Once there was a shoemaker and his wife; they were so poor he wondered what would become of them. One night before he went to bed the shoemaker left out his last piece of leather and, the next morning, a beautiful pair of shoes were in its place. A rich lady passed by, saw the shoes and was so delighted, she paid twice the usual price. This continued day after day until the Shoemaker and his wife resolved to discover the identity of the mysterious cobblers. Who were they? How did they sew so beautifully? And how could the Shoemaker and his wife ever repay them?
This book is part of a book series called Ladybird Tales .
There are 48 pages in this book. This book was published 2005 by Penguin Books Ltd .
Puffin Books is the children's imprint of British publishers Penguin Books. Since the 1960s it has been among the largest publishers of children's books in the UK and much of the English-speaking world.
This book contains the following story:
The Elves and the Shoemaker
In Grimms' The Elves and the Shoemaker a poor shoemaker has leather to make only one pair of shoes but many bills to pay. He cuts out the leather and leaves the shoes for sewing. The next morning the pieces have been transformed into an exquisite pair of shoes, so fine they sell for a fortune. This magic is repeated until he is quite wealthy. But his wife wishes to know where the beautiful shoes come from, and so the two stay up and spy. They discover that every night a band of elves visit and stitch the leather into gorgeous shoes. However the elves do not like to be seen, and having been discovered by the shoemaker never again return. But the shoemaker now has such a reputation that this is of no concern, as customers are plentiful and he is able to make a pretty good living on his own.
