Conte: Les Elfes et le Cordonnier

    'The Elves and the Shoemaker' is a story by

                 Jacob and Wilhem Grimm.

    Once upon a time there lived a kind shoemaker and his wife.
 Sadly, nobody bought his shoes anymore and they had become poor. He only had cloth left to make one last pair of shoes.
 To console him his wife said: 'Don't worry too much, everything will soon be all right. Leave the cloth on the table, you can stitch the shoes tomorrow. Let us go to bed now!'

    However, four little elves, who had been outside their window, had heard them talking. They felt sorry for the kind man.
 'We must help the poor shoemaker', they decided. The smart, talented elves fluttered into the house through the window.
   They took the cloth and soon began cutting, sewing and decorating it. Before morning they made the most beautiful pair
 of shoes in the whole world and flew away.

   In the morning the shoemaker and his wife were amazed to see the pretty little shoes lying on the table.
   'Who made this?'  they both wondered. 'They are lovely!'
   Soon, a merchant saw the shoes in the shop window and immediately bought them. He gave the shoemaker enough money to buy cloth for two pairs of shoes.
  
   That night too, the shoemaker left the cloth on the table before going to bed. The elves returned. Before sunrise they had
 made two pairs of shoes that were much prettier. This continued for many more nights: lovely shoes that the elves
 made used to wait for the shoemaker every morning.
   The shoemaker and his wife were puzzled. 'I wonder who our friends are?', they said. 'We must thank them for their kindness.'

   They decided to stay awake that night and hide behind the door to find out who made the shoes for them. As they waited
 they saw the elves flying, laughing, singing and quickly stitching the shoes. 'How lucky we are!' exclaimed the shoemaker
 once the elves had left.

.

 We must give them something in return...

 The wife suggested: 'their clothes were torn, let us make tiny clothes for them.'
 They both worked hard to make the best clothes including the cutest pairs of shoes for the friendly
 elves and left them on the table the next night.

  When the elves came they were thrilled to see their new clothes. They danced and sang in happiness
 and flew out of the window, never to return again.

  The shoemaker continued to make the best shoes in town and sold them. He and his wife never
 forgot the kind elves who had helped them in their time of need.