The Little Match Girl

It was cold, snow was falling, and it was growing darker and darker. The last day of the year was drawing to a close. Winter. In the dusk, a little girl walked through the snow-covered streets, barefoot and bareheaded, carrying something in her little apron.

Why was she barefoot? There's a story behind that. That morning she still had slippers—old, worn-out ones that had been her mother's, far too big for her small feet. But as she ran across a busy street, everything changed…