Young Writers Society

The elves returned to the shoemaker's house and spent the whole night working away at the shoes. It took almost until dawn. They were, after all, only a few inches tall. All the while, they giggled and snickered, chatted and joked. It was all very exciting, you see, for no shoe else had ever made shoes for a human shoemaker, as far as Neeko and Teeko knew. Doing something different is always fun!

When they had finished their work, feeling quite pleased with themselves, hurried over to the miller's home to see the results of their handy work. Hiding behind the curtain of the boy's bedroom, they watched Mrs. Miller going into her son's to wake him for breakfast.

"Come on, Son, time to get dress--"

Neeko and Teeko giggled. She had discovered the shoes.

"What is it, Mummy?" asked the boy, who was now out of the bed.

"Your shoes!" exclaimed Mrs, Miller. "Oh no. There must have been an animal in here last night. Your shoes are ruined!"

"My shoes!" squealed the boy.

He was so upset that he cried. What was he to do? He remembered how long Papa had to wait for the boots he had needed. What he to go barefoot for two days? The other boys would laugh at him.

"There, there," said Mrs. Miller. "It's all right. We'll go to the shoemaker first ting after breakfast and see what he can do."

"Tee hee," said Teeko. "Now let's go back to the shoemaker and watch the rest of the fun."

Back at the shoemaker's house, they saw the man scratching his head.

"How odd," he said. "Could I have done it in my sleep?"

His wife shook her head. "Not likely, my dear. I would have notice if you had gotten out of bed at night. I am most certain you did not."

The shoemaker shrugged. "Well, this is a mystery, then."

Neeko and Teeko giggled. Anyone in the town but the shoemaker might have guessed that it was the elves who had done it. Not him, though. It was the funniest thing. It made him look so stupid and foolish.

"They are good shoes," said the shoemaker as he picked them up to examine them. "Perfect for a small child. He sighed heavily and fell hard onto his workbench. "But what good are they with no one to buy them?"

His wife rubbed his shoulders and spoke comforting words to him.

Not ten minutes later, Mrs. Miller and her son arrived to the shop. She was so pleased with the shoes that she paid double the normal price for a child's shoes. All the humans concerned ere extatic. The miller's son had a fine new pair of shoes, and the shoemaker was able to buy some food for his family and and lots of materials to make two pairs of shoes.

At night, of course, Teeko and Neeko worked busily to put together the shoes that had been cut out that day. It had been such fun the first night that they had to do it again. For five more nights, they did this. On the sixth night, though, it was not leather that they found on the shoemaker's work work table, but snazy clothes that fit them just perfectly.

"Ha ha!" said Neeko.

"He's figured it out!" replied Teeko, hopping for joy.

"My, what nice trousers and tunics. He's even managed to make us little shoes!"

Most elves don't wear much clothing. Sometimes they don't wear any at all, and they never wear shoes. But these shoes were so well made, and Neeko and Teeko thought they looked so good in them that they decided to keep the clothes and shoes.

"Such a fine price for all the shoes we made for him,"said Neeko.

"Yes," agreed Teeko. "A fine price."

"But how did he know how small to make them? He couldn't possibly have seen us."

Just then, a noise came from the next room. Neeko and Teeko turned around and saw the shoemaker and his wife. So they had been spying on the elves. Everything was ruined! For when and elf catches a human watching it, it shrinks into nothing and leaves a curse on the one who saw it.

When the other shoe elves learned of this, they fled the town. A few new shoemakers and cobblers moved in, so the town was never in need of shoes. As for the shoemaker Neeko and Teeko had tried to help? Well, he never was able to make another pair of shoes.