The Elves and the Shoemaker
A humble, kind but poor shoemaker goes to his store one day, and finds a gorgeous pair of shoes which he didn’t make!
The Elves and the Shoemaker Story
Once upon a time, there lived a kind shoemaker who was very, very poor. He was an honest and hardworking man, but he had gone through hard times. His time was very difficult to the extent that he could no longer afford his life.
All that was left in his workshop was a scrap of leather, just enough to make a pair of shoes. At sunset, he carefully cut the last piece of his fine leather and placed it on his desk to finish his work the next day. He closed the door of his workshop, sighed and returned home to be with his wife.
The shoemaker sadly said to his wife:
hold my hand honey! Let’s hope that our luck will change and we will get the great reward we deserve for the many years we have worked.
His wife stretched out her hands and gently placed them in her husband’s hands and they wished together from the bottom of their hearts.
The shoemaker woke up early the next morning. As usual, he ate breakfast, brushed his teeth, said goodbye to his wife and went to the workshop. He expected to find the leather he had carefully cut last night to make beautiful shoes on his desk.
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But he did not find the leather at all!! To his surprise, he found on the work table a pair of the best shoes he had seen until that day, perfectly stitched and shining like diamonds.
The shoemaker was completely stunned and froze right there!! He thought to himself:
I can’t believe this!!
Suddenly there was a loud noise and the workshop door opened. A well-dressed man entered and said:
Good morning kind man. I was passing by and that very beautiful pair of shoes on the card table caught my attention. can I try them please
Shoemaker said:
Of course. why not. here you are.
The man knelt down and tried on the shoes.
As I thought, they fit perfectly. I will definitely buy these!!
What happened next shocked the shoemaker.
The man asked the shoemaker the price of the shoes. The shoemaker told the handsome man the price of the shoes.
The costumer screamed:
It is unbelievable!!
The shoemaker looked disappointed.
The costumer continued:
I mean, it is quite obvious that these shoes are very high quality. I will definitely pay you twice this price!!!
The shoemaker sincerely thanked the man for his generosity. The man smiled, took off his hat and walked out the door in his new, very shiny shoes.
The shoemaker went out and bought more leather with the money he earned from selling shoes. This time, he had so much leather that he could make two pairs of shoes. At sunset, he carefully cut two pieces of fine leather and placed them on his desk to finish his work the next day.
The next morning, surprisingly, the same thing happened again. But this time there was not a pair of shoes on the shoemaker’s desk. But there were two. And as before, the quality of the work was so great that two well-dressed men entered his workshop and bought the shoes at a much higher price than the shoemaker had imagined!!
This story continued every day. With the money he earns in the morning, the shoemaker buys enough leather to make twice as many shoes for tomorrow as today. And every morning, the shoes would be perfectly prepared and waxed on his desk, ready to be sold.
four pairs
Eight pairs
Sixteen pairs
Thirty two pairs.
This story continued for weeks until the shoemaker sold thousands of pairs of shoes every day, each one more beautiful and classy than the last. The shoemaker and his wife were no longer poor. In fact, they became quite rich selling all these shoes. One night, the shoemaker turned to his wife and said:
My dear wife, I feel blessed by our recent amazing fortune and I am eager to know the secret behind the magical making of these beautiful shoes. In this way, we can properly thank the person who sewed these shoes!!
His wife replied:
How about staying up tonight?
The shoemaker accepted.
That night, when the clock showed twelve o’clock, each of them lit a candle, quietly went to the workshop and sneakily looked inside the workshop through the window. What they saw was really magical and made their mouths open in surprise!!!
An army of beautiful elves filled the workshop. Each elf was no more than 12 cm tall and was sitting on a small wooden chair and working diligently. Each elf was sewing a shoe!!
They were sewing and hammering and sewing at such a fast speed that it was hard to see their little arms.
One of the elves was standing. He neither hammered nor sewed anything. Instead, he stood in front of the workshop facing the other elves like an orchestra conductor.
He was wearing a tall pink hat with a pointed tip, which had the words: The Big Elf Boss!!
Suddenly, the candle slipped from the shoemaker’s hand and landed on the stone floor with a loud noise. Hearing this voice, all the elves were scared.
A moment passed, then the big elf called out:
Run away! Scape! very quickly!!!
What happened was complete chaos. All the elves are running quickly here and there so that they can quickly escape from the workshop.
The shoemaker shouted:
Please wait!
His wife said:
We are here to thank you for all your efforts and amazing love you have shown us. We want to show our appreciation by doing something kind!!
Hearing these words, the fear of the little elves disappeared and they looked at the big boss elves.
The big genie went ahead and said:
We are hungry and our clothes are torn and old. Would you be so kind as to feed us and change our clothes? If you do, we will be forever indebted to you!!
The shoemaker sat down on the ground until he was as tall as the chief elf.
The shoemaker smiled at him and said softly:
Of course, Your Majesty. We will gladly give you all the food and clothes you want. And please forgive me, but I noticed that your legs are bare. I want to make a pair of excellent quality shoes for each of your chromes. Do you accept this?
The big boss elf smiled and answered:
Sure… this is awesome!!
From that day on, the elves, the shoemaker and his wife became each other’s best friends. They work hard and live a happy, prosperous and perfect life together.
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