the little match girl

The streets shimmered with the delicate glow of a golden sun. Warm rays reflected off the bright walls of the tenement houses and illuminated the smoothly polished pavement. The joy of the colorful walls of the houses spread to the people passing by. They walked in their colorful attire

, exchanging smiles and kind words. The City of Happiness bustled with its carefree life as usual. But one face was devoid of a smile. A little girl with short hair, sitting in the alley of the gateway to one of the tenement houses, wore a sad, pensive expression. Her strangely gray dress, too short in this colorful crowd, hid her healthy, young body from the happy inhabitants like a shadow, which in turn hid the strange interior of her soul with its false beauty. If her body didn't match her soul, her dress matched her thoughts perfectly. So the girl sat there, pondering, playing with matches.

"Why am I sad?" The sulfur of the match touched the side of the box and gave a short hiss, turning into a bright flame. "It would be enough to put on a flowery dress and step out onto the sunny street, and the world would become colorful for me too. To throw myself into the daily fun and activities of this happy city. After all, not everyone had the privilege of coming here from that gray world. But I am drowning in worries..." The fire consumed the stick slowly, leaving black, burnt remnants behind. "Why do I have to be different? Why was I able to find the path to happiness there, despite various problems, but here, in the absence of serious worries, I can't be happy?"

The fire went out. The girl took out another match and struck it on the edge of the box. "Do I want to be unhappy here? After all, in this city, all desires come true—maybe I just want to be unhappy? No... it's not like that. I tried, more than once. But every desire, every moment of happiness was like that match—it would suddenly burst into a bright flame, last for a brief moment, and then, despite the effort, go out—sometimes only burning the fingers trying to keep the flame burning as long as possible." She watched the flame approach the fingers holding the match, and dropped it to the ground. The fire went out.

Another match flared with its brief life. "Why can't a match burn forever? There's so much joy in this fire! It so greedily devours the stick, which, on the other hand, so desperately wants to be devoured. But when this brief mystery ends, a sad silence follows... the black despair of charred remains." The burnt fragment broke off from the match she was holding and fell to the ground. She stared at it, not noticing the fire reaching her hand. She hissed in pain and dropped the match. "And that's it again." She quickly lit another one. "That's better—let this fire burn. These matches are me. So let them burn forever. If my happiness can't last forever, just as a match can't burn forever, at least let them burn one after another."

More matches began their moments of fulfillment, and more thoughts flooded the mind of the sad girl in the gray dress. But suddenly something changed. Another match failed to glow with its fleeting light. Someone stood before the gray girl. Someone resembling her—a small boy in a gray T-shirt and gray pants. She looked into his eyes and saw the glint of matches in them, luring him to her hiding place.

"Why are you sitting here sad when everyone around you is happy?" he asked.

"Because I can't be happy longer than this match," she said, pointing to the still-unlit match in her hand.

"Maybe you don't want to be happy?"

"I do!" she denied firmly. "Every time I try, I'm happy, but only for a moment. Then comes the black, charred end, look. "

With that, she lit the match, and they watched together as the stick burned out, leaving only a black, charred stick.

"See?" she asked, looking him straight in the eye. "This match was happy, but only for a moment. Why can't it burn forever? Why can't I be an eternal match? Why can't I burn with an eternal flame?" Sometimes when I look at that flame, I'm overcome with an overwhelming desire to burn. I'd like to burn like that match, and if I can't burn forever, at least burn so completely that nothing of me is left.

"You're wonderful, you know?

" "Me? Why?" A look of astonishment crossed her face, and her hand froze just before lighting another match.

"Because you're truly happy," he replied.

"How so? I just can't be happy. Look around—it's full of colorful people radiating with happiness—they're happy.

" "Do you really think they're happy?

" "Aren't they?"

"No." The boyish face, hidden in the semidarkness, seemed to beam with a strange, mysterious smile.

"Why?

" "Let me show you. What's your greatest desire?"

"I told you—I want to burn with a great fire, just like those matches."

"Come with me then."

With that, he took her hand and led her to a small street that ended in a dead end. He held out his arms, and a moment later, a great wall of flames blazed before them.

"Here. This is your great fire. Step into it and be happy.

" "Really? Can I do that?

" "Yes."

Excitement surged through her in a great wave. It was as intense a feeling as a child waiting for a dream gift just within reach, behind a single curtain. She closed her eyes, focused on herself, and took those few steps. The fire engulfed her, and she felt the fullness of her happiness—she filled herself, bursting into flames. Like a firebird, she spread her arms, and in that moment, she was the happiest person not only in the City of Happiness, but in all the worlds that exist and do not exist. Then the fire vanished. A small pile of ash remained on the street.

The boy smiled. He stretched his arms out again, and the pile of ash turned into a gray dress, beneath which the girl holding a box of matches reappeared. He continued to smile at her.

"Were you happy?

" "Yes, yes, I was. I was the happiest I'd ever been in my life. But it's over now. Now I won't be again...

" "Tell me, how do you know you were happy?" he asked her.

"I don't understand..." A slight look of confusion crossed her face.

"How do you know you were happy at that moment?

" "Well, you can feel it... when you're swept over by such a wave... I can't quite put it into words, but you know when you're happy and when you're not.

" "And that's the secret of happiness. Tell me—what would it be like if there were no state of unhappiness?

" "How do you...

" "Well, if you were happy all the time and couldn't know when you weren't. Could you then see that you were happy?

" "Hmm..." she thought for a moment. "I don't think so..."

"Exactly... look at all these people around you. They seem eternally happy." But they can't see it because they don't know the opposite. They can't tell the difference. But you can.

"Is that why you said I'm wonderful?

" "Yes, that's why. You're the only one in this whole city who's ever happy."

The look of surprise on her face slowly turned to rapturous understanding. The girl saw in his smiling eyes the truth she'd been searching for all along. And he asked, seeing her transformation:

"Do you still want to be an eternal match?"

"No... no... I don't want to anymore. Now I want to be a phoenix. I want to spend my time waiting for the great moment, after which I'll return again... to wait... Now I know. Thank you.

" "No, I'm thanking you.

" "For what?"

"For being you.

" "I love you.

" "I love you too.

" "Can I hug you?" she asked.

His eyes answered of their own accord.

The streets of the City of Happiness, illuminated by the golden glow of the sun, are filled with people of color. But somewhere lost there is a pair of gray children, huddled together, happy to know what unhappiness feels like.