Knjigice
Learn-about book · Classic fairy tales
The Elves and the Shoemaker
The old tale of two small helpers
Also in: Čevljar in palčki (Slovenian) · Obuvník a škriatkovia (Slovak)
Once upon a time there lived a shoemaker and his wife. They were very poor. One evening the shoemaker had just enough leather left for a single pair of shoes.
1
He cut out the leather, laid it neatly on the table and said: "Tomorrow morning I shall sew it." Then he and his wife blew out the candle and went to bed.
2
But in the morning a pair of shoes stood on the table. Finished. Sewn so beautifully that not one single stitch could be seen. The shoemaker had to wipe his spectacles.
3
Soon a customer came. He liked the shoes so much that he paid twice what the shoemaker asked. With that money the shoemaker bought leather for two pairs.
4
In the evening he cut it out again, and in the morning two pairs stood on the table. Then four. Then eight. Every day the little workshop was merrier.
5
People came from near and far. The shoemaker and his wife were poor no longer. But they had no idea who was helping them every night.
6
A little before Christmas the wife said: "Tonight let us stay up. I should like to see who is so good to us."
7
And so they did: they hid behind the curtain and waited. Quite silently. They set the candle far away in the corner so that nobody would notice them.
8
At midnight two tiny little men in torn rags came hopping onto the table. They picked up the awls and the little hammers and set to work so briskly that it fairly whistled.
9
They worked all night long. When the sky outside turned grey they laid down their tools and vanished in a moment. And on the table stood a whole row of new shoes.
10
"You saw them," said the wife. "And their clothes were nothing but rags! And it is freezing outside. Let us sew them something warm."
11
They sewed all day: little shirts, little trousers, little jackets, little caps, and two tiny pairs of shoes. In the evening they laid it all out neatly on the table instead of the leather.
12
At midnight the little men came again. When they saw the clothes they gave a whoop. They dressed themselves, spun round on the table and danced out through the door into the night.
13
They never came again. But from then on everything the shoemaker made went well. And every year before Christmas he set two tiny pairs of shoes out on the table — just in case.
14The End
