ICSE Students can refer to The Little Match Girl Summary ICSE below which has been prepared by expert English teachers of ICSE as per that latest syllabus and guidelines issued by ICSE. These Chapter summaries have been prepared to help students to understand the entire chapter easily. You can also refer to more study material for ICSE Class 10 on our website
ICSE Class 10 English The Little Match Girl Summary
We have provided below a summary of Chapter The Little Match Girl. This is an important chapter in Standard 10th ICSE English. The summary provided below has been prepared by expert English faculty for ICSE based on the latest ICSE books. You should refer to all Chapter Summaries ICSE Class 10 English which will help you to understand all chapters and to get more marks in exams.
The Little Match Girl ICSE Class 10 English
About the Author
Hans Christian Anderson (2nd April, 1805 – 4th August, 1875), was a Danish writer, who enjoyed fame as a novelist, dramatist and poet, but fairy tales are his greatest contribution to world literature. Many of his stories include, ‘The Ugly Duckling’ and ‘The Princess and the Pea’, remain classics of the genre. His stories have been adapted for stage and screen, including a popular animated version of ‘The Little Mermaid’. He suffered a serious injury after falling from bed. His last publication, a collection of stories, appeased the same year. Signs of Liver Cancer started showing up and finally he died in Copenhagen.
Summary
‘The Little Match Girl’ is a sad story about a miserable young girl. The story begins on a rough cold winter evening, the wind was swirling, the sky was darkening and the snow was coming down. It was the last evening before New Year and it seems that the people were preparing to spend a nice evening in their homes with a lavish celebration. In this chill and darkness, a poor little girl strolled, who was bareheaded and bare feet. She was wearing her mother’s slippers but they were bigger than her size, so while crossing the road in a hurry, she lost one of them and the other one was stolen by a boy. Her feet were red and frozen due to the cold.
This little girl is out in the streets to sell matches as ordered by her strict father. She could not manage to sell any since morning but could not return home, firstly, because her father would beat her and secondly, her poor home could not provide her any shelter from the cold winds.
She was lured by the appetizing smells of food, spreading from a house. The low temperature made it impossible for her to carry on further so she curled herself up in a corner between two buildings and tucked her feet underneath herself. To keep herself warm she decided to light up one match. The lightning of the match carries her into a world of imagination. She imagines a large iron stove and tries to feel the warmth coming from it. But suddenly it disappears with the match.
The little girl’s next vision, which she sees on lighting the next match, is of a beautiful stuffed goose dinner. Suddenly, the goose hopped out from the dish with the knife and fork still in its breast and reached upto the little girl. But again the match goes out and the scene disappears.
In the next vision she finds herself sitting under the most beautifully decorated Christmas tree. Then the girl sees the falling star and thinks to herself that someone is dying because once her grandmother had told that a falling star meant that someone was going to heaven. She finally visualizes her beloved grandmother and continues to light matches, one after the other, to keep her in sight.
The next day, she was found dead and frozen with a smiling face. Everyone talked about her attempts to keep herself warm but no one knew that she died a peaceful death while having happy visions and about her joining her beloved grandmother in heaven.
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