It's freezing, snowing and getting dark. This is the last day of the year-Christmas Eve. It's cold here.

On a dark night, a little girl without a hat, gloves and shoes walked slowly in the street. She was still wearing a pair of slippers when she came out from home, but what's the use? That's a pair of big slippers-so big that her mother always wears them. When she crossed the road, two carriages rushed at her so fast that she took off her shoes and ran away. One disappeared, and the other was called by a boy to pick it up and ran away with it. He said he could use it as a cradle when he has children in the future. The little girl had to walk barefoot, her little feet were red and blue with cold. There are many matches in her old apron and one in her hand. This whole day, no one bought her matches and no one gave her money. Poor little girl! Cold and hungry, she walked forward trembling. Snowflakes fell on her long golden hair and rolled on her shoulders. It looked beautiful, but she didn't pay attention. Lights came through every window, and there was a smell of roast goose in the street, because it was Christmas Eve-she couldn't forget it. She sat in the corner of a house, her legs curled up. She felt colder. She was afraid to go home because she didn't sell any matches and didn't make any money. Dad will definitely hit her. Besides, the house is as cold as the street. There is only one roof over their heads. Although the biggest crack has been blocked by grass and rags, the wind can still pour in. Her little hands were almost frozen. Ah, even the smallest collocation is good for her! Dare she take out a small piece from a big handful of matches and burn it on the wall to warm her little hand? She finally pulled out one. Hey! The match was lit and the flame came out! She put her little hand on the flame. What a warm and bright flame, like a small candle. This is a strange fire! The little girl felt as if she were sitting in front of a big stove with shiny copper feet and handles. It burns brightly and warmly. How comfortable! Hey, what happened? She just put her foot out to heat it up, and the match went out and the stove was gone. She sat there with only a burnt matchstick in her hand. She wiped another one. The match lit and gave off light. When the light fell on the wall, it suddenly became as transparent as gauze, and she could see all the way into the room. The table is covered with a white tablecloth, with exquisite plates and bowls, and the aroma of roasted goose with apples and plums in its belly is overflowing.

Gas. Even better, the goose jumped off the plate and waddled on the floor with a knife and fork on her back until it came to the poor little girl. Then the match went out again, and there was only a thick and cold wall in front of her. She struck another match. This time, she sat under the beautiful Christmas tree. This Christmas tree is bigger and more beautiful than what she saw through the glass door of the rich businessman last Christmas. Thousands of bright candles were lit on the green branches, and many beautiful color pictures winked at her, just like those hanging in the shop window. The little girl reached for the picture. At this time, the match went out again. I saw the candlelight on the Christmas tree rising higher and higher, and finally it became a shining star in the sky. A star fell, drawing a slender red light in the sky. "Someone is going to die." The little girl said. The only grandmother who loved her told her when she was alive: when a star falls, a soul will go to God. She struck another match on the wall. This time, the matches lit up all around. Grandma appeared in the light, so gentle and loving. "grandma!" The little girl cried, "ah! Please take me away! I know that as soon as the match goes out, you will disappear, just like a warm stove, a fragrant roast goose and a beautiful Christmas tree! " She quickly struck a match to keep grandma. A match gives off strong light, as bright as day! Grandma has never been so tall and beautiful. She picked up the little girl and held her in her arms. They all flew away in light and happiness, flying higher and higher, to a place without cold, hunger and pain. The next morning, the little girl sat in the corner, her cheeks flushed and her mouth was smiling. She died and froze to death on the eve of the old year. The new year's sun rose and shone on her little body. The little girl sat there with a burnt matchstick in her hand. "She wants to warm up ..." People say. No one knows what wonderful things she has seen and how happy she is. She followed her grandmother to the happiness of the New Year.

The little mermaid

In the distance of the sea, the water is so blue, like the most beautiful cornflower petals, and so clear, like the brightest glass. However, it is too deep for any anchor chain to reach the end. To reach the surface from the bottom of the sea, many church spires must be connected one after another. People under the sea live here.

But people should never think that it is just a seabed covered with white sand. No, the strangest trees and plants grow there. Their branches and leaves are very soft, and as long as water flows through them a little, they shake like living things. All the fish, big and small, swim between these branches, just like birds in the sky. The deepest place in the sea is where the Sea Palace is located. Its walls are made of coral, and the high windows with spires are made of the brightest amber; But the roof is covered with black mussels, which can automatically open and close with the water flow. This seems strange, because there are shiny pearls in every clam shell. Any pearl can be the main ornament on the queen's hat.

Neptune, who lives there, has been a widower for many years, but he has an old mother to manage the housework for him. She is a clever woman, but she is always proud of her aristocratic background, so she always wears a dozen oysters on her tail-the rest of the dignitaries can only wear half a dozen each. Besides, she deserves great praise, especially because she loves those little sea princesses-some of her granddaughters. They are six beautiful children, the youngest of whom is the most beautiful. Her skin is light and tender, like the petals of a rose, and her eyes are blue, like the deepest lake. However, like other princesses, she has no legs: the lower part of her body is a fish tail.

They can spend a long day in the palace and in the hall with flowers hanging on the walls. Those big amber windows are open, and fish swim towards them, just like swallows fly in when we open them. But the fish kept swimming to these little princesses, looking for something to eat in their hands and letting them touch themselves.

There is a big garden outside the palace, with many red and dark blue trees growing inside; The fruit on the tree is as bright as gold, and bloom is as burning as fire, and the branches and leaves keep shaking. The ground is full of the best sand, but blue as a sulfur flame. There, there is a strange blue light shining everywhere. It's easy to think that you are at high altitude rather than at the bottom of the sea, and there is a blue sky above your head and feet. When the sea is very quiet, you can catch a glimpse of the sun: it is like a purple flower, emitting various colors of light from its calyx.

In the garden, every little princess has her own small place where she can plant at will. Some people decorate their flower beds like whales, while others think it's best to decorate their flower beds like little mermaids. But the youngest one arranged her flower bed as round as the sun, and she only planted flowers as red as the sun. She is an eccentric child. She doesn't like to talk much, and she is always thinking quietly. When other sisters decorated their garden with the strangest things they got from the sunken ship, she just wanted to have a beautiful marble statue, except for flowers as bright as the sun in the sky. This stone statue represents a beautiful man. It was carved from a white stone and sank to the bottom of the sea with a wrecked ship. She planted a weeping willow as red as a rose next to the stone statue. This tree grows very luxuriantly. Its fresh branches and leaves hang down to the stone statue and the blue sand bottom. Its reflection is purple-blue. Just like its branches, the shadow will never stop, and the roots and tops of the trees look like playing a game of kissing each other.

Her greatest pleasure is to listen to some stories about the human world above. Her old grandmother had to tell her all about ships and cities, people and animals. One thing that makes her feel particularly beautiful is that flowers on the ground can give off fragrance, but flowers on the bottom of the sea can't; The forest on the ground is green, and the fish that people see swimming among the branches will sing so crisp and beautiful that people feel happy. The "fish" that the old grandmother said was actually a bird, but if she didn't say it, the little princess wouldn't understand her story because she had never seen a bird.

"When you are fifteen," said the old grandmother, "I will let you float to the surface. At that time, you can sit on the rocks in the moonlight and watch the huge ships pass by you. You can also see trees and cities. "

In the next year, one of these sisters is fifteen years old; But the rest-well, they are all one year younger than each other. Therefore, the youngest princess will have to wait five years before she can come up from the bottom of the sea and see our world. But everyone promised the next one that she would tell everyone what she saw and heard on the first day, because their grandmother really didn't say enough-I don't know how much they want to know!

None of them is so eager as my little sister. She just waits the longest, so she is silent and thoughtful. I don't know how many nights she stood by the open window, staring up through the dark blue water and watching the fish waving its tail and wings. She also saw the moon and stars-of course, their light was a little weak, but through a layer of water, they looked much bigger than what we saw. If something like a dark cloud floats under them, she will know that either a whale swam over her or a ship carrying many passengers. But these passengers never imagined that there was a beautiful little mermaid below them, stretching out her white hands towards the keel of their ship.

Now the oldest princess is fifteen years old and can rise to the surface.

When she came back, she had countless things to say: but she said that the best thing was lying on the beach in the moonlight when the sea was calm, watching the lights shining like countless stars in the big cities near the coast, listening to music, noise, carriages and people, watching the round towers and spires of the church, and listening to the tinkling bells. Because she can't go there, she is most eager for these things.

Ah, how attentively the youngest sister listens! When she stood by the open window at night and looked up through the dark blue water, she remembered the big city and its bustling sound. So she seemed to hear the church bells coming towards her.

The next year, Second Sister got permission to surface and swim anywhere. When she jumped out of the water, the sun had just set; She thinks the scenery is really beautiful. She said, at this time, the whole sky looks like a piece of gold, and those clouds-well, she really can't describe their beauty! They passed over her head, red and purple. However, what flies faster than them, like a long veil, is a group of wild swans skimming over the water. They flew to the sun and she swam to the sun. But the sun went down. A rosy sunset slowly disappeared between the sea and the clouds.

Another year passed, and Third Sister floated up. She was the boldest of them, so she swam to a big river that flowed into the sea. She saw some beautiful green hills covered with rows of grapes. Palaces and granges are faintly exposed in lush forests; She heard how beautiful birds sang, how warm the sun was, and sometimes she had to sink into the water so that her burning face could get a little cool. In a small river, she met a group of children on the earth; They swam around in the water naked. She wanted to play with them for a while, but they got a fright and ran away. So a little black animal came-this is a puppy that she has never seen before. It barked at her so loudly that she got scared and fled to the sea. But she will never forget the magnificent forest, the green mountains and the lovely babies who can swim in the water-although they don't have tails like fish.

Fourth sister is not so bold. She stayed in the desolate sea. She said the most beautiful thing is to stop at sea: because you can look far and far around from here, and the sky hangs above it like a huge glass clock. She has seen ships, but they are far away from her and look like a seagull. She has seen happy dolphins rolling and huge whales spouting water from their nostrils, as if there were countless fountains around them.

Now it's Sister Wu's turn. Her birthday is in winter, so she can see what other sisters didn't see when they first surfaced. The sea is dyed green, and huge icebergs move around. She said that each iceberg looks like a bead, but it is much bigger than the church tower built by human beings. They appear in all kinds of strange shapes; They shine like diamonds. She once sat on the biggest iceberg, letting the sea breeze blow her slender hair, and all the ships bypassed her sitting place and avoided in horror. But at dusk, a dark cloud suddenly appeared in the sky. Lightning flashed and thunder didn't stop. Black waves hold up the whole block of ice and make them shine in blood-red lightning. All the ships lowered their sails, creating an atmosphere of panic and terror, while she sat quietly on the floating iceberg and watched the blue net electricity winding into the reflective sea.

Any one of these sisters, as long as it is the first time to rise to the sea, is always very happy to see these fresh and beautiful things. But now, they are all big girls, and they can float anywhere they like, so these things no longer interest them. They are eager to go home. A month later, they said, after all, it is better to live in the sea-how comfortable it is at home!

At dusk, the five sisters often float up arm in arm and line up on the water. They can sing beautiful songs-more beautiful than any human voice. When the storm is coming and they think that some ships are going to have accidents, they float in front of them and sing very beautiful songs, telling these sailors not to be afraid of sinking into the sea. But these people can't understand their lyrics. They think it's the sound of a strong wind. They never thought they would see anything beautiful at the bottom of the sea, because if the ship sinks, the people on board will drown, and they can only reach Neptune's palace as dead people.

One night, when the two sisters appeared arm in arm, the youngest sister stayed behind and watched them alone. It seems that she wants to cry, but the mermaid has no tears, so she feels even worse.

"Oh, how I wish I were fifteen!" She said. "I know I will like the world above and the people living in that world."

Finally, she really turned fifteen.

"You know, you can leave our hands now," said her grandmother, the old empress dowager. "Come on, let me dress you up as your sister."

So she put a wreath of lilies in the little girl's hair, but each petal of this flower is half a pearl. The old lady also asked eight big oysters to hold the princess's tail tightly to show her noble status.

"This makes me really uncomfortable!" Said the little mermaid.

"Of course, for the sake of beauty, one should suffer a little," said the old grandmother.

Oh, she really wants to throw away these decorations and throw this heavy wreath aside! Those red flowers in her garden suit her better, but she dare not do so. "Goodbye!" She said. So she emerged as light and clear as a bubble.

When she put her head out of the sea, the sun had set, but all the clouds were still shining like roses and gold; At the same time, in this reddish sky, the big white star has blinked beautifully and brightly. The air is mild and fresh. The sea is very calm. There is a big ship with three masts parked here. Only one sail was hung on the ship because there was no wind. The sailors are sitting around the mast rope above the sail yard.

There is music and singing here. When it gets dark in the evening, all kinds of lanterns light up together. They look like the flags of all countries in the world flying in the air. The little mermaid swam all the way to the ship window. Whenever the waves lifted her up, she could see many men in gorgeous clothes standing there through the glass window like a mirror; But the most beautiful one is the prince with big black eyes: there is no doubt that he is not yet sixteen. Today is his birthday, and it is for this reason that today is so lively.

The sailors are dancing on the deck. When the prince came out, 100 rockets shot into the sky together. The sky was illuminated like day, so the little mermaid was very scared and quickly sank to the bottom of the water. But in a short time, she put her head out-at this time, she felt as if all the stars had fallen on her, and she had never seen such fireworks. Many huge suns hissed and dazzling fish jumped into the blue sky. All this is reflected in this clear and calm sea. The whole hull is so bright that even a small rope can be seen, and of course the people on board can see it clearly. Ah, how beautiful this young prince is! When the music faded away on this wonderful night, he smiled and shook hands with the sailors ...

It was late at night, but the little mermaid couldn't take her eyes off the boat and the beautiful prince. Colorful lanterns went out, rockets stopped firing into the air, and gunfire stopped. But there is a buzz and rumble in the depths of the ocean. She sat on the water and floated everywhere together, so she could see what was in the cabin. But the ship picked up speed: the sails were raised one by one. The waves rose, heavy clouds floated, and lightning struck in the distance. Ah, a terrible storm is coming! Therefore, the sailors put away their sails. The great ship waddled along in the rough sea. The waves rose like a huge black mountain. It wants to break the mast. But like a swan, the boat plunged into Hong Tao and looked up at the high waves.

The little mermaid thought it was a very interesting voyage, but the sailors didn't think so. The ship is breaking up now; Its thick wooden wall was bent by the coming waves. The mast broke like a reed in the middle. Then the ship began to tilt and the water rushed into the cabin. Then the little mermaid knew that they were in danger. She must also be careful of beams and debris floating on the water.

The sky darkened at once and she couldn't see anything. But when lightning struck, the sky became very bright again, so that she could see everyone on board. Now everyone is trying to find their own way. She pays special attention to the prince. She saw him when the ship split and sank to the bottom of the sea. She became very happy at once, because he is coming towards her now. But she remembered that man could not live in water, and he could not enter her father's palace unless he died.

No, he must not die! So she swam between the floating beams and boards, never thinking that they would kill her. She sank deeply into the water, then rose high in the waves, and finally she reached the prince's side. In this rough sea, he no longer has the strength to float. His arms and legs are starting to fail. His beautiful eyes closed. If the little mermaid hadn't arrived in time, he would have drowned. She lifted his head from the water and let the waves take her anywhere.

It's dawn and the storm is over. There are not even fragments of the ship. The bright red sun rose and shone brightly on the water. It seems to inject life into the prince's face. But his eyes are still closed. The little mermaid gave him a beautiful kiss and brushed his long wet hair back. She thinks he looks like her marble statue in the small garden under the sea. She kissed him again, hoping that he would wake up.