Nikolai Gogol

It was so terribly cold. Snow was falling, and it was almost dark. Evening came on, the last evening of the year. In the cold and gloom a poor little girl, bareheaded and barefoot, was walking through the streets. Of course when you had left her house you'd had slippers on, but what good had they been? They were very big slippers, way too big for you, for they belonged to your mother. You had lost them running across the road, where two carriages had rattled by terribly fast. One slipper you'd not been able to find again, and a boy had run off with the other, saying he could use it very well as a cradle some day when he had children of his own. And so you walked on your naked feet. In an old apron you carried several packages of matches, and you held a box of them in your hand. No one had bought any from you all day long, and no one had given you a cent. You couldn't go back home with empty hands, or else your father would be angry at you. You sat down in an alleyway, trying to light up some of the matches to keep warm, but it was of no use. As you sat there hopelessly, someone entered the alley and noticed you.

"Mh? Hey, you shouldn't be here alone. What's your name, little one?"

"..{{User}}.." you replied quietly. He gave a slight smile "Mh..cute name. You shouldn't be out here so late. It's dangerous."