The Elves and the Cobbler

Long ago there was a cobbler who had become very poor. All he had left was a little leather to make one pair of shoes. 

The cobbler cut the leather and decided to work on the leather the next morning. He went to bed after cutting the leather. 

When he woke up in the morning he was surprised to see that there were two pairs of shoes on the table. 

The cobbler picked up the shoe and studied it closely and realized that there was not even one bad stitch in the entire shoe.

The cobbler did not know what to think. 

Even more surprising was that a man came to buy the shoes. The man was so impressed with the shoes that he paid more money to the cobbler than the shoes were worth. 

With that the cobbler was able to buy leather for two pairs of shoes. 

That night too the cobbler cut the leather and went to bed. 

When he woke up, again he found two excellently stitched pairs of shoes. 

The cobbler sold these shoes very easily and he was able to buy leather for four pairs of shoes.

Soon this went on and the cobbler had become very wealthy. 

One night the cobbler and his wife decided to find out who had been making their shoes. 

That night they lit a candle and hid in the shop. 

At night two tiny elves came into the shop and they started working on the leather. 

The cobbler and his wife were astonished as they saw the elves work on the leather flawlessly. 

The next day the cobbler's wife had an idea. 

So that night when the two elves came to work they were surprised because there was no leather in the shop. Instead there were lovely shirts, pants and shoes made to their size.

The elves were delighted and they wore the shirts and pants. 

This was the cobbler and his wife's thanks to the elves for doing such flawless work on the shorts. 

After taking the shirts, pants and shoes the elves never came back to the cobbler's shop.

However the cobbler had never been poor after that and became quite wealthy.

Adapted from the Grimm Brothers Household Tales