and seemed so beautifully warm that thechild stretched out her feet as if to warm them, when, lo! the flameof the match went out, the stove vanished, and she had only theremains of the half-burnt match in her hand.
  She rubbed another match on the wall. It burst into a flame, andwhere its light fell upon the wall it became as transparent as a veil,and she could see into the room. The table was covered with a snowywhite table-cloth, on which stood a splendid dinner service, and asteaming roast goose, stuffed with apples and dried plums. And whatwas still more wonderful, the goose jumped down from the dish andwaddled across the floor, with a knife and fork in its breast, tothe little girl. Then the match went out, and there remained nothingbut the thick, damp, cold wall before her.
  She lighted another match, and then she found herself sittingunder a beautiful Christmas-tree. It was larger and more beautifullydecorated than the one which she had seen through the glass door atthe rich merchant's. Thousands of tapers were burning upon the greenbranches, and colored pictures, like those she had seen in theshow-windows, looked down upon it all. The little one stretched outher hand towards them, and the match went out.
  The Christmas lights rose higher and higher, till they looked toher like the stars in the sky. Then she saw a star fall, leavingbehind it a bright streak of fire. "Some one is dying," thought thelittle girl, for her old grandmother, the only one who had everloved her, and who was now dead, had told her that when a starfalls, a soul was going up to God.
  She again rubbed a match on the wall, and the light shone roundher; in the brightness stood her old grandmother, clear and shining,yet mild and loving in her appearance. "Grandmother," cried the littleone, "O take me with you; I know you will go away when the match burnsout; you will vanish like the warm stove, the roast goose, and thelarge, glorious Christmas-tree." And she made haste to light the wholebundle of matches, for she wished to keep her grandmother there. Andthe matches glowed with a light that was brighter than the noon-day,and her grandmother had never appeared so large or so beautiful. Shetook the little girl in her arms, and they both flew upwards inbrightness and joy far above the earth, where there was neither coldnor hunger nor pain, for they were with God.
  In the dawn of morning there lay the poor little one, with palecheeks and smiling mouth, leaning against the wall; she had beenfrozen to death on the last evening of the year; and the New-year'ssun rose and shone upon a little corpse! The child still sat, in thestiffness of death, holding the matches in her hand, one bundle ofwhich was burnt. "She tried to warm herself," said some. No oneimagined what beautiful things she had seen, nor into what glory shehad entered with her grandmother, on New-year's day.
  THE END.
  1872
  FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
  THE LITTLE MERMAID
  by Hans Christian Andersen
  FAR out in the ocean, where the water is as blue as theprettiest cornflower, and as clear as crystal, it is very, verydeep; so deep, indeed, that no cable could fathom it: many churchsteeples, piled one upon another, would not reach from the groundbeneath to the surface of the water above. There dwell the Sea Kingand his subjects. We must not imagine that there is nothing at thebottom of the sea but bare yellow sand. No, indeed; the mostsingular flowers and plants grow there; the leaves and stems ofwhich are so pliant, that the slightest agitation of the watercauses them to stir as if they had life. Fishes, both large and small,glide between the branches, as birds fly among the trees here uponland. In the deepest spot of all, stands the castle of the Sea King.Its walls are built of coral, and the long, gothic windows are ofthe clearest amber. The roof is formed of shells, that open andclose as the water flows over them. Their appearance is verybeautiful, for in each lies a glittering pearl, which would be fit forthe diadem of a queen.
  The Sea King had been a widower for many years, and his agedmother kept house for him. She was a very wise woman, andexceedingly proud of her high birth; on that account she wore twelveoysters on her tail; while others, also of high rank, were onlyallowed to wear six. She was, however, deserving of very great praise,especially for her care of the little sea-princesses, hergrand-daughters. They were six beautiful children; but the youngestwas the prettiest of them all; her skin was as clear and delicate as arose-leaf, and her eyes as blue as the deepest sea; but, like allthe others, she had no feet, and her body ended in a fish's tail.All day long they played in the great halls of the castle, or amongthe living flowers that grew out of the walls. The large amber windowswere open, and the fish swam in, just as the swallows fly into ourhouses when we open the windows, excepting that the fishes swam upto the princesses, ate out of their hands, and allowed themselves tobe stroked. Outside the castle there was a beautiful garden, inwhich grew bright red and dark blue flowers, and blossoms likeflames of fire; the fruit glittered like gold, and the leaves andstems waved to and fro continually. The earth itself was the finestsand, but blue as the flame of burning sulphur. Over everything laya peculiar blue radiance, as if it were surrounded by the air fromabove, through which the blue sky shone, instead of the dark depths ofthe sea. In calm weather the sun could be seen, looking like apurple flower, with the light streaming from the calyx. Each of theyoung princesses had a little plot of ground in the garden, whereshe might dig and plant as she pleased. One arranged her flower-bedinto the form of a whale; another thought it better to make herslike the figure of a little mermaid; but that of the youngest wasround like the sun, and contained flowers as red as his rays atsunset. She was a strange child, quiet and thoughtful; and while hersisters would be delighted with the wonderful things which theyobtained from the wrecks of vessels, she cared for nothing but herpretty red flowers, like the sun, excepting a beautiful marble statue.It was the representation of a handsome boy, carved out of purewhite stone, which had fallen to the bottom of the sea from a wreck.She planted by the statue a rose-colored weeping willow. It grewsplendidly, and very soon hung its fresh branches over the statue,almost down to the blue sands. The shadow had a violet tint, and wavedto and fro like the branches; it seemed as if the crown of the treeand the root were at play, and trying to kiss each other. Nothing gaveher so much pleasure as to hear about the world above the sea. Shemade her old grandmother tell her all she knew of the ships and of thetowns, the people and the animals. To her it seemed most wonderful andbeautiful to hear that the flowers of the land should havefragrance, and not those below the sea; that the trees of the forestshould be green; and that the fishes among the trees could sing sosweetly, that it was quite a pleasure to hear them. Her grandmothercalled the little birds fishes, or she would not have understoodher; for she had never seen birds.
  "When you have reached your fifteenth year," said thegrand-mother, "you will have permission to rise up out of the sea,to sit on the rocks in the moonlight, while the great ships aresailing by; and then you will see both forests and towns."
  In the following year, one of the sisters would be fifteen: but aseach was a year younger than the other, the youngest would have towait five years before her turn came to rise up from the bottom of theocean, and see the earth as we do. However, each promised to tellthe others what she saw on her first visit, and what she thought themost beautiful; for their grandmother could not tell them enough;there were so many things on which they wanted information. None ofthem longed so much for her turn to come as the youngest, she whohad the longest time to wait, and who was so quiet and thoughtful.Many nights she stood by the open window, looking up through thedark blue water, and watching the fish as they splashed about withtheir fins and tails. She could see the moon and stars shiningfaintly; but through the water they looked larger than they do toour eyes. When something like a black cloud passed between her andthem, she knew that it was either a whale swimming over her head, or aship full of human beings, who never imagined that a pretty littlemermaid was standing beneath them, holding out her white hands towardsthe keel of their ship.
  As soon as the eldest was fifteen, she was allowed to rise tothe surface of the ocean. When she came back, she had hundreds ofthings to talk about; but the most beautiful, she said, was to liein the moonlight, on a sandbank, in the quiet sea, near the coast, andto gaze on a large town nearby, where the lights were twinkling likehundreds of stars; to listen to the sounds of the music, the noiseof carriages, and the voices of human beings, and then to hear themerry bells peal out from the church steeples; and because she couldnot go near to all those wonderful things, she longed for them morethan ever. Oh, did not the youngest sister listen eagerly to all thesedescriptions?