It meets a tinderbox who lights a flame on the candle, and it finally finds its right place in life and spreads joy and happiness for itself and its fellow creatures.

The manuscript was discovered in late 2012 in a suitcase with documents belonging to the Plum family in the local branch of the Danish National Archives in Funen, Denmark.

[5] Andersen scholars agree that the work is not of the same literary quality as his later tales, and that it has many similarities with other writings from his time at the Latinate schools in Slagelse and Elsinore.

[6] One scholar argued that the tale was overly didactic and moralistic, and lacking Andersen's later sense of humor, probably to impress his benefactress, who had paid for his education.

They argue that the tale is too close in form to the models used in the Latinate schools of the time for it to be likely to be an original composition, and they have also expressed disbelief in the use of the word formfuldendt ("flawless") which does not otherwise appear in texts until much later.