Which Hans Christian Andersen tale follows a poor girl who sees visions after lighting matches?

Hans Christian Andersen’s tale about a poor girl who sees visions after lighting matches is “The Little Match Girl.”

The story was first published in 1845 and follows a child trying to sell matches on a freezing New Year’s Eve. Each lit match gives her a brief vision of warmth, food, celebration, and her grandmother. The tale ends with the girl’s death, presented through a vision of reunion.

Andersen drew on hardship and childhood poverty, but the story is not a direct report of one identifiable girl’s life. Its emotional force comes from the contrast between the girl’s visions and the cold indifference of the surrounding city.

It is often confused with “The Red Shoes,” another Andersen tale involving a suffering girl, but the match seller belongs only to this story.