The Elves and the Shoemaker

Once upon a time, in a small town, there lived a shoemaker and his wife.

The shoemaker was a good, honest man, and he worked hard. But times were difficult. Fewer people came to buy shoes, and leather cost a lot of money. Little by little, the shoemaker grew poorer and poorer.

The last piece of leather

One evening, he found that he had only enough leather left for one single pair of shoes.

He laid it out on his workbench and carefully cut out the pieces. "I'll sew them in the morning, when the light is better," he said. "Then I'll sell them, and we'll see what happens after that."

He blew out the candle and went to bed. He said a little prayer, and he fell asleep.

A surprise in the morning

The next morning, the shoemaker came down to his workshop and sat at his bench.

He blinked. He rubbed his eyes.

There, on the bench, stood a pair of shoes. They were finished, every stitch of them. The stitches were tiny and perfectly straight. The leather was smooth and shining. They were the finest shoes he had ever seen.

"Wife!" he called. "Did you do this?"

"Not me," she said, staring at the shoes. "I can't sew like that."

That very morning, a gentleman came into the shop. He picked up the shoes, tried them on and smiled. They fitted him perfectly. He was so pleased that he paid much more than the usual price.

With the money, the shoemaker bought enough leather for two pairs of shoes. That evening he cut them out, left them on his bench and went to bed.

In the morning, there were two pairs of shoes, finished and perfect.

And so it went on. Two pairs became four pairs. Four became eight. Every night he cut out the leather, and every morning the shoes were ready. People came from all over town to buy them, and soon the shoemaker and his wife had all they needed.

Who was helping?

One evening, close to Christmas, the shoemaker said to his wife, "I wish I knew who has been helping us."

"Let's stay up tonight and see," said his wife.

So they lit a candle, hid behind a curtain in the corner of the workshop and waited.

At midnight, they heard a tiny sound. Pitter-pat. Pitter-pat.

Two little elves came skipping in. They were no taller than a teacup, and they had no clothes on at all, not even shoes.

The elves jumped up onto the workbench and began to work. Their little fingers flew. They stitched and they hammered, so quickly that the shoemaker could hardly follow them. When every pair was finished, they hopped down and ran off into the night.

A gift for the helpers

"Those little elves have made us comfortable," said the shoemaker's wife the next morning. "But they have nothing to wear themselves. They must be so cold. Let's make them something."

So she sewed two tiny shirts, two tiny coats and two tiny pairs of trousers. She knitted two pairs of tiny stockings. And the shoemaker made two pairs of tiny shoes, with the smallest stitches he had ever sewn.

That night, instead of leather, they laid out the little clothes on the bench. Then they hid behind the curtain again.

At midnight, the elves came skipping in. They jumped up onto the bench, and then they stopped.

They saw the little clothes. They held them up. Then they put them on as fast as they could, laughing with joy. They danced across the bench and sang:

"Now we're dressed so fine and neat, shoes upon our dancing feet!"

They danced along the shelves and over the chairs, and out of the door. And they never came back.

But they did not need to. The shoemaker had learned from watching them, and his shoes were the best in town for the rest of his life.

About this story

This fairy tale was collected by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, two brothers who wrote down the folk tales of Germany. It was first published in 1812. This version is a shortened, simplified retelling.