The Love Match

 YOU would never think, to see the Matches lying so quietly in their box in the daytime, that they really have rather a pleasant life, and very exciting adventures. But they do. Every night the Matches creep¹ out of their box and hide it, and put on pretty paper frocks and coats, and go and dance with their friends. That is why you can hardly ever find a match-box in the dark, and if you do it is almost always an empty one.

 

Well, at one of the Match parties a young wooden Match with a red head fell in love with the sweetest little Princess of a Wax² Match you ever saw. She wore a white smooth frock, and her head was brown.

 

“How I love you!” said the Red-headed Match.

 

“And I you!” said the brown-headed little lady. “But they tell me your box is in the kitchen. That is very low.”

 

“Never mind,” said the lover³; “I will come and live with you.”

 

So when the party was over the two went to live in the mother-of-pearl box in the drawing-room. And that was high life indeed.

 

But the Queen of the Wax Matches was very angry.

 

“She has married beneath her,” she cried; “off with her head!”

 

And sure enough at that moment the housemaid came to light the fire, and she struck the little white Princess Match against the bar of the grate, and her brown head fell off! The wooden Match did not want to live now his lady was beheaded, so he pressed forward into the housemaid’s hand—and she struck him and lit the fire with him; and what was left of him fell beside his white lady. So the two faithful⁴ lovers⁵ were buried together in the ashes.

 

E. Nesbit.

1 creep   

vi.爬行，匍匐；蹑手蹑足地走，缓慢地行进

参考例句：

• The baby is just learning to creep.这个婴儿才学着爬。
• I would not creep along the coast.我不愿在岸边爬行。

2 wax   

n.蜡，蜡状物，震怒；vi.变大，增大，月亮满；vt.用蜡涂

参考例句：

• I wax my boots chiefly to waterproof them.我给靴子打蜡主要是为了防水。
• I wax the floor once a month.我每月给地板打一次蜡。

3 lover   

n.情人，恋人；爱好者

参考例句：

• Every lover sees a thousand graces in the beloved object.情人眼里出西施。
• Mr.Smith was a lover of poetry.史密斯先生是一名诗歌爱好者。

4 faithful   

adj.守信的，忠实的，如实的，可靠的

参考例句：

• They promised to be faithful to their ideal for ever.他们保证永远忠于自己的理想。
• We must be honest and faithful to the people.我们对人民必须忠诚老实。

5 lovers   

爱好者( lover的名词复数 )； 情人； 情夫； 情侣

参考例句：

• They were off-screen lovers. 他们是真实生活中的情侣。
• Shakespeare's star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet 罗密欧和朱丽叶这一对莎士比亚笔下命运多舛的恋人