The Little Match Girl clutched the matches with her trembling little hand and gently struck one against the wall. A pleasant "hissing" sound filled the air as the match lit up, its faint glow illuminating the Little Match Girl's surroundings.
"I wonder what delicious food the people in that beautiful big house next door are enjoying?" The Little Match Girl sniffed the fragrance in the cold wind, unable to stop herself from imagining those tasty dishes.
In the flickering, faint light, the Little Match Girl seemed to see a large dining table laden with plates of countless colorful fruits like apples, peaches, and grapes, as well as large bowls filled with fragrant roasted duck, roasted chicken, and roasted goose.
The girl saw a roasted duck, dripping with oil, jump out of a bowl. This roasted duck, with a knife and fork stuck in its back, walked across the tablecloth, leaving a fragrant, greasy chicken footprint with every step it took.
The Little Match Girl pounced on it, grabbing the plump roasted duck.
She truly grabbed the roasted duck.
The warm and real sensation told the girl that the roasted duck had appeared in reality.
Before her, there was indeed such a dining table, truly set with delicious food. Goose feather-like pure white Snow White fell, landing on the roasted duck and fruits. Every detail was real.
"Did food really appear?"
"Just like the stove yesterday?"
The Little Match Girl impatiently pulled the knife and fork from the roasted duck's back, quickly cut it open, and put piece after piece into her mouth. After finishing the roasted duck, she went on to eat the roasted goose, grapes, juice, and other delicious foods nearby until she could eat no more.
The Little Match Girl ate with such relish that her entire face was buried in the plate, and her lips and cheeks were covered in grease.
She felt this was the most satisfying and delicious meal she had ever eaten in her life. After eating, she felt her whole body warm up.
Only then did the Little Match Girl have time to ponder why a meal had suddenly appeared before her.
The corner of her eye caught sight of the burnt-out match on the ground.
"It was the same yesterday; when I rubbed the match, my fantasy became real."
"Could it be that these matches have magical power?"
"Was that kind elder sister yesterday a magician?"
Thinking of this, the Little Match Girl felt a bit guilty:
"It's a pity I can't find that elder sister anymore, so I can't return the magical matches to her."
"Uh, I'll use a little first, and when I meet that elder sister later, I'll apologize to her and return the remaining matches."
"If possible, I can do anything to help her, so she'll give me a few more matches."
Having made up her mind, the Little Match Girl extended her small hand, which had already regained its rosy color, and took out another match. The match glowed with tiny specks of light.
She gently struck the match against the wall, listening to the pleasant "hissing" sound.
Aurora, transformed into a flying bird in the sky, quietly observed this scene, wanting to see what the Little Match Girl's first wish would be once she understood the match's magic.
"I want to see my grandma. I want my grandma to come back from heaven and see me."
The Little Match Girl whispered her wish to the faint light.
She thought of her kind grandma. Her grandma had been so good to her, definitely the person who loved her most in the world. But one day, her grandma disappeared, and everyone said she had gone to live in heaven. She wanted her grandma to come back from that distant heaven to see her.
She stared at the faint light until the flickering flame was extinguished by the cold wind, but no miracle occurred.
Aurora and Rhine, transformed into flying birds, watched everything, a faint sadness welling up in their hearts.
They both knew there was no magic in this world that could bring the dead back to life.
Certain forbidden necromancy might allow a powerful magician to be reborn elsewhere at the moment of death, but this was because their life essence was preserved elsewhere, and they did not substantially die when their physical body was destroyed; magic could also block immortal souls, turning them into vengeful spirits, or trapping them in gems and bottles, preventing reincarnation—although in such cases, the dead were not truly alive.
However, even the most skilled magician could not recall souls that had already reincarnated and disappeared without a trace, or make the dead walk out of their graves in a normal state.
"It seems heaven is a very, very distant place. Even with magical matches, I can't find grandma."
The Little Match Girl sadly lowered her head.
She looked at the matches shimmering in the matchbox, her heart filled with sorrow. For a moment, she didn't know what wish to make.
Suddenly, the Little Match Girl had an idea.
"That's right, even though the matches can't help me find grandma, they can help me find the swallow that gave me the sapphire!"
"I also need to thank it for giving me such a beautiful sapphire!"
The Little Match Girl rubbed and lit another match, and wished to the flame:
"Please take me to find the swallow that gave me the gem."
The warm light grew larger and larger, enveloping the girl completely.
The Little Match Girl felt very warm. In the light, she saw a plaza—it was the highest plaza in the center of the town.
She saw a tall, towering pillar in the center of the plaza, topped with a dark, tattered statue of a young boy.
The Little Match Girl remembered that long ago, when her mother and grandma were still alive, her grandma had brought her here.
It was a warm spring day, and she and her grandma sat together on a chair, looking at the golden statue on the towering stone pillar.
She remembered that at that time, the statue was plated with gold, its sword was inlaid with rubies, and its eyes were azure gems. Under the sunlight, the statue sparkled, dazzling the girl so much she couldn't open her eyes.
"Who is that person standing on the pillar?" The girl pointed at the statue on the pillar and asked her grandma curiously.
"He was a prince of our country a very, very long time ago."
Grandma told the girl, "He lived in the palace, leading a carefree life. The palace walls shielded him from all the ugly and dark things. People called him the Happy Prince. After he passed away, people erected a statue in his honor."
"Then why did everyone place the Happy Prince so high up?" the girl asked. "Why didn't they put him inside the palace walls?"
Standing so high up, the Happy Prince would surely see all the ugly and painful things in this town, and then he would never be happy again… the girl thought.
However, now, the Happy Prince looked completely different from how the girl remembered him.
Only holes remained where the Prince's eyes had been, and all the crystal chips on his body had fallen off, leaving only a mottled gray and white. Even the ruby on the hilt of the Prince's sword had disappeared without a trace.
The Little Match Girl then remembered the sapphire the swallow had given her earlier, which was exactly the same as the one in the Happy Prince's eyes!
The Little Match Girl walked to the base of the Happy Prince's stone pillar.
She really wanted to return the beautiful sapphire to the Prince, but the gem had already been taken by her father, and she was very sad about it.
At that moment, she saw the swallow that had helped her before fly over again and perch at the Happy Prince's feet.
"Swallow, thank you for the gem you gave me. But that gem seems to be the Happy Prince's eye. Grandma told me not to take other people's things. I want to return the eye to the Prince, but I've already given that gem to my father."
The girl looked up and said to the swallow.
But the swallow shook its head and told the girl, "No, the Prince asked me to give you the gem."
The swallow told the girl that it was only temporarily flying through this city, wanting to follow its companions to a warmer place for winter, but the Happy Prince had persuaded it to stay.
On the first night, the Happy Prince asked the swallow to peck out the ruby from his sword hilt and give it to a thin, haggard mother whose hands were full of needle marks; on the second night, the Happy Prince asked the swallow to peck out one of the sapphires from his eye socket and give it to a young man living in a dilapidated attic who was writing plays for the theater—that young man was so hungry he was dizzy, and without a fire in his fireplace, he couldn't continue writing; on the third night, the Happy Prince asked the swallow to peck out the last sapphire from his eye socket and give it to a Little Match Girl without shoes or socks—that girl was her.
And today, the Happy Prince again asked the swallow to take the gold leaves from his body, piece by piece, and give them to the starving children in the city—children begging at the doors of mansions, children shivering under bridge arches from the cold, children so hungry they were pale and dying…
In this way, the Happy Prince had no more valuable things on his body and became the ugly statue he was now.
"Oh my, when did the statue in the plaza become like this?" From a distance, the voices of several adults discussing could be heard.
"Yes, it's too ugly. We should tear it down and melt it." Another adult said so.
The Little Match Girl heard the adults arguing about how to dispose of the molten lead after melting the Prince, whether to make a statue for the mayor or some other important person, and she burst into tears.
She threw herself in front of the towering pillar, crying loudly. She felt that the Happy Prince was as good as her grandma, and she didn't want him to be melted and go to that distant heaven.
"That's right, I still have matches."
The Little Match Girl then took out the matchbox glittering with starlight from her tattered clothes, and tearfully pulled out a match.
She rubbed the wall, lit a match, and made a wish to the flame.
On the Happy Prince's sword hilt, the ruby reappeared, larger and brighter than before.
But the Happy Prince's eye sockets were still ugly holes, and his body was still dull gray.
"No, one match's magic isn't enough."
The Little Match Girl poured out all the glittering matches, constantly rubbing and scratching them hard against the wall. The wall became hot from the matches, and the matches burned one by one.
In the Happy Prince's eye sockets, new sapphires grew, more stunning and translucent than before. On the Happy Prince's body, gold leaf flakes materialized, more dazzling than before.
In just a few minutes, the Happy Prince had returned to being that beautiful Prince, even more radiant than before!
The Little Match Girl now had only one match left.
She used her last remaining match to wish for warmth for the swallow, to help it survive the biting winter—because she saw the swallow shivering in the cold wind, ready to fall at any moment into an eternal slumber.
The swallow, glowing with a faint light and feeling warm all over, flew to the girl's palm and kissed the girl's cheek.
The Happy Prince also looked at the girl and thanked her.
The Little Match Girl happily bid farewell to the swallow and the Happy Prince, left the plaza, and headed towards home.
At this point, the Little Match Girl suddenly remembered that she hadn't sold even one match, and all the matches capable of granting wishes were used up!
The Snow White fell heavier and heavier, goose feather-like flakes covering the girl's hair and shoulders, making the girl, who had just eaten her fill, shiver with cold again.
"What should I do? All the magical matches are used up."
The girl knew that once she returned home, her father would surely beat her.
But she wasn't really afraid, because today she had eaten the most satisfying and delicious meal of her life, helped the kind Happy Prince and the swallow, and had no more regrets.
"It's a pity I only had one box of magical matches," the Little Match Girl thought sadly.
If she had many, many boxes of matches, then she would have many, many more wishes she could make. She wanted to be like the Happy Prince, helping the beggars at the mansion gates, the children too hungry to sleep under the bridge arches, and the poor writer toiling all night in the attic.
The Little Match Girl walked all the way back to her dilapidated doorstep, mentally prepared to be severely beaten by her father.
"Little girl, your father is dead!" A neighbor saw the girl and shouted at her.
"Yes, those creditors caught him earlier, demanding he repay last year's gambling debts. But he didn't have a penny, so the creditors beat him to death. I saw it with my own eyes." Another neighbor said.
The Little Match Girl couldn't react, standing still in a daze.
After a long time, the Little Match Girl finally pushed open the door of her home.
Inside, it was empty, and cold wind snuck in through the window.
At that moment, the Little Match Girl suddenly saw a whole table full of matchboxes on the table!
Every matchbox glowed with tiny specks of light, just like the magical matchbox she had before!
The Little Match Girl walked to the table in disbelief and found a letter tucked under the matchboxes. The girl was illiterate, but she surprisingly found that she could understand the entire content of the letter.
"My name is Aurora, the elder sister who bought a box of matches from you last night, and also a magician. You have proven your kindness through your actions. The items on the table are all gifts from me to you, please accept them…"
After reading the entire letter, the Little Match Girl looked at the entire table full of wishing matches, and tears of excitement welled up in her eyes.
...
After successfully acquiring the power of wishes, Aurora followed Rhine back to the Rose Kingdom's palace.
"Teacher, I've been thinking about something."
Aurora looked at the flowing clouds in the sky, recalling the kingdom where Snow White fell, and her expression deepened:
"The great power of magic is so strong; it can conjure food out of thin air, create warm stoves, thick clothes, and large houses, and produce whatever people need.
"Theoretically speaking, as long as one possesses sufficiently powerful magic, would there no longer be hunger and cold in this world?"
Rhine understood Aurora's meaning and nodded slightly: "Your Majesty, the future Queen, you are right. On this continent, magic is indeed the primary productive force."
Then, Rhine's tone became slightly more serious:
"Using magic to help one person or a few people is a very easy thing. However, if you want to use magic to help tens of thousands of people, you will have to face more complex dilemmas and cannot fully adopt the original methods."
"What dilemmas?" Aurora pricked up her ears, waiting quietly for her teacher's answer.