“Grandmother!” exclaimed the child, “oh, take me with you! I know thou1 wilt2leave me as soon as the match goes out， thou wilt vanish like warm fire in the stove, like the splendid New Year's feast, like the beautiful large Christmas tree!” and she hastily lighted all the remaining matches in the bundle, last her grandmother should disappear. And the matches burned with such a blaze of splendor, that noon day could scarcely have been brighter. Never had the good old grandmother looked so tall and stately, so beautiful and kind； she took the little girl in her arms, and they both flew together-higher, till they were in that place where neither cold, nor hunger, nor pain, is ever known， they were in paradise.

“奶奶！”小姑娘叫了起來，“啊！把我帶走吧！我知道這火柴一熄滅，你就會象爐中溫暖的火焰，豐盛的新年飯食，美麗的大圣誕樹一樣地不見了！”她急忙把剩下的一束火柴都擦著了，生怕祖母走了，這束火柴發出強烈的光芒，照得比白天還要亮。祖母從來沒有象現在這樣顯得高大、美麗和親切。她把小姑娘抱起來，摟在懷里。她們倆在光明和快樂飛走了，越飛越高，飛到既沒有寒冷，又沒有饑餓和憂愁的地方——那就是極樂世界。

But in the cold morning hour, crouching in the corner of the wall, the poor little girl was found：her cheeks glowing, her lips smiling， frozen to death on the last night of the old Year. The New Year's sun shone on the lifeless child； motionless she sat there with the matches in her lap, one bundle of them quite burnt out.

“She has been trying to warm herself, poor thing!” the people said， but no one knew of the sweet visions she had beheld, or how gloriously she and her grandmother were celebrating their New Year's festival.

直到寒冷的早晨，人們發現一個可憐的小姑娘蜷縮在墻角里，她雙頰通紅，嘴唇上帶著微笑，她已經在舊年的除夕凍死了。新年的太陽升起來了，照在她那小小的身體上！她一動也不動地坐在那里，手中還捏著火柴，其中一捆已經完全燒光了。
“可憐的孩子！她是想把自己暖一下呀！”然而卻沒有人知道，她曾看到過多么美妙的東西，她曾多么快樂地跟祖母在一起歡度新年佳節！