There was once an old shoemaker who lived with his wife. They were very poor, and soon the shoemaker only had money to buy enough leather to make one pair of shoes. That evening, he cut the pieces he needed to make the shoe and left the leather on his work bench. He did not work through the night, as they were too poor to afford the candles.
The next morning, when the shoemaker awoke and went to his workbench, he found the pair of shoes very neatly made. This confused him, as he remembered he did not work on the shoes yesterday at all. He called his wife and showed her the brand new pair. She too was confused, for she was not the one who finished the task.
While they sat pondering over who had broken in and helped them, a customer came into the workshop and was immediately smitten with the shoe. So beautiful and neatly crafted was the shoe that the man offered the shoemaker double the price of a new shoe. This stunned the shoemaker, but he agreed.
The money from the sale allowed them to buy new candles and more leather with which to make more shoes. The shoemaker cut pieces of leather and put them together into four new pairs of shoes. But he lamented that the shoes he made were not as beautiful or neatly done as the pair he had sold that morning.
The shoemaker struggled for three days before he was finally able to sell the pairs he had made. Sadly, people only bought them for half the price of a new shoe. This was troubling, as now he only had enough money to buy leather for two new shoes.
Again, he cut the pieces for both shoes out, left them on his workbench, and went to bed early to save on the little candle they had left. The next morning, when he entered his workshop, there were two new, beautifully made shoes. Like the first pair, they were very neatly done.
The shoemaker called for his wife, and again she too was puzzled. Perhaps someone had stolen into their home in the night. They checked their meagre belongings and found nothing missing. The only difference was that the pieces of leather were now beautiful pairs of shoes.
Like before, customers were so pleased with the beautiful shoes that they paid him double the price. The man was overjoyed yet again at his wealth. Meat. They could now buy a small piece of meat from the butcher. And so he bought the meat and, with the rest of the money, bought more leather to make shoes. The old man and his wife ate well that night.
Now that it had happened twice, the shoemaker was quite interested in who was turning his leather cuts into beautiful shoes. He had enough leather for three pairs of shoes but decided to cut out the pieces for one pair and hide the rest of the leather in his bedroom.
Sure enough, the next day, there was a new pair of beautiful shoes on his workbench. Now, before any customers could show up, the shoemaker took the pair and walked about town. He visited the other shoemakers and compared their work to the beautiful shoes. But no matter where he went, the other shoemakers' shoes were as ugly and crooked as his own, nothing like the beautiful pair he had.
Now, he had come to the last shoemaker in town, the richest one. As he was looking at the man's shoes, comparing them to the beautiful pair, the other shoemaker saw them in his hand and desired them. But the rich shoemaker did not want to pay the old shoemaker for the shoes, and so he sent an errand boy to call a guard.
When the guard arrived, both shoemakers were having an argument about the beautiful pair of shoes. The moment he saw the guard, the rich shoemaker quickly rushed to him and, pointing at the old shoemaker, said to the guard,
"Sir, you have come to my rescue, for this scoundrel has tried to rob me of my most beautiful pair of shoes. He says they are his. But all will confess that he cannot make such a pair, let alone afford them. Deliver our Lord's justice for me, sir."
But the old shoemaker answered. "Good lord, I have not stolen anything, for this beautiful pair of shoes is the work of my shop. It is he who wishes to steal them from me."
The guard looked at the two men. The rich shoemaker indeed wore fine clothing and beautiful shoes. While the old shoemaker was dressed in rags and his shoes were nothing more than a patchwork of scraps. Then he looked at the shoes in the old man's hand and saw that they were indeed very beautiful.
By his observation, he saw that the words of the rich shoemaker were indeed true. So he took the shoes from the old shoemaker and gave them to the rich shoemaker. As for the old shoemaker, the guard threw him in prison.
When her husband did not return at noon, the old shoemaker's wife went in search of him. Upon hearing that her husband was in prison for trying to steal a beautiful pair of shoes from the rich shoemaker, she immediately set out for the rich man's workshop. There, she saw the beautiful shoes her husband had found on display, as the rich shoemaker boasted of his skill and demanded a heavy price for the pair.
The woman begged the man to tell the truth to the guard and have her husband released, but he shooed her away. She would not leave, and as she persisted, people soon accused the woman and her husband of being thieves and liars. Many took to the defence of the rich shoemaker and drove her away angrily.
With a heavy heart, the woman went to the prison and spoke with her husband. There, he told her what had happened. But he also told her he had hidden more leather in their room. The man advised his wife to cut the leather into pieces and leave them on his workbench for the stranger to aid them again. He warned her not to sleep that night but to stay awake to know who their helper was.
So the woman returned home and found the leather. She began to cut out the pieces for one pair of shoes. But her hand was not as skilled as her husband's, and she wasted much of the leather. The little piece that remained she set aside, for she had seen her husband craft children's shoes from a piece so small. She left the pieces she had cut on the workbench and sat in the darkness of the workshop, waiting.
But the woman was much too tired to stay awake, and as the night wore on, she fell soundly asleep. At the crack of dawn, the woman awoke with a jump, saddened by her mistake. For she saw a new pair of beautiful shoes sitting on the workbench. Her husband would be angry she had not seen the stranger who helped them.
As the woman sat worrying in despair, a customer entered and, like before, offered the woman twice the price of the shoes. The woman sold the shoes and, with the money, rushed to the prison. She offered the guard the money to free her husband, but the guard took the money and shooed her away, saying it was not enough for the crime her husband had committed.
The woman returned to her home and spent the day worrying about the last bit of leather they had. She was much too afraid to cut the leather and ruin any chance of making a shoe. When the day passed, the woman sat with a candle at the workbench and cried herself to sleep.
In the middle of the night, she awoke to the sound of voices chatting away silently. The voices were debating how to cut the leather since it was much too big for them to work with. When the woman lifted her head, she saw three naked little elves. The woman gasped in shock, and the elves, upon hearing her, darted for the darkest corners of the room.
"Please do not go; I need your help. My husband has been thrown in prison because the rich shoemaker greedily desired the beautiful shoes you made." She said to them.
The elves peeked out from their hiding places and slowly approached the woman.
"We cannot help you," they said, "we can only make shoes."
"That is alright. It is shoes I will need your help making." The woman answered.
"We are too small, so you must be the one to cut the leather into pieces. We will do all the other work." They instructed.
"But I am terrible at cutting leather." The woman sobbed. "Look how I have wasted this piece."
"We will guide you on how to cut." The elves answered.
And so the elves directed, the woman cut the pieces, and the elves finished a child's pair of beautiful shoes. When the elves had finished making the shoes, they found the woman had left them pieces of bread and a little bit of soup. They ate and were gone quickly before dawn.
In the morning, a merchant travelling from far away entered the shop. When he saw the pair of shoes, he was greatly impressed by the workmanship. He offered the woman three times the price of a normal shoe, for he knew his son would love the pair.
The woman was elated to have sold the pair for much more than before. But her joy did not blind her, for she knew the guard would not release her husband, and she wanted the rich shoemaker to pay for his greedy lies. So the woman devised a plan: she would—with the elves' help—make many more beautiful shoes so that everyone would know her husband was not a thief and a liar.
The woman purchased more leather, and that evening, told the elves of her plan. They agreed to help her, and so the four of them set out to work. The woman cutting the leather, and the elves making beautiful shoes. They did this for many days, and each day they would make more shoes than the last. The woman also made beautiful bows and stitchings on the shoes, adding to their beauty.
As the days grew colder, many of the townsfolk went to the old shoemaker's shop. It was, they said, the best place to buy a beautiful pair of good shoes. Naturally, this meant that fewer people were buying from the rich shoemaker, and this angered him. Especially as some realised he had lied about making the beautiful shoe he still had on display.
Everyday the rich shoemaker lurked outside the old shoemaker's shop, hoping to see who it was that was making the beautiful shoes. He knew it was not the man's wife, for she was much too clumsy with the tools and did not know the right way to use them. Once he had tried to buy a pair, but the woman and her customers chased him away.
No one would sell him a pair they had bought, and none were willing to buy one in his stead. The rich shoemaker grew angrier as he saw the effects of the woman's wealth. Her new clothes, a shop assistant, and repairs to the old house all drove him mad with jealousy. He now knew the shoes were never made during the day and made plans to spy on the woman after dark.
When night fell, the rich shoemaker huddled close to the workshop window and peered inside. But all he saw was the woman cutting the leather and setting the pieces aside. When she had finished, she went into the kitchen and prepared a meal. Yet when she returned to the workshop, he could see several pairs of shoes had already been made. Clearly there was someone else in the workshop. Perhaps they noticed him and he hid until he followed the woman.
So the rich shoemaker returned home and disguised himself. Then the next day he returned to the old shoemaker's shop and, sneaking in, hid behind one of the shelves until the woman and her assistant closed for the day. Like before, he watched as the woman cut the leather into pieces and left for the kitchen.
A few moments later, he saw the three little elves appear and watched in awe as they crafted one pair of shoes after another. Realizing the elves were behind the beautiful shoes, the rich shoemaker took off his hat, snatched the three little elves up, and made off into the night.
When the woman returned to the workshop, she saw that all the shoes were not completed and the little elves were missing. She panicked, but believed the elves had somewhere important to be; that is why they left in such a hurry and that they would return.
The next day, the woman sold the shoes that the elves had made and waited patiently for their return. A week passed, and still the elves did not return. Now the woman had lost all their customers because she had no shoes to sell. This saddened her, but she decided she had enough money to be able to free her husband, even if she couldn't get their revenge on the rich shoemaker.
The next day, the woman took a large bag of coin and went to the prison. When she got there, she requested that the guard free her husband, as she had enough to pay him. The guard instead put the woman in prison. The rich shoemaker had reported to the guard that the woman had stolen a large bag of coin from him after her shoe sales stopped.
And so, the old shoemaker and his wife stayed in prison for the rest of their days. While the rich shoemaker lived out his days in happiness, keeping the elves toiling away in a little cage, making shoes for him.
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Oh, you thought this was going to be a happy ending? Nah, I wasn't feeling it.192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ781gTIzNd8
