Week 13: Storytelling- The Shoes with the Swoosh

Once upon a time, there was a shoemaker. Unfortunately, the economy was in the middle of a deep depression, and, through no fault of his own, because  he truly was a good shoemaker, he became very poor. So poor, in fact, he thought the bank was going to foreclose on his little shop.

It came to the point that, one night, the poor shoemaker cut out the last of his leather, and found that it was only enough to make one more shoe. He was devastated. So, he resolved to finish his last shoe the next morning. As he was going to bed, he prayed that God would make his last pair of shoes the best shoes that he'd ever made.

The next morning, he woke up intending to finish the shoes that he had started the night before. But they had already been finished. They were perfect! They did not have one single flaw! While inspecting the shoes, he did notice a curious little marking on the side. It looked something like a check-mark, but for some reason he told his wife that he thought it was a swoosh. Even more interestingly, later that day Prince Charming, for no apparent reason, came into the poor shoemaker's store. Upon seeing the shoes with the swoosh, he offered the shoemaker twice what the shoes were supposed to be worth. The shoemaker was incredibly excited, even if he was a little confused.

Nike Air Flight Falcon, source: flickr

That night, after buying enough leather for two shoes and cutting out the pieces, the shoemaker went to sleep and prayed the same prayer as before. The next morning the shoes were finished again! He looked, and they still had that mysterious swoosh on them. When he opened his shop, he found Prince William and Prince Harry waiting outside. They said that they had seen Prince Charming wearing the shoes with the swoosh, and they had to have a pair. They paid twice what the shoes were worth, just as Prince Charming had done.

This cycle continued for some time. The shoemaker would cut out the leather at night, only find them finished with swoosh the next morning. This made the shoemaker into a very wealthy man. After some time, the shoemaker's wife suggested that they stay up and see who was finishing the shoes. The shoemaker thought it was a great idea, so he set out the cut pieces of leather like always, and then he and his wife waited.

He and his wife watched as two little elves crept in and completed the shoes with incredible accuracy and speed. Weirdly though, the two little men were naked So, the shoemaker and his wife decided to lay out clothes for them the next night. When the little elves saw the clothes, they began to dance around happily. After that night, the little elves never came back to finish the shoemaker's shoes. So, he began to pay little kids in the next town 14 cents an hour to complete his shoes. Then, he and his wife lived happily ever after, and the shoes with the swoosh become the most popular shoe that the world had ever seen!

Author's Note--

This story is based off of the story of The Elves from the Brothers Grimm unit. I have pretty much told the story exactly the same as the original. I did add about the stuff with the swoosh, just because I thought it would be interesting to pretend that the shoemaker was selling Nikes. I also didn't use any dialogue, because that is how the original was written. I hope you all enjoy my lighthearted re-telling!

Bibliography--

The Grimm Brothers' Children's and Household Tales translated by D. L. Ashliman (1998-2013)