The elves and the Shoemaker part one

Once upon a time there was a poor shoemaker who lived with his wife. He made excellent shoes and worked quite diligently, but even so he could not earn enough to support himself and his family. He became so poor that he could not even afford to buy the leather he needed to make shoes; finally he had only enough to make one last pair. He cut them out with great care and put the pieces on his workbench, so that he could sew them together the following morning.

His wife asked, "What will happen to us? The cupboards are bare, and we have no firewood. Even our last candle has almost burned away." She was very worried. "Don’t worry," said the shoemaker. "Things will work out for us. You'll see, I will finish these shoes tomorrow, and someone will buy them." He cut out the leather and then went to bed. The shoemaker would finish working first thing in the morning.

The next morning, he awoke early and went down to his workshop. On his bench he found an exquisite pair of shoes! They had small and even stitches, formed so perfectly that he knew he couldn't have produced a better pair himself. Upon close examination, the shoes proved to be from the very pieces of leather he had set out the night before. The shoemaker called for his wife to come and look at the wonderful shoes. She was just as amazed as he was. "Who could have made these shoes?" she asked. They immediately put the fine pair of shoes in the window and drew back the blinds

Who in the world could've done this great service for me?" he asked himself. Even before he could make up an answer, a rich man strode into his shop and bought the shoes and for a fancy price. The shoemaker was ecstatic; he immediately went out and purchased plenty of food for his family and some more leather. That afternoon he cut out two pairs of shoes and, just as before, laid all the pieces on the bench so that he could sew them the next day. Then he went upstairs to enjoy the good meal with his family.

My goodness!" he cried the next morning when he found two pairs of beautifully finished shoes on his workbench. "Who could make such fine shoes--and so quickly?" He put them in his shop window, and before long some wealthy people came in and paid a great deal of money for them. The happy shoemaker went right out and bought even more leather. This continued for many nights, until the shoemaker's shelves were filled with beautiful shoes like no one had ever seen before.