The Elves and the Shoemaker

The Elves and the Shoemaker

Retold by Pikabuk Studio · After the Brothers Grimm, retold for this demo.

There was once a shoemaker who worked hard every day, yet he grew poorer and poorer. At last he had only enough leather for one more pair of shoes.

That evening he cut out the leather carefully and laid the pieces on his workbench. "I will sew them in the morning," he said to his wife, and they went to bed with heavy hearts.

When the shoemaker came down at sunrise, he could hardly believe his eyes. On the bench stood a finished pair of shoes. Every stitch was small and straight. There was not a single mistake.

That same morning a customer came in, tried on the shoes, and liked them so much that he paid twice the usual price. With the money the shoemaker bought leather for two pairs. He cut them out in the evening and left them on the bench.

In the morning, two pairs of shoes were waiting for him, as fine as the first. Soon there were four pairs, then eight. People came from the next town to buy them, and the shoemaker and his wife were poor no longer.

One winter evening, just before the holidays, the wife said, "Let us stay up tonight and see who is helping us." They hid behind a coat hanging in the corner and left a candle burning.

At midnight two tiny elves climbed in through the window. They had no shoes and no coats, only ragged shirts. They sat down at the bench and began to sew, tap-tap-tap, so quickly that the shoemaker could not follow their fingers. When every pair was finished, they slipped away into the night.

"They have made us rich," said the wife, "and they are cold. Let us make them something." So she sewed two little shirts, two little coats and two pairs of trousers. The shoemaker made two pairs of tiny boots. On the last night before the holidays they laid the gifts on the bench instead of leather.

At midnight the elves came in, ready to work. When they saw the little clothes, they laughed with delight. They dressed in a hurry, danced around the workshop, and sang that they were too smart now to be shoemakers. Then they skipped out of the door.

The elves never came back. But the shoemaker did not need them any more. He worked well, he was always kind to his customers, and everything went well for him for the rest of his life.