The Little Match Girl

"The Little Match Girl"
	A. J. Bayes illustration, 1889
Author	Hans Christian Andersen
Original title	"Den Lille Pige med Svovlstikkerne"
Country	Denmark
Language	Danish
Genre(s)	Short story
Published in	Dansk Folkekalender for 1846
Publication date	December 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, about a dying child's dreams and hope, was first published in 1845. It has been adapted to various media, including an animated short film, a television musical, and an animated virtual reality story called "Allumette".^[1]

Summary

On a cold New Year's Eve, a poor, young girl tries to sell matches in the street. She is already shivering from cold and early hypothermia, and she is walking barefoot having lost her two large slippers as it was of her mother.^[2] Still, she is too afraid to go home, because her father will beat her for not selling any matches, and also as the many cracks in their shack can't keep out the cold wind. The girl takes shelter in a corner formed by two house projected further out into street and sits down.^[3]

The girl lights the matches to warm herself. In their glow she sees several lovely visions, starting with a warm stove, then a luxurious holiday feast where the goose almost jumps out at her, and then a magnificent Christmas tree larger than the one at the rich merchant's house. The girl looks skyward and sees a shooting star; she then remembers her late 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 all through her life. To keep the vision of her grandmother alive for as long as she can, the girl lights the entire bundle of matches at once.

After running out of matches the child dies and her grandmother carries her soul to Heaven. The next morning, passers-by find the girl dead in the nook, frozen with a smile on her face, and guess the reason for the burnt-out matches beside her. They feel pity for her, although they had not shown kindness to her before her death. They have no way of knowing about the wonderful visions she saw before her death or how gloriously she is celebrating the New Year in Heaven with her grandmother.^[4]

Publication

"The Little Match Girl" was first published December 1845, in Dansk Folkekalender for 1846. The work was re-published as a part of New Fairy Tales (4 March 1848), Second Volume, Second Collection (Nye Eventyr (1848), Andet Bind, Anden Samling), and again 18 December 1849 as a part of Fairy Tales (1850; Eventyr). The work was also published 30 March 1863 as a part of Fairy Tales and Stories (1863), Second Volume (Eventyr og Historier (1863), Andet Bind).^[5]

Adaptations

Amusement park attractions

The Little Match Girl in the Fairy Tale Forest, Efteling, Netherlands

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.^[6] In this attraction, use is made of the pepper's ghost technique.

Anime and manga

In the episode 307 of Crayon Shin-chan, "Nene-chan is the Tragedy Heroine" (1999), the story inspires Nene-chan to play the Cinderella game with her friends.
In Is the Order a Rabbit?, Sharo starts daydreaming while handing out flyers, humorously seeing it as a death flag when she connects her actions to the match girl.
Chapter 18 of the manga series Binbou Shimai Monogatari (2004) replays the tale of "The Little Match Girl", featuring the protagonists Asu and Kyou with a happy ending twist.
In Chapter 24 (Volume 3) of Love Hina, Su makes Shinobu dress up as a Little Red Riding Hood type and sell matches to raise some travelling money to Okinawa. When that plot initially fails and Shinobu starts to cry, a good number of passers-by are moved to tears and prepare to buy all her matches until the two girls are chased off by resident Yakuza.
In the Japanese anime Gakuen Alice, the main character, Mikan Sakura puts on a play about The Little Match Girl to earn money.
Episode 201 of Gin Tama, "Everybody's a Santa", parodies The Little Match Girl, where Yagyu Kyubei narrates a humorous retelling of the story, featuring Kagura as the eponymous title character, replacing match sticks with Shinpachi, a human punching bag.
"Girl Who Doesn't Sell Matches But is Misfortunate Anyway" is the final episode of the 2010 anime series Ōkami-san, which draws inspiration from various fairy tales. The episode features a character called Machiko Himura, who is based on the little match girl.
"The Little Key Frames Girl", episode 11 of the anime Shirobako (2014), humorously replays the whole match girl story from a more modern and lower stakes point of view.
In "Christmas Osomatsu-san", episode 11 of the anime Osomatsu-san (2015), Iyami humorously acts as The Little Match Girl, dying in the end.
Match Shoujo, a manga by Sanami Suzuki (2014–15), is being made into a live-action film starring Sumire Sato, as the title character.^[7]
In "Let's Get Wiggy With It", episode 2 of the anime Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo (2003–05), Don Patch humorously recites a story of him selling churros at Christmas time with no one buying, showing a Churro buried and covered in snow in the end, resembling death.
In "Troupe Dragon, On Stage! (They Had A Troupe Name, Huh)", episode 10 of the anime Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid (2017), the main characters decide to stage a performance of "The Little Match Girl" for a nursing home on Christmas. Throughout the episode, the characters add their own ideas to the story (such as magical girls and the Forty-seven rōnin), to the point that the performance bears virtually no resemblance to the original.
In "Yuri Yuri" Season 3 episode 10, Akari and Kyoko light matches to keep themselves warm when the Kotatsu does not work. They see visions of shaved ice and a turkey dinner. They both survive however.

Audio recordings

The record "Charles Dickens: A Christmas Carol" published by Peter Pan Records features a reading on the B side.

Comics

In issue #112 of Bill Willingham's Fables (a comic book series about living embodiments of storybook characters), The Little Match Girl is introduced to Rose Red as one of the paladins of the embodiment of Hope, ostensibly on the night that the girl is doomed to die (Christmas Eve, in this telling). The child identifies herself as "the caretaker of hope deferred", braving the deadly cold and saving the meager pennies she earns towards the promise of a better life in the future, and stubbornly denying that her death is close at hand.

Films

16mm short subject films

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.

Animated films

Color Rhapsodies (1937), a Charles Mintz studio color adaptation including the grim ending, considered among the studio's best films. It was nominated for the 1937 Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoons), and lost to Disney's short The Old Mill. This version of the story is slightly different from Andersen's story, specifically near the end.
La Tartelette (1967), a Jacques Colombat short film inspired by Andersen's story, with a black humour twist ending.
Hans Christian Andersen no Sekai (1971, The World of Hans Christian Andersen), Toei Animation's animated film based on Andersen's works.
In the 1978 animated adaptation of "The Stingiest Man In Town", the character of Ebenezer Scrooge is seen passing by a caricature of the little match girl. Her first appearance shows Scrooge "buying" two packs of matches from her, only to pay her with a button from his coat and go on his way laughing at her expense, leaving her bewildered. Her second, and final, appearance in the special shows her shivering from the cold and a now-reformed Scrooge giving her his coat and a handful of gold coins.
The Little Match Girl (2003), an animated short film by Junho Chung for Fine Cut: KCET's Festival of Student Film.
"The Little Match Girl" (2005), ADV Films' adaptation released in Hello Kitty Animation Theater, Vol. 3.
The Little Match Girl (2006), the last of four Walt Disney Animation Studios shorts originally intended to be part of a Fantasia (1940) compilation film, which project was canceled. This short was then developed as a stand-alone film and was nominated for the 2006 Academy Award for Best Animated Short, losing to The Danish Poet. This short was subsequently released as a special feature on the 2006 Platinum Edition DVD of The Little Mermaid (1989). In 2015, the short was released on the Walt Disney Animation Studios Short Films Collection Blu-ray Disc.^[8]
"Allumette" (2016) by Penrose Studios Released as a free VR animated film for PS4 and PC.

Live-action films

The Little Match Seller (1902), a short silent film directed by James Williamson
The Little Match Girl (1914), a 9 minute long silent film directed by Percy Nash.
The Little Match Girl (1928), La Petite Marchande d'Allumettes), a 40-minute silent film by Jean Renoir.
La Jeune Fille aux Allumettes (1952), French director Jean Benoît-Lévy's film version, includes a brief dance sequence with ballet star Janine Charrat.
Den lille pige med svovlstikkerne (1953), Danish film director Johan Jacobsen adapted the Andersen story to a short film, starring Karin Nellemose, Françoise Rosay, and Agnes Thorberg Wieth. The film competed for the short film prize of the 1954 Cannes Film Festival.^[9]
La vendedora de rosas (1998; Little Rose Selling Girl), directed by Víctor Gaviria, is a film by Colombian movie about homeless children victims of solvent abuse, loosely based on "The Little Match Girl"; it competed for the Palme d'Or at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival.
Resurrection of the Little Match Girl (2003) is a Korean movie.
Matchstick Girl (2015), a modern adaptation short film set in the UK, was produced and directed by Joann Randles.
Match Shojo (2016), a Japanese adaptation of Sanami Suzuki's manga starring Sumire Sato.^[10]

Games

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.
Yakuza 5, (2012), a video game for the PlayStation 3 has a substory named "The Little Match Girl" during Taiga Saejima's segment of the game that involves a little girl selling matches for 100 yen.^[11] A similar sunstory also appears in Yakuza (2005) and its remake, Yakuza Kiwami (2016).
The Little Match Girl, (2015), a visual novel for web browsers and Android that tells the story.
In The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Blood and Wine, the Little Match Girl, tired of seeing that no one buys her matches, starts selling tobacco, various alcoholic beverages and even drugs, stating that "it is much more profitable and demand is high".
THE iDOLM@STER 2, (2011), a video game for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, has a song titled "Little Match Girl" available in the first DLC pack for the Xbox 360 version and available by default in the PlayStation 3 version. The song features a romanticized version of the story. The song has made further appearances in THE iDOLM@STER SHINY FESTA, THE iDOLM@STER ONE FOR ALL, and in the 2011 anime adaptation of the series.
"QURARE Magic Library", (2014), a Korean mobile game that's also been imported to the PlayStation 4 to the west. There is a Kodex card in game called "Little Match Girl" which is a Super Rare + card and features the passive Resurrect V skill for Tank decks. The image is drawn by STUDIO NCG, and its description is very different from the original story, with a much darker ending.

Literature

Anne Bishop published the short story "Match Girl" in Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears (1995).
On page 319 of Clarissa Pinkola Estés' book Women Who Run with the Wolves (1992), "The Little Match Girl", the author tells the story to her aunt, followed by a lucid analysis.
In Neil Gaiman's novella A Study in Emerald (2004), the main characters view a set of three plays, one of which is a stage adaptation of the "Little Match Girl".
Novelist Gregory Maguire read a short story based on "The Little Match Girl" over the air on NPR. He later expanded the short story into a novel, published as Matchless: A Christmas Story (2009).^[12]
William McGonagall retold "The Little Match Girl" in a poem.^[13]
Jerry Pinkney wrote an adaption of the story setting it in the early twentieth century.
Terry Pratchett's Discworld novel, Hogfather (1996), gave the story a less morbid ending, thanks to the intervention of Death himself: Death's manservant, Albert, notes that the tale of the little match girl is meant to remind people that they could be worse off even when completely penniless, but with Death currently acting as the Hogfather to compensate for the original's absence, he is able to use his current dual status to give the little match girl a gift of a future.
Hans Tseng adapted "The Little Match Girl" into a short story manga, featured in the first volume of Tokyopop's Rising Stars of Manga (2003).
In Anne Ursu's novel Breadcrumbs (2011), the main character Hazel meets in the woods a character based on the Little Match Girl.
"The Little Match Girl" was one of the key inspirations for the main character Rosemary in Michael Sajdak's novelette Voices of the Dead (2017).

Music

In 1994, Frederik Magle released the album The Song Is a Fairytale, of 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.^[14]
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 the album Striking 12, a musical based on "The Little Match Girl", which subsequently opened off-Broadway in 2006.
In 2005, Erasure's music video of their song "Breathe" was 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, Vocaloid producer Akuno-P produced the song "The Flames of the Yellow Phosphorus", an alternate take on the story. In the song, the girl must sell all the matches she has, or else her father will not feed her. After lighting a match, she decides to burn her father's house down and steal his money for food, as to not be cold nor starving. She gets burned at the stake as punishment.
In 2012, The Crüxshadows recorded the song "Matchstick Girl" on their album As the Dark Against My Halo, which according to the band's frontman, Rogue, refers to Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale.
Tori Amos's 2015 musical The Light Princess includes the song "My Fairy-Story", where the main character reads this story and compares it to her own situation.
In 2015, Japanese techno-rap unit Wednesday Campanella produced the song "Match Uri no Shōjo" (「マッチ売りの少女」, 'The Little Match Girl').

Television

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 1986, HTV released The Little Match Girl as 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.^[15]^[16]
In 1987, a modernized version, The Little Match Girl, was shown on American television. The cast included Keshia Knight Pulliam, Rue McClanahan, 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.
A short parody version of the Little Match Girl was featured in Robot Chicken episode "Garbage Sushi" with the Little Match Girl voiced by Minae Noji, her father voiced by Rob Paulsen, and her grandmother voiced by Seth Green. In this sketch version, she was selling matches stating that she must sell them or her father will beat her. Upon lighting a match, she sees a family. Upon lighting the second match, she sees a vision of her grandmother who tells the Little Match Girl that Vishnu is in Heaven and that Jesus is a fairy tale. Upon being told of her grandmother's plan, the girl learns the power of fire with the matches and kills her father for his abuse upon spilling alcohol on him and then using her matches to burn him to a skeleton. Then she finds her grandmother's jewelry and cracks an egg on her father's burning skeleton. By the final scene, the Little Match Girl is in a warmer location where she gives the bartender a big stack of money for a cup of Mai Tai. When asked what her name is, the girl states "My name's the Little F****** Match Girl" and then throws the cup of Mai Tai at the screen.
In 2017, a version of The Little Match Girl was featured on Christmas with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir featuring Rolando Villazon televised on PBS.

References

↑ "Janko Roettgers" (October 13, 2016). "VR Review: 'Allumette'". Variety.
↑
↑
↑ Tatar, Maria (2008). The Annotated Hans Christian Andersen. W.W. Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-06081-2.
↑ "Hans Christian Andersen: The Little Match Girl". Hans Christian Andersen Center.
↑ Efteling – 'The Little Match Girl' in Fairy tale forest (Het meisje met de zwavelstokjes) (video)
↑ http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2016-01- 27/ske48-idol-sumire-sato-kensho-ono-star-in-film-of-the-little-match-girl-manga/.98042
↑ Doty, Meriah (4 June 2015). "'Frozen Fever' (and Easter Eggs!) Coming Soon on Disney Shorts Blu-ray (Exclusive)". Yahoo! Movies. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
↑ "Official Selection 1954: All the Selection". Archived from the original on 26 December 2013.
↑ http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2016-01-27/ske48-idol-sumire-sato-kensho-ono-star-in-film-of-the-little-match-girl-manga/.98042
↑ "Ryu Ga Gotoku 5 / Yakuza 5 SUBSTORY - The Little Match Girl". YouTube. Retrieved 2015-12-12.
↑ VanderWerff, Todd (19 November 2009). "Matchless: A Christmas Story". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 2009-11-23.
↑ McGonagall, William. "The Little Match Girl." Poetry Foundation.2010. Web. 26 February 2010.
↑ "The Song is a Fairytale". magle.dk. Retrieved 2012-07-06.
↑ Nick Smurthwaite (21 March 2005). "Million pound notes – Keith Strachan". The Stage. Retrieved 2010-03-23.
↑ "INTERVIEW: West End director Keith Strachan takes Dancing In The Streets on tour". This is London. 20 October 2009. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 23 March 2010.

External links

"The Little Match Girl" Jean Hersholt's English translation
"The Little Match Girl" in the New Normal Reader
Den Lille Pige med Svovlstikkerne Original Danish text
Surlalune: The Annotated Little Match Girl
"The Little Matchgirl" Creative Commons audiobook
"The Little Match Girl 1902 Adaptation (downloadable)" at the British Film Institute
David Lang's passion
English translation (full text) from "Andersen's Fairy Tales"
The Little Match Girl public domain audiobook at LibriVox

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[1] "Janko Roettgers" (October 13, 2016). "VR Review: 'Allumette'". Variety.

[2] ↑

[3] ↑

[4] Tatar, Maria (2008). The Annotated Hans Christian Andersen. W.W. Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-06081-2.

[5] "Hans Christian Andersen: The Little Match Girl". Hans Christian Andersen Center.

[6] Efteling – 'The Little Match Girl' in Fairy tale forest (Het meisje met de zwavelstokjes) (video)

[7] ttp://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2016-01- 27/ske48-idol-sumire-sato-kensho-ono-star-in-film-of-the-little-match-girl-manga/.98042

[8] Doty, Meriah (4 June 2015). "'Frozen Fever' (and Easter Eggs!) Coming Soon on Disney Shorts Blu-ray (Exclusive)". Yahoo! Movies. Retrieved 8 October 2015.

[9] "Official Selection 1954: All the Selection". Archived from the original on 26 December 2013.

[10] ttp://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2016-01-27/ske48-idol-sumire-sato-kensho-ono-star-in-film-of-the-little-match-girl-manga/.98042

[11] "Ryu Ga Gotoku 5 / Yakuza 5 SUBSTORY - The Little Match Girl". YouTube. Retrieved 2015-12-12.

[12] VanderWerff, Todd (19 November 2009). "Matchless: A Christmas Story". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 2009-11-23.

[Poetry_Foundation-13] McGonagall, William. "The Little Match Girl." Poetry Foundation.2010. Web. 26 February 2010.

[14] "The Song is a Fairytale". magle.dk. Retrieved 2012-07-06.

[stage-15] Nick Smurthwaite (21 March 2005). "Million pound notes – Keith Strachan". The Stage. Retrieved 2010-03-23.

[london-16] "INTERVIEW: West End director Keith Strachan takes Dancing In The Streets on tour". This is London. 20 October 2009. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 23 March 2010.

Hans Christian Andersen
Bibliography
Collections	Fairy Tales Told for Children (1835–1837) Fairy Tales Told for Children (1838) New Fairy Tales (1843/1844)
Stories	"The Angel" "Blockhead Hans" "The Elf Mound" "The Emperor's New Clothes" "The Fir-Tree" "The Flying Trunk" "The Galoshes of Fortune" "The Garden of Paradise" "The Goblin and the Grocer" "Golden Treasure" "The Ice-Maiden" "The Little Match Girl" "The Little Mermaid" "The Most Incredible Thing" "The Nightingale" "Ole Lukøje" "The Princess and the Pea" "The Red Shoes" "The Shadow" "The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep" "The Snow Queen" "The Snowman" "The Steadfast Tin Soldier" "The Story of a Mother" "The Sweethearts; or, The Top and the Ball" "The Swineherd" "The Tallow Candle" "The Teapot" "Thumbelina" "The Tinderbox" "The Ugly Duckling" "The Wild Swans"
Novels	The Improvisatore (1835) The Two Baronesses (1848)
Films	Hans Christian Andersen (1952) The Daydreamer (1966) Hans Christian Andersen: My Life as a Fairytale (2001 miniseries) Young Andersen (2005 serial)
Related	Hans Christian Andersen Museum Pleated Christmas hearts International Children's Book Day Hans Christian Andersen Award Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award
Category

Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Match Girl" (1845)
Films	The Little Match Seller The Little Match Girl (1928) La vendedora de rosas Resurrection of the Little Match Girl The Little Matchgirl (2006, film)
Short stories	"Match Girl" "Matchless: A Christmas Story"
Other	Striking 12 The Little Match Girl Passion