Treasury of Bedtime Stories by Althea Clinton; Eleanor Madsen; Fern Peat

Author:Althea Clinton; Eleanor Madsen; Fern Peat
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781944686161
Publisher: The Saalfield Publishing Company
Published: 2017-01-12T00:00:00+00:00

The Elves and the Shoemaker

ONCE upon a time there lived a shoemaker who grew so poor, though through no fault of his own, that he had leather enough to make only one pair of shoes.

That evening he cut out the shoes, intending to put them together the next morning, and then because he had a clear conscience, he said his prayers, lay down quietly in his bed and soon was asleep.

In the morning he was ready to sit down to his toil before he noticed that the pair of shoes stood on his table all finished and ready to sell. He was so astonished at the sight that he had no words to express his surprise. He took up the shoes, turned them over and over—they were so skilfully made he could not find a stitch out of place.

A customer soon came and gladly paid more than the usual price. The shoemaker lost no time to buy leather for two pairs of shoes. That evening he cut them out and next morning found the two pairs of shoes all finished standing on his table.

Soon two customers stepped in, paying him so well he bought leather for four pairs of shoes. The morning after, he found the four pairs finished and standing on his table. So it went. What he cut out in the evening was finished next morning, and soon he was in comfortable circumstances again.

Just before Christmas the shoemaker said to his wife, “What do you think of our staying up tonight and discovering who lends us the helping hand?”

His wife agreed, and at midnight some naked little men came into the shop and stitched and sewed and hammered. Before dawn all the shoes were made and then the little men ran away.

The next day the shoemaker’s wife said, “We must show the little men we are grateful. They wore no clothes and must be very cold. I’ll make them each a coat, vest and trousers, a shirt apiece, and knit each a pair of stockings, and you shall make them each a pair of shoes.”

And on Christmas eve how astonished the little men were to find all the garments laid out for them!

They put on the clothes with haste and skipped about the room, singing:

“Now we are boys too fine to see,

Why should we longer cobblers be?”

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