The Angel — Hans Christian Andersen

A child has died, and an angel is escorting him to Heaven. They wander over the Earth for a while, visiting well-known places. Along the way they gather flowers to transplant into the gardens of Heaven. The angel takes the child to a poverty-stricken area where a dead field lily lies in a trash heap. The angel salvages the flower explaining that it had cheered a crippled boy before he died. The angel then reveals he was the boy, and the boy continued his journey.