“The Elves and the Shoemaker.” The Book of Fables and Folk Stories, Horace Elisha Scudder, Boston: Houghton Mifflin; 1919, pp. 30-33.
Tale Summary
There was once an honest, hardworking Shoemaker, who could not earn enough to make a living. He was down to his last bit of leather to make one more pair of shoes, and so he cut them out to finish in the morning and went to bed. When he awoke, they were already made. A customer came in and was so pleased with their quality he paid a high price, with which the Shoemaker bought leather for two more shoes. He cut these out and went to bed early, and again woke to find the work was done. His business did well, and people came from miles around to buy his quality shoes. One evening at Christmas-time, the Shoemaker and his wife decided to stay up and find out who was doing the work, and at midnight saw two little elves who toiled away and then fled. The wife said to the Shoemaker that they should repay them somehow, and that it pained her that they had no clothes to keep them warm. They decided to make for each of them a shirt, a coat, a waistcoat, a pair of pantaloons, and a tiny pair of shoes. When they were ready one evening, the couple laid them out instead of the usual shoe cut-outs, and hid behind a curtain to watch. At midnight, the elves arrived, and were gleeful to find the clothes, dressing themselves and dancing out the door. The Shoemaker never saw them again, but everything went well with him as long as he lived.
Fairy Tale Title
The Elves and the Shoemaker
Fairy Tale Author(s)/Editor(s)
Horace Elisha Scudder
Fairy Tale Illustrator(s)
Common Tale Type
Tale Classification
Page Range of Tale
pp. 30-33
Full Citation of Tale
“The Elves and the Shoemaker.” The Book of Fables and Folk Stories, Horace Elisha Scudder, Boston: Houghton Mifflin; 1919, pp. 30-33.
Original Source of the Tale
Tale Notes
Tale Audio
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Research and Curation
Kaeli Waggener, 2023
Book Title
The Book of Fables and Folk Stories
Book Author/Editor(s)
Horace Elisha Scudder
Illustrator(s)
None listed
Publisher
Houghton Mifflin
Date Published
1919
Decade Published
1910-1919
Publisher City
Boston
Publisher Country
United States
Language
English
Rights
Public Domain
Digital Copy
Available at the Internet Archive
Book Notes