The Elves and the Shoemaker

A SHOEMAKER,² by no fault of his own, had become so poor that at last he had nothing left but leather for one pair of shoes. So in the evening, he cut out the shoes which he wished to begin to make the next morning,³ and as he had a good conscience, he lay down quietly in his bed, commended himself to God,⁴ and fell asleep. In the morning, after he had said his prayers, and was just going to sit down to work, the two shoes stood quite finished on his table.⁵ He was astounded¹, and knew not what to say to it. He took the shoes in his hands to observe them closer, and they were so neatly² made that there was not one bad stitch in them, just as if they were intended as a masterpiece. Soon after, a buyer came in, and as the shoes pleased him so well, he paid more for them than was customary, and, with the money, the shoemaker was able to purchase leather for two pairs of shoes. He cut them out at night, and next morning was about to set to work with fresh courage; but he had no need to do so, for, when he got up, they were already made, and buyers also were not wanting, who gave him money enough to buy leather for four pairs of shoes.⁶ The following morning, too, he found the four pairs made; and so it went on constantly, what he cut out in the evening was finished by the morning, so that he soon had his honest independence again, and at last became a wealthy man. Now it befell that one evening not long before Christmas,⁷ when the man had been cutting out, he said to his wife, before going to bed, "What think you if we were to stay up to-night to see who it is that lends us this helping³ hand?" The woman liked the idea, and lighted a candle, and then they hid themselves in a corner of the room, behind some clothes which were hanging up there, and watched. When it was midnight, two pretty little naked men came,⁸ sat down by the shoemaker's table, took all the work which was cut out before them and began to stitch, and sew, and hammer so skilfully⁴ and so quickly with their little fingers that the shoemaker could not turn away his eyes for astonishment⁵. They did not stop until all was done, and stood finished on the table, and they ran quickly away.

Next morning the woman said, "The little men have made us rich, and we really must show that we are grateful for it.⁹ They run about so, and have nothing on, and must be cold. I'll tell thee what I'll do: I will make them little shirts, and coats, and vests, and trousers, and knit both of them a pair of stockings, and do thou, too, make them two little pairs of shoes."¹⁰ The man said, "I shall be very glad to do it;" and one night, when everything was ready, they laid their presents all together on the table instead of the cut-out work,¹¹ and then concealed⁶ themselves to see how the little men would behave. At midnight they came bounding in, and wanted to get to work at once, but as they did not find any leather cut out, but only the pretty little articles of clothing, they were at first astonished, and then they showed intense delight.¹² They dressed themselves with the greatest rapidity, putting the pretty clothes on, and singing,

"Now we are boys so fine to see,
Why should we longer cobblers be?"¹³

Then they danced and skipped and leapt over chairs and benches.¹⁴ At last they danced out of doors. From that time forth⁷ they came no more, but as long as the shoemaker lived all went well with him, and all his undertakings⁸ prospered⁹.¹⁵

1. Elves and the Shoemaker: The source for the tale is Dortchen Wild in 1812 (Zipes, Complete, 730). It is usually titled "The Elves" and consists of three short tales, of which this is one. (Click on the link to read the entire tale.)

The tale is known as both "The Elves and the Shoemaker" and "The Shoemaker and the Elves" interchangably. However, most picture book versions published in the United States prefer "The Elves and the Shoemaker."
Return to place in story.

2. Shoemaker: From Wikipedia:

Shoemaking is a traditional handicraft profession, which has now been largely superseded¹⁰ by industrial manufacture of footwear.

Shoemakers (also known as cobblers or cordwainers) may produce a range of footwear items, including shoes, boots, sandals, clogs¹¹ and moccasins. Such items are generally made of leather, wood, rubber, plastic, jute or other plant material, and often consist of multiple parts for better durability¹² of the sole, stitched to a leather upper.

Most shoemakers use a last—made traditionally of iron or wood, but now often of wood—on which to form the shoe. Some lasts are straight, while curved lasts come in pairs: one for left shoes, the other for right shoes.

The shoemaking profession makes a number of appearances in popular culture, such as in stories about shoemaker's elves, and the proverb "The shoemaker's children are often shoeless". The patron saint of shoemakers is Saint Crispin ("Shoemaking" Wikipedia 2006).

The shoemaker's piety¹⁴ is stressed again and again and signals that he is deserving of the reward given to him and also protected against the pagan spirits who help him out by discharging his chores (Tatar, Annotated¹⁵ Grimms, 184).

Brownie: A brownie, brounie/Urisk (Lowland Scots) or ùruisg/brùnaidh/gruagach (Scottish Gaelic) is a legendary²⁴ kind of elf popular in folklore around Scotland and England (especially the north). He is the Scottish counterpart of the Scandinavian tomte, the Russian domovoi or the German Heinzelmännchen.

Customarily they are said to inhabit houses and aid in tasks around the house. However, brownies do not like to be seen and will only work at night, perhaps in exchange for small gifts or food. They usually abandon the house if their gifts are called payments, or if they are offered gifts of clothes (no matter how shabby their own clothes are). In some stories, brownies have no noses ("Brownie (elf)" Wikipedia 2006).

Gratitude is a positive emotion, which involves a feeling of emotional indebtedness towards another person; often accompanied by a desire to thank them, or to reciprocate²⁶ for a favour they have done for you. In a religious context, gratitude can also refer to a feeling of indebtedness towards a deity²⁷, e.g. God in Christianity.

Psychological research has demonstrated that individuals are more likely to experience gratitude when they receive a favor that is perceived to be (1) valued by the recipient²⁸, (2) costly²⁹ to the benefactor³⁰, (3) given by the benefactor with benevolent³¹ intentions, and (4) given gratuitously³² (rather than out of role-based obligations) (e.g., Bar-Tal, Bar-Zohar, Greenberg, & Hermon, 1977; Graham, 1988; Lane & Anderson, 1976; Tesser, Gatewood, & Driver, 1968).

Research has also suggested that feelings of gratitude may be beneficial to subjective³³ emotional well-being³⁴ (Emmons & McCullough, 2003). In people who are grateful in general, life events have little influence on experienced gratitude (McCullough, Tsang & Emmons, 2004).

References
Bar-Tal, D., Bar-Zohar, Y., Greenberg, M. S., & Hermon, M. (1977). Reciprocity behavior in the relationship between donor³⁵ and recipient and between harm-doer and victim. Sociometry, 40, 293-298.

Emmons, R. A. & McCullough, M. E. (2003). Counting blessings³⁶ versus³⁷ burdens: An experimental investigation³⁸ of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology³⁹, 84, 377-389.

Graham, S. (1988). Children’s developing understanding of the motivational role of affect: An attributional analysis. Cognitive⁴⁰ Development, 3, 71-88.

Lane, J., & Anderson, N.H. (1976). Integration⁴¹ of intention and outcome in moral judgment⁴². Memory and Cognition, 4, 1-5.

McCullough, M. E., Tsang, J. & Emmons, R. A. (2004). Gratitude in intermediate affective terrain⁴³: Links of grateful moods to individual differences and daily emotional experience. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 86,295-309.

Tesser, A., Gatewood, R. & Driver, M. (1968). Some determinants of gratitude. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 9, 233-236.

Some, like the shoemaker's elves, are overjoyed at the sight of fancy duds, while many others seem to find such gifts offensive. Either way, the result is the same: Leave out a new shirt or shoes for your elf, pixie, or brownie, and you guarantee he'll be gone by morning, never to return.

Explanations for this odd behavior vary from place to place. In some British folklore, household fairies are said to be free spirits who simply don't want to be encumbered⁴⁶ by earthly belongings⁴⁷. In the English country of Berwickshire, they say that brownies leave when given any gift because God appointed them as the servants of mankind, bound to work without payment. But in Lincolnshire the opposite is true; there brownies are proud creatures who will depart when gifts don't measure up to their expectations. One story tells of a brownie who took to the road after receiving a shirt of coarse fabric⁴⁸, but not before making it known that he'd have stayed if the shirt were linen⁴⁹! (Kronzek and Kronzek 79).