The candles

 The candles

Author: Hans Christian Andersen

Values: help, gratitude, austerity

The candles

Once upon a time there was a great wax candle, conscious of its high rank and very pleased with itself.

"I am made of wax, and I was melted and shaped in a mold," she would say. I light better and burn longer than the other lights; my place is in a large silver chandelier or candlestick.

"It must be a very pleasant life for you," observed the tallow candle. I not only a simple candle, but I console myself with the thought that this is always worth more than being a penny candle. They give this one only one bath, and they give me eight; hence it is so resistant. I can not complain. It is clear that it is more distinguished to be born of wax than to be born of tallow, but in this world no one disposes of himself. You are in the living room, in a chandelier or in a crystal chandelier; I stay in the kitchen. But it's not a bad place either; from there comes the food for the whole house.

"Yes, but there is something more important than food," replied the wax candle, "social life." Shine and see others shine. Precisely tonight there is dancing. They won't be long in coming for us, me and my whole family.

He had hardly finished speaking when all the wax candles were taken away, and also the tallow one. The lady herself took it with her delicate hand and took it to the kitchen, where there was a boy with a basket, which they filled with potatoes and some

There's a light there too, little friend,' he said. Your mother watches until late at night, always working. She sure does you a great service.

The daughter of the house was also there, and hearing the words "until late at night," she said with great joy:

I'll be up too late too. We have dancing, and I'll be wearing the big red bows.

"How exciting!" thought the tallow candle.

They put it in the basket, under the lid of it, and the boy went away with it.

-Where will they take me? thought the candle. To the house of poor people, where perhaps they won't give me even a bad brass candlestick, while the wax candle is in a silver candlestick and sees very distinguished people. How splendid it must be to show off for distinguished people! It was from God that I had to be tallow and not wax.

And the candle arrived at a poor house, that of a widow with three children who were crowded into a small room, opposite the house of the rich lords.

"God bless the good lady for what she has given us!" said the mother. What a wonderful candle! It will last until late at night.

And they turned it on.

-Gross! she said-. I've been lit with a stinky match. This will not happen to the wax candle in the house across the street.

They also turned on the lights in it, and its brightness radiated out into the street. There was the noise of cars driving guests, and music played.

"Now they start there," thought the tallow candle, and the rich girl's radiant little face came to mind, more radiant than all the wax candles put together. I will never see that spectacle again. In this, the youngest of the children, a little girl, arrived at the humble home. Putting her arms around her brother and sister's neck, she told them something very important, something that she had to whisper in their ear:

-Tonight, look! Tonight we are going to eat French fries.

And her face beamed with happiness. The candle, which was facing her, saw reflected a joy, a happiness as great as the one she had seen in the rich house, where the girl had said:

-Tonight we have a dance, and I will wear the big red bows.

Is it so important to eat French fries? thought the tallow candle. The joy of these children is as great as that of that little girl. And she sneezed; I mean she sizzled; more can not make a tallow candle.

They set the table and ate the potatoes. How rich they were! It was a real banquet; and in addition he touched an apple to each of them.

The children went to bed, her mother gave them a kiss, and immediately fell asleep, while the woman was sewing until late at night, to earn support for her children and her own. Outside, from the rich house, came the light and the music. The stars twinkled on all the dwellings, those of the rich and those of the poor, with equal beauty and intensity.

'It's been a lovely evening, after all,' thought the tallow candle. Could the wax ones have had a better time in their silver candlesticks? I would like to know before I finish consuming myself.

And she thought of the two girls, who had been equally happy: one, illuminated by the light of wax, and the other, by that of tallow.

And this is the whole story.