that he will never recover."

"Poor shadow!" said the princess. "He is very unfortunate; it would be
a real work of charity to deliver him from the little life he has, and,
when I think properly over the matter, I am of opinion that it will be
necessary to do away with him in all stillness!"

"It is certainly hard," said the shadow, "for he was a faithful
servant!" and then he gave a sort of sigh.

"You are a noble character!" said the princess.

The whole city was illuminated in the evening, and the cannons went off
with a bum! bum! and the soldiers presented arms. That was a marriage!
The princess and the shadow went out on the balcony to show themselves,
and get another hurrah!

The learned man heard nothing of all this--for they had deprived him of
life.

THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL

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
hitherto worn; so large were they; and the poor little thing lost them
as she scuffled away across the street, because of two carriages that
rolled by dreadfully 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 cowered together. Her little feet
she had drawn close up to her, but she grew colder and colder, and to go
home she did not vent