"The Little Match Girl" (La pequeña de los
fósforos) es una historia del poeta y autor danés Hans Christian Andersen. La
historia, sobre los sueños de una niña, fue publicada por primera vez en 1845.
Ha sido adaptada a varios medios, incluyendo un film animado y un musical para television.
Most terribly cold it was; it
snowed, and was nearly quite dark, and evening—the last
evening of the year. In this cold and darkness there went along the street a
poor little girl, bareheaded, and with naked feet. When she left home she had
slippers on, it is true; but what was the good of that? They were very large
slippers, which her mother had until then worn; so large were they; and the
poor little thing lost them as she struggled across the street, because of two
carriages that rolled by extremely fast.
One slipper was nowhere to be found;
the other had been laid hold of by an urchin,
and off he ran with it; he thought it would do capitally for a cradle when he
some day or other should have children himself. So the little maiden walked on
with her tiny naked feet, that were quite red and blue from cold. She carried a
quantity of matches in an old apron, and she held a bundle of them in her hand.
Nobody had bought anything of her the whole livelong day; no one had given her
a single farthing.
She crept along trembling with cold
and hunger—a very picture of sorrow, the poor little thing!
The flakes of snow covered her long fair hair, which fell in beautiful
curls around her neck; but of that, of course, she never once now thought. From
all the windows the candles were gleaming, and it smelt so deliciously of roast
goose, for you know it was New
Year's Eve; yes, of that she thought.
In a corner formed by two houses, of
which one advanced more than the other, she seated herself down and trembled.
Her little feet she had drawn close up to her, but she grew colder and colder,
and to go home she did not venture, for she had not sold any matches and could
not bring a farthing of money: from her father she would certainly get blows,
and at home it was cold too, for above her she had only the roof, through which
the wind whistled, even though the largest cracks were stopped up with straw
and rags.
Her little hands were almost numbed
with cold. Oh! A match might afford her a world of comfort, if she only dared
take a single one out of the bundle, draw it against the wall, and warm her
fingers by it. She drew one out. "Rischt!" how it blazed, how it
burnt! It was a warm, bright flame, like a candle, as she held her hands over
it: it was a wonderful light. It seemed really to the little maiden as though
she were sitting before a large iron stove, with burnished brass feet and a
brass ornament at top. The fire burned with such blessed influence; it warmed
so delightfully. The little girl had already stretched out her feet to warm
them too; but—the small flame went out, the stove vanished: she had only the
remains of the burnt-out match in her hand. (The Little Match Girl, de Hans Christian Andersen, en ingles más
fácil.)
Vocabulario
urchin: : a
usually poor and dirty child who annoys people or causes minor trouble.
farthing: : a
former British coin that had a value equal to 1/4 of a penny.
flake: a small
loose mass or bit.
goose: (plural:
geese) ganso.
El autor
Hans
Christian Andersen (1805 – 1875) fue
un autor danés. Aunque fue un prolífico autor de teatro, novelas, poemas y
viajes, Andersen es más recordado por sus historias de hadas. La popularidad de
Andersen no se limita a los niños, sus historias expresan temas que trascienden
la edad o la nacionalidad.
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