The Elves And The Shoemaker

Once upon a time there was a shoemaker who, through no fault of his own, had become so poor that at last he had only enough leather left to make one pair of shoes.

In the evening, He cut out the shoes which he intended to begin upon the next morning, and, since he had a good conscience, he lay down quietly, said his prayers, and fell asleep.

In the morning, when he had said his morning prayers and was preparing to sit down to work, he found...

the pair of shoes standing finished on his table.

He was amazed and could not understand it in the least.

He took the shoes in his hand to examine them more closely.

They were so neatly sewn that not a stitch was out of place and they were as good as the work of a master shoemaker.

Soon a customer came in, and as he was very pleased with the shoes, he paid more than the ordinary price of them, so that the shoemaker was able to buy enough leather for two more pairs of shoes with the money.

He cut them out in the evening, and the next day, with fresh courage, was about to go to work.

But he had no need to, for when he got up, the shoes were finished and the customers were at the door.

They gave him so much money that he was able to buy leather for four pairs of shoes.

Early the next morning, he found the four pairs finished, and so it went on.

What he cut out at evening was finished in the morning so that he was soon again in comfortable circumstances and became a well-to-do man.

Now, it happened one evening, not long before Christmas, when he had cut out some shoes as usual, that he said to his wife, ''What do you think of staying up tonight?'' to see who it is that lends us such a helping hand.

The wife agreed, so they lit a candle and they hid themselves in the corner of the room behind some clothes which were hanging there.

At midnight there came two little men who sat down at the shoemaker's table, took up the cut-out work, and began with their tiny fingers to stitch, sew, and hammer so neatly and quickly that the shoemaker could not believe his eyes.

They did not stop until everything was quite finished and stood complete on the table.

Then they ran swiftly away.

The next day the wife said, The little men have made us rich, and we ought to show our gratitude.

They were running about with only raggedy clothes on, and they must be freezing with cold.

So I will make them some little shirts, coats, waistcoats and trousers, and will even knit them a pair of stockings, and you shall make them each a tiny pair of shoes.

The husband agreed, and that evening, when they had everything ready, they laid out the presents on the table, and they hid themselves to see how the little men would like them.

At midnight again, they came skipping in, and they were about to set to work, but instead of the leather, ready, cut out, they found the charming little clothes.

At first, they were surprised, and then excessively delighted.

With the greatest speed, they put on and smoothed down the pretty clothes, singing to themselves happily.