Asatru Folk Assembly - The Elves and the Shoemaker (Academy Storytime)

A story from the Brothers Grimm about two little elves who help out a man who was in need long, long ago, way far away in the land of Germany. Here is our story: The Shoemaker and the Elves. There once was a shoemaker who, through no fault of his own, had become so poor that he had only enough leather for one more pair of shoes. I will make these the best shoes I can, he told himself. And that night, he cut out the shoes and planned to sew them together in the morning. And then he kissed his white good night.

00:00:00.000 Hi my friends, Githia's Sheila McNellan here about to tell you a story from the Brothers Grimm.

00:00:28.080 These are German stories from long ago. This story deals with elves and if you're

00:00:33.760 like a lot of people, a lot of little kids, you often think about elves this

00:00:38.580 time of year because sometimes they're involved in putting things around yule

00:00:44.100 trees and in stockings and they come to our homes. Well, this is about two little

00:00:50.220 elves that helped out a man who was in need long, long ago, way far away in the

00:00:56.400 land of Germany. Here is our story. It is called the shoemaker and the elves. There once was a

00:01:06.120 shoemaker who through no fault of his own had become so poor that he had only enough leather

00:01:12.720 for one more pair of shoes. I will make these the best shoes I can, he told himself, and that night

00:01:20.960 he cut out the shoes and planned to sew them together in the morning. And then he kissed his

00:01:26.040 white good night, he blew out the candle and crawled into bed. Being a kind and honest man,

00:01:32.440 the shoemaker had no trouble sleeping soundly through the night. He awoke the next morning

00:01:38.300 ready to begin work, but when he got to his workbench, he could hardly believe his eyes.

00:01:44.740 And here he is. This is what it looks like when he's hard at work. There he is.

00:01:51.260 Because they had to make all the shoes by hand in those days.

00:01:56.040 There on the table was a pair of shoes, all made and finished.

00:02:01.040 The shoemaker rubbed his eyes and looked again.

00:02:04.040 But it was no dream.

00:02:06.040 He picked up the shoes and looked at them in wonder.

00:02:10.040 Every stitch is in place, the shoemaker cried.

00:02:13.040 Only a master craftsman could make shoes this fine.

00:02:17.040 That very morning a customer tried on the shoes.

00:02:21.040 The shoemaker watched him nervously,

00:02:24.040 for he was afraid that someone was playing a trick on him.

00:02:28.500 These shoes are the finest I've ever seen, said the customer,

00:02:31.900 and he paid the shoemaker more than the usual price.

00:02:36.320 With this money, the shoemaker was able to buy enough leather

00:02:39.880 to make two more pairs of shoes.

00:02:43.560 That night, he cut the shoes out to have them ready to sew together the next morning.

00:02:48.780 but once again he woke to find the shoes were already sewn. They were so beautiful

00:02:56.940 just as the first pair and they sold quickly and with the money paid for them the shoemaker was

00:03:03.920 able to buy leather for four pairs of shoes. Early the next morning the shoemaker woke to find

00:03:11.760 four pairs of shoes finished and so it continued to happen. After a time the shoemaker began to

00:03:18.220 make a good living and he and his wife lived quite comfortably. One evening around Christmas time

00:03:25.880 as a shoemaker sat at his bench he looked up at his wife and he said if we were to stay up late

00:03:32.240 tonight we might be able to discover who has been helping us all this time. His wife agreed. She lit

00:03:39.940 a candle and the two of them hid behind some coats in the corner of the room and here they are.

00:03:48.220 Look at what happens. Oh my goodness.

00:03:57.380 They waited and they waited and at the stroke of midnight, two tiny elves came in and scampered over to the workbench.

00:04:05.080 Without wasting any time, they took the shoes that had been cut out and they began to stitch, sew, hammer, as quick as can be.

00:04:14.240 they worked so nimbly that the shoemaker and his wife were in awe. The elves did

00:04:20.260 not stop until all the shoes on the workbench were finished and then they

00:04:25.580 quickly ran off again. And here they are. This is what it looks like when they're

00:04:33.300 busy working. Take a look at them. Look at their clothes. Look at their shoes. Oh,

00:04:38.720 oh they don't have shoes hmm the next morning the wife said little men have 0.99

00:04:47.400 made us rich we have to show them how grateful we are the shoemaker agreed but

00:04:52.880 what can we do he asked well said his wife I'm sure they must be cold for

00:04:59.100 they don't have any proper clothing I will make them little shirts and

00:05:04.040 and trousers and warm jackets.

00:05:06.480 And then I'll get them each a pair of long wood socks,

00:05:10.240 woolen socks, and you can make them each a pair of shoes.

00:05:14.320 The shoemaker agreed heartily.

00:05:17.980 On the night that everything was finished,

00:05:21.640 he and his wife put the gifts on the workbench

00:05:24.580 instead of the cut up shoes, cut out shoes.

00:05:27.920 And then they both hid and waited for the elves to appear.

00:05:31.680 At the stroke of midnight,

00:05:34.040 The two little men came scampering through the door, but when they reached the workbench, they stopped and they looked down in surprise.

00:05:43.040 All of a sudden, they burst into cackles of laughter and delight and began trying on their new clothes.

00:05:53.040 As soon as they were dressed, they began to sing.

00:05:56.040 Now that we look so fine and dandy, no more need to work and be handy.

00:06:03.040 And then off they went, dancing and skipping and jumping over chairs and benches.

00:06:09.020 They danced right out the door and were never seen again.

00:06:13.140 But the shoemaker continued to prosper, and he and his wife lived out their days very happily.

00:06:21.260 Wow.

00:06:23.220 That was a nice story about friendship.

00:06:25.880 the little elves helping the farmer, helping the shoemaker and his wife when they needed that.

00:06:33.960 But it also tells us about a gift for a gift. The little elves had gifted the shoemaker and his wife

00:06:42.200 all those shoes that they sold and were able to make money selling. And in return,

00:06:50.820 the shoemaker's wife gave them clothes, and that was something they didn't have.

00:06:55.020 And once they had that, that kind of sealed the bargain.

00:06:58.300 They each got something wonderful from the other.

00:07:01.020 A gift for a gift.

00:07:02.360 That is our rune gabo.

00:07:04.300 And we often think about this time of year as we head into Yule and we're giving gifts to our families.

00:07:09.840 Our families give us gifts back.

00:07:11.720 And we think of gifts to the ancestors and our ancestors return with gifts for us.

00:07:17.300 And so this is a story about gift giving and being generous.

00:07:20.380 generous spirit and also working hard because the shoemaker never wanted to be lazy. He always

00:07:27.160 wanted to work hard and do his very best job. And so he did. He continued. After the little elves

00:07:32.560 left, he continued to make shoes and be very happy in his life with his wife. And we hope those 0.71

00:07:38.360 little elves are happy too. And maybe they'll come to your house this coming season. All right,

00:07:44.280 we'll see you next time. Thank you for being here to listen to The Elves and the Shoemaker. Bye-bye.

00:07:50.380 We'll see you next time.

Asatru Folk Assembly - December 08, 2023

The Elves and the Shoemaker (Academy Storytime)

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