The Little Match Girl
By: Tamar Pedersen

On a cold winter's night, a little girl on the street.
She was hungry and cold, no shoes on her feet.
Peddling matches from her apron, though she hadn't sold a single one.
Her parents firmly told her not to come home til they were gone.

Narration:
The city streets were empty now, except for one little match girl
Who watched candles glowing from the windows up above.
She was so cold, and as she looked at her matches she thought to herself.

Nadja:
If I light a match, the cold might go away
Just one little match, forgive me Lord I pray.
If I light a match, then I could warm my hands.
I'm so very cold, I hope they'll understand.

Tamar: (chorus)
So she struck her match against the wall. It blazed a wonderful soft light.
She held her hands above the flame. It was a fireplace burning bright.
But as she stretched her feet to warm them, the fireplace disappeared.
Left alone there in the dark, she shed a single tear.

Narration:
The fireplace had seemed so real but now was gone.
She clutched another match in her trembling hands,
and wondered if she could make the vision return.

Nadja:
My dear little match, please share with me your flame.
Seems you need a friend. In some ways were the same.
Promise I'll be yours, if you in turn be mine.
Bring me peace again, as I watch you shine.

Tamar: (chorus)
So she struck her match against the wall, and like a curtain it withdrew.
The splendid Christmas feast inside, was spread before her view.
The goose sprang from the table there, and offered her a bite.
But as she reached to quench her hunger, the scene withdrew into the night.

Narration: (piano fill)
The Christmas tree that she had seen inside the home slowly rose towards the heavens.

And as it did the lights upon the tree slowly transformed to stars in the sky.

As she gazed upon the stars one fell from the sky. Her grandmother had once told her that this meant that someone had died. She had missed her grandmother desperately since she passed away. Life had been so lonely without her. She began to wonder if her matches could bring her grandmother back.

She lit one more match, and saw the greatest vision of them all. An angel appeared and she recognized her grandmother's face. She was more beautiful than the girl remembered, with love sparkling in her eyes. Her grandmother's smile warmed her inside, and helped her forget the cold.

Nadja:
When my match goes out, I know you'll go away.
If I light them all, then maybe you will stay.
Just one Christmas wish, please take me when you leave.
This is all I want, on this Christmas Eve.

Tamar: (chorus)
So she struck all of her matches, in a brilliant blaze of light.
And a star fell from the heaven's in the middle of the night.
She took the girls hand, and they flew into the sky.
No more hunger, no more cold, in God's eternal home on high.

On a cold winters morn, a girl frozen in the snow
Who she was or whence she came no one seems to know
In her hands were burned out matches had she sought refuge in this place
But still no explanation for the smile upon her face

Narration:
No one could possibly know the wonderful visions that she had seen that night.
She had received her only Christmas wish.
Her matches were all gone, .. Finally she could go home.

If I light a match..
If I light a match..

The Little Match Girl - About

One of the things I really enjoy doing, is heating our home with a wood stove. I'm one of those guys that believes when you heat your home with wood you get warm twice - once when you chop it, and once when you burn it! Time spent splitting logs on the wood pile is almost therapeutic for me. Nothing like taking out your frustrations on a log!

Our wood stove is small enough that I need to get up in the middle of the night to reload the stove, so that the stove is warm in the morning to coax the kids out of bed for school. I have the tradition of getting up, loading the stove, and then having some hot chocolate and graham crackers. It gives me some nice solitude, alone by the fire at 3:00 AM.

It was at one of those times that I noticed a book on our coffee table. The story was one that I remembered from my childhood. It was "The Little Match Girl", by Hans Christian Andersen.

My father came to this country, from Denmark, when he was 25 years old. In Denmark, Hans Andersen is something of a folk hero, and my dad brought his culture with him, so I was well familiar with the story.

I opened the book, and read the story again. It caught my imagination, as it always had as a child. As I thought about the song, lyrics to a musical version of the song started coming to me. I wondered what life would have been like for my own young daughter, Nadja, if she had been the little match girl. I heard Nadja, portraying the part of the little match girl. It made the whole story that much more real to me, realizing that my own daughter was that age.

Over the next few weeks, I captured the rest of the story, and the song was born.