_A fairy story to show that help often comes from unexpected
directions._
Now this is a story about a poor shoemaker who worked very hard and
paid his debts and lived peaceably with his neighbors. He could
hardly make enough to live on, and at last had just enough leather
to make one pair of shoes. So he cut them out at night and laid
them down to be finished in the morning.
He slept well and rose early to begin his labor. He said his
prayers and ate his porridge and then went to his bench. Great was
his wonder when he saw the shoes already sewed and finished and
upon the table.
“Who has done this for me?” he asked. His wife came running up to
wonder also, but nobody knew who had finished the shoes. That very
day a man came in and bought the shoes because they were so well
made, and stitched so carefully. Then he had money enough to buy
leather for two pairs of shoes. So that night he cut out two pairs
and laid them on the floor and went to bed as before, expecting to
finish them in the morning.
But the same thing happened again. The shoes were finished
carefully and were set upon the table and ready for customers. The
shoemaker and his wife could not tell how it happened. That very
day two men customers came by and bought the shoes.
Now the shoemaker bought leather for four pairs of shoes, and again
they were finished for him in the morning and customers came by
and bought them. And so it went on. No matter how many shoes the
shoemaker cut out and laid on the floor, they were all ready for
the customer the next day.
The shoemaker now had plenty of money, but he was not proud. One
night he said to his wife:
“I think we will watch to see who stitches the shoes.” And so they
sat up and looked through a crack in the door. About midnight
there came two little elves and began to stitch and sew with magic
fingers. They worked with great glee and so fast that shoe after
shoe fell from their little hands, all finished, ready to sell the
next day. Putting them on the table the elves danced and punched
each other in the side and disappeared up the chimney.
The next day his wife said:
“We must make some clothes for the poor little elves. They seemed
quite ragged to me,” and she made two funny little suits and hung
them on the bench. That night the elves saw them and put them on,
but they were so funny that they both began to laugh until their
sides ached so that they could hardly work. But they finished the
shoes about daybreak and danced off up the chimney in their new
clothes--but they never came back! Perhaps they felt that it was
not necessary any longer now that the shoemaker was prosperous.