The Elves and the Shoemaker - Grace

Long, long ago in an old village lived a poor old shoe maker and his old but lovely wife. He didn’t have enough money to buy any food for him and his wife so they were sad. The shoe maker only had enough leather to make one pair of shoes. He cut the leather out very carefully and when to bed. He got up and went to his shop and there on his bench was one pair of fine shoes. The shoes had very fine but little stitches and they were polished until they shone in the sun light. That day a very rich lady came to buy some shoes. The shoe maker showed the lady the shoes that he had found on his work bench. The lady tried the shoes on and said they fitted perfectly!!! She gave the old shoe maker 7 pieces of very shiny silver for the shoes. That meant he had enough money to buy leather for two pairs of shoes and food for him and his wife. He cut out the leather as he did before and went to before. When he woke up he found two lovely pair of shoes made perfectly again so he brought more food and enough leather for 4 pairs of shoes. He cut the leather out very carefully and went to bed. The next morning it happened again and a rich man came in and bought the shoes and the shoe maker and his wife were rich. But they still didn’t know how was making the shoes. That night they waited next to the counter and watched. Finally 2 little elves hurried in and set to work making the shoes. When they had finished they quickly ran out. Again the next day the shoe maker said we should make some clothe for the elves because they only had tattered rags and had bare feet. ”You should make some tiny shoes for them” said his wife. So they both set to work making little cloths for the elves. They wrapped the presents neatly. The shoe maker was happy with the shoes. He made sure he saved the little shoes to last to wrap last. When the elves came in they went to the work bench but they only found the little pile of presents. They ripped open the presents and started putting the new cloths on. When they had finished they skipped merrily out the door.