carriage in the past, she quickly found a shoe. That was my mother's slippers Yeah, mom was still in bed yet. However, one can not be found, and the other was a boy when they kick the ball. The little girl had to walk barefoot, cold and snow would cause frostbite. It was getting dark, the street people are getting less, and finally left the little girl alone. She sees some city lights, heard laughter and she inhaled the smell of roast goose, while the little girl is hungry. The little girl wants to go home, but did not sell a match.

The little girl all day without food or drink, really walk, she sat down at nook. She rubbed her hands while frostbite, while her hands are frozen. If a small match is ignited, it can warm up. She finally pulled out a matchstick, and rubbed it on the wall, and a small flame is ignited. The little girl put his hand on the flames above, what a beautiful little fire, how warm it! She seemed to feel her sitting by the fire, and that there is much more prosperous fire ah. The little girl was about to extend warm the feet, the flames went out, the [[stove]] was gone, leaving only a burnt matchstick. She rubbed another matchstick, and rubbed it on the wall, a bright light is emitted. The wall was lit up, become transparent, and she seemed to see things in the room. Covered with a white tablecloth on the table, the top filled with a variety of goodies. A roast goose, a knife and and a fork, appeared unsteadily to her. A few slices of bread from the table appeared like one soldier came up to her, like lining up. At this point, the match went out, before she left side of the dark and cold wall. The little girl could not bear to rub matches, but she shook the whole body frozen. She rubbed another a bright flame ignites out. Wow! What a beautiful Christmas tree Yeah, this is the largest and most beautiful Christmas tree she had ever seen. Many colorful Christmas cards hanging on the tree, that had a wide variety of beautiful pictures. The trees had lit thousands of candles, twinkling like stars in the blink of an eye and say hello to her. His hand over the girl, alas, the match went out, they are surrounded by darkness. The girl rubbed another match, she saw a candlelit rose up into the bright stars. Then a meteoroid falls, all the stars are falling along, like a rainbow from the sky has been linked to the ground.The little girl has polished a match, lit the fire around the flux, her grandmother appeared in the firelight. Her grandma smiled toward her, so gentle, so kind. The little girl flew into the arms of her grandmother."Grandma, please take me with you, I know, matches one off, you will be gone!" The little girl into the hands of the match to a picked a polish, because she is trying to stay grandmother. These matches to send a strong light, shine brighter than during the day. Grandma has never been so beautiful and tall. She took the little girl in her arms. They both flew in brightness and joy again. They are flying high to [[Heaven]], to see [[God]] together.
The girl lights the matches to warm herself. In their glow, she sees several lovely visions including a [[Christmas tree]] and a holiday feast. The girl looks skyward and sees a [[meteoroid|shooting star]]; she then remembers her dead grandmother saying that such a falling star means someone is dying and is going to [[Heaven]]. As she lights the next match, she sees a vision of her grandmother, the only person to have treated her with love and kindness. She strikes one match after another to keep the vision of her grandmother alive for as long as she can.

At [[New Year's Day]], it stops snowing, small wind, the sun had rose. A lot of people went to the street, to celebrate New Year's Day. Many children wear new clothes and playing happily. Passers-by have seen a little girl froze to death in the nook and feel pity for her although they had not shown kindness for her before her death. Her face stood glory, In a land strewn around her matchsticks, she handled a matchstick. <ref>[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/littlematchgirl/notes.html#FOUR]</ref>
<ref>{{cite book |last=Tatar |first=Maria |title=The Annotated Hans Christian Andersen |publisher=W.W. Norton |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-393-06081-2}}</ref>
After running out of matches, the child dies and her grandmother carries her soul to Heaven. The next morning, passers-by find the child dead in the nook and feel pity for her although they had not shown kindness for her before her death.<ref>{{cite book |last=Tatar |first=Maria |title=The Annotated Hans Christian Andersen |publisher=W.W. Norton |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-393-06081-2}}</ref>


==Publication==
==Publication==

Revision as of 03:17, 31 January 2015

For the 1928 French film, see The Little Match Girl (1928 film). For the 2006 Disney animated short film, see The Little Matchgirl (2006 film).

"The Little Match Girl"
Short story by Hans Christian Andersen
A. J. Bayes illustration, 1889
Original titleDen Lille Pige med Svovlstikkerne
CountryDenmark
LanguageDanish
Genre(s)Short story
Publication
Published inDansk Folkekalender for 1846
Media typePrint
Publication dateDecember 1845

The Little Match Girl (Danish: Den Lille Pige med Svovlstikkerne, meaning "The little girl with the matchsticks") is a short story by Danish poet and author Hans Christian Andersen. The story is about a dying child's dreams and hope, and was first published in 1845. It has been adapted to various media including animated film, and a television musical.

Plot summary

On a cold New Year's Eve, a young, poor girl (name unconfirmed) tries to sell matches in the street. She is already shivering from cold and early hypothermia.[1] Still she is afraid to go home because her father will beat her for not selling any matches. She shelters in a nook and sits down.[2]

The girl lights the matches to warm herself. In their glow, she sees several lovely visions including a Christmas tree and a holiday feast. The girl looks skyward and sees a shooting star; she then remembers her dead grandmother saying that such a falling star means someone is dying and is going to Heaven. As she lights the next match, she sees a vision of her grandmother, the only person to have treated her with love and kindness. She strikes one match after another to keep the vision of her grandmother alive for as long as she can.

After running out of matches, the child dies and her grandmother carries her soul to Heaven. The next morning, passers-by find the child dead in the nook and feel pity for her although they had not shown kindness for her before her death.[3]

Publication

"The Little Match Girl" was first published December 1845 in Dansk Folkekalender for 1846. The work was re-published 4 March 1848 as a part of New Fairy Tales. Second Volume. Second Collection. 1848. (Nye Eventyr. Andet Bind. Anden Samling. 1848.), and again 18 December 1849 as a part of Fairy Tales. 1850. (Eventyr. 1850.). The work was also published 30 March 1863 as a part of Fairy Tales and Stories. Second Volume. 1863. (Eventyr og Historier. Andet Bind. 1863.)[4]

Adaptations

Live-action film

  • In 1902 a short silent film called The Little Match Seller, directed by James Williamson
  • In 1928, The Little Match Girl (La Petite Marchande d'Allumettes), a forty-minute silent film by Jean Renoir, was released.
  • La vendedora de rosas directed by Víctor Gaviria, was partially based on the story. The film earned a nomination for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
  • In 2008 Terry Pratchett's Hogfather, Death brings a dead little match girl back to life while in the role of the Hogfather. When his servant says that Death is not supposed to do that, Death replies "The Hogfather can. The Hogfather brings presents. There is no better present then a future."
  • In 2013, "Matches," a twelve minute short film based on "The Little Match Girl" was released. The film takes place in a modern day small town and tells the tale of a young red-haired homeless girl named "Matches" who is ignored by the world around her. After a particularly cold night on the street, Matches meets a mysterious figure named "Gabe" who takes her to a house where she encounters a series of events that parallel the visions the little girl experienced in Andersen's original tale.[5]

Animated

Music

  • In 1994, Frederik Magle released the album "The song is a Fairytale" with songs based on Hans Christian Andersen's fairytales with Thomas Eje and Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen amongst others. The Little Match Girl is one of the songs.[6]
  • In 1988–96, the German avant-garde composer Helmut Lachenmann wrote an opera based on the story called Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern, also including a text by Red Army Faction founder Gudrun Ensslin.
  • In 1995, German singer Meret Becker included the song "Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern" in her album Noctambule.
  • In 2001, guitarist Loren Mazzacane Connors released the album The Little Match Girl based on the story.
  • In 2001 the Hungarian band Tormentor wrote the song "The Little Match Girl," with lyrics based on the story.
  • In 2002 GrooveLily released Striking 12, a musical based on "The Little Match Girl".
  • The story was also used as a basis for the band GrooveLily's 2004 off-Broadway musical Striking 12.
  • In 2005, Erasure made a music video of their song "Breathe", based on a modern adaptation of the story.
  • In 2006, the English band The Tiger Lillies and a string trio released the album "The Little Match Girl" based on the story.
  • American composer David Lang completed his own rendition of the original story in 2007. The Little Match Girl Passion is scored for four solo voices, soprano, alto, tenor and bass, with percussion, and was written for Paul Hillier and his ensemble Theater of Voices. The work was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in music in 2008. It presents Hans Christian Andersen's tale in Lang's characteristic post-minimalist style with thematic influence from Johann Sebastian Bach’s St. John and St. Matthew Passions.
  • In 2010, the Oxford based band Stornoway mentions 'The Story of the Match Stick Girl' in their song 'Here comes the Blackout'.
  • Appearing in the popular Japanese idol game, The Idolmaster, 'Little Match Girl' first appeared as a reservation privilege DLC only song for The Idolmaster 2.
  • In 2012 The Crüxshadows recorded the song "Matchstick Girl" on their album As The Dark Against My Halo. According to front-man for the band, Rogue, the song "Matchstick Girl" refers to Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale The Little Match Girl.

16mm short subject

  • In 1954, Castle Films released a 16 mm English language version of a 1952 black and white French short live-action film. Instead of her grandmother, the Virgin Mary, whom the match girl believes is her own long-lost mother, takes the girl to heaven. No mention is made of the father beating the child. Music from The Nutcracker is used in one of the dream sequences.

Television

  • In the 1970 Mary Tyler Moore' episode "Christmas and the Hard Luck Kid", when Rhoda learns that Mary is working and can't spend Christmas Eve with her, Rhoda makes reference to the story by asking whether she (Rhoda) is supposed to spend the evening alone standing in the snow lighting matches.
  • In 1974, a contemporarized version set in Cincinnati on Christmas Eve was aired on WLWT. This Christmas special was placed in syndication and last aired on the Family Channel in December 1982.
  • In 1987, HTV released "The Little Match Girl" a musical based on the original story. The cast included Twiggy and Roger Daltrey. It included the song "Mistletoe and Wine", which became a Christmas hit a year later for Cliff Richard.[7][8]
  • In 1987, a modernized version, "The Little Match Girl", was shown on American television. The cast included Keshia Knight Pulliam, Rue McLanahan, and William Daniels.
  • In 2009, a modernized version set to original music and narrated by F. Murray Abraham was presented by HBO Storybook Musicals, in which the girl is the daughter of a homeless New York couple forced to live underground in an abandoned subway station due to the economic collapse of the 1990s.
  • On the first episode of Gilmore Girls, before going into her grandmother's house, Rory says to Lorelai "So, do we go in or do we just stand here re-enacting The Little Match Girl?"

Literature

  • In 1996, Hogfather, one of Terry Pratchett's popular Discworld series of novels, gave the story a decidedly less morbid ending, thanks to the intervention of Death himself; currently acting as the Hogfather to compensate for the original's absence, he uses his current status to give the little match girl the present of a future.
  • In 2003, "The Little Match Girl" was adapted into a short story manga by Hans Tseng and was featured in the first volume of Tokyopop's Rising Stars of Manga.
  • In Neil Gaiman's 2004 novella, "A Study in Emerald," the main characters view a set of three plays, one of which is a stage adaptation of the "Little Match Girl".
  • A Spider-Man short story titled "Leah" about a homeless little girl who goes into a coma and is found by Spider-Man, the doctors inform Spider-Man she won't make it, as Spidey kisses Leah on the cheek he wishes her "sweet, sweet dreams"; Leah falls asleep looking at newspaper clippings of Spider-Man mirroring the girl's death while looking into the matches. The story was originally in the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Annual No. 1.
  • Match Girl, a short story by Anne Bishop, published in Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears in 1995.
  • In 1992 Women Who Run With the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estés Clarissa Pinkola Estés page 319 The Little Match Girl, as told to the author by her aunt, is followed by a lucid analysis.
  • Novelist Gregory Maguire read a short story based on "The Little Match Girl" over the air on NPR. In 2009 he expanded the short story into a novel, published as Matchless: A Christmas Story.[9]
  • The Little Match Girl is sometimes referenced in the Japanese manga, Crayon Shin Chan.
  • The Little Match Girl is retold in a poem by William McGonagall (1825–1902)[10]
  • In Anne Ursu's 2011 novel "Breadcrumbs", the main character Hazel meets a character based on the Little Match Girl in the woods.

Other

File:Fairy tale ghost.jpg
The Little Match Girl in the Fairy Tale Forest, Efteling, Netherlands.
  • Suikoden III, (2002), a video game for the PlayStation 2, contains a highly abridged play version of "The Little Match Girl". In the game, the player can cast characters in different roles and have them perform a shortened version of the story.
  • "Resurrection of the Little Match Girl" is a 2003 Korean movie.
  • "Transformers: Cybertron", (2005), The Little Match Girl is mentioned by Lori, one of the three main human characters in the show, who tells Six-Speed, one of the members of the Recon-Minicon-Team, that the story is a sad story, when she notices him "crying" because of the sadness of the story.
  • In the Japanese anime Gakuen Alice, the main character, Mikan Sakura puts on a play about The Little Match Girl to earn money.
  • In the Japanese anime Little Busters!, the Little Match Girl is mentioned by a main character, Komari Kamikita, who takes great interest in fairy tales.
  • The Colombian movie La Vendedora De Rosas (Little Rose Selling Girl) is a 1998 film about homeless children victims of solvent abuse, loosely based in The Little Match Girl.
  • In France, director Jean Benoît-Lévy's film version, La Jeune Fille aux Allumettes (1952) included a brief dance sequence with ballet star Janine Charrat.
  • The Fairy Tale Forest (Sprookjesbos in Dutch) of the amusement park Efteling in the Netherlands has a three-dimensional attraction showing the story of the Little Match Girl, called Het Meisje met de Zwavelstokjes.[11] In this attraction, use is made of the pepper's ghost technique.

See also

References

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ [2]
  3. ^ Tatar, Maria (2008). The Annotated Hans Christian Andersen. W.W. Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-06081-2.
  4. ^ "Hans Christian Andersen: The Little Match Girl". Hans Christian Andersen Center.
  5. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2634370/?ref_=fn_al_tt_3
  6. ^ "The Song is a Fairytale". magle.dk. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
  7. ^ Nick Smurthwaite (21 March 2005). "Million pound notes – Keith Strachan". The Stage. Retrieved 23 March 2010.
  8. ^ "INTERVIEW: West End director Keith Strachan takes Dancing In The Streets on tour". This is London. 20 October 2009. Retrieved 23 March 2010.
  9. ^ VanderWerff, Todd (19 November 2009). "Matchless: A Christmas Story". AV Club. Retrieved 23 November 2009.
  10. ^ McGonagall, William. "The Little Match Girl." Poetry Foundation.2010. Web. 26 February 2010.
  11. ^ Efteling – 'The Little Match Girl' in Fairy tale forest (Het meisje met de zwavelstokjes) (video)
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