THE TRAVELLER’S SHOES
by Laurence Housman · from The house of joy
Adapted Version
Lubin was a kind cobbler. He worked in a small shop. One day, a man came in. He had long red shoes. One shoe was broken.
“Please fix my shoe,” the man said. “I need it next day.”
Lubin fixed the shoe. He worked all day. That night, a funny thing happened. The red shoe danced! It danced all by itself. Lubin watched. He was surprised.
The next morning, the man came back. “Thank you,” he said. “How can I pay you?”
“Just a small gift,” said Lubin. He was honest.
The man smiled. He gave Lubin a gold piece. “My shoes are magic,” he said. “They find lost things.” He put a gold piece in each shoe. Then he left.
Later, Lubin needed more leather. He walked to the town. On the road, he saw a red thing. It was the man’s shoes! The man was there. He looked very sad.
“My gold is gone,” the man said. “I am lost.”
“I will help you,” said Lubin. He put on the magic shoes. “Find the gold!” he said. The shoes started to walk. Lubin followed them.
The shoes led him to a house. Inside, three people were talking. They had a bag of gold. It was the man’s gold.
“That gold is not yours,” said Lubin. “Please give it back.”
The people were sorry. They gave the gold to Lubin. He took it to the King.
“Thank you,” said the King. “You are very honest. I need help. My three princesses are sad. They are losing their hair.”
“I will try to help,” said Lubin.
He watched the princesses at night. He found a secret room. Inside, the oldest princess used a magic loom. She was making a golden cloth. She was using her sisters’ hair!
Lubin talked to the kind princess, Lyneth. “We must stop this,” he said.
They made a plan. Lubin used magic shears. He cut the Princess Royal’s hair. Then he used the golden cloth. It helped the other princesses. Their hair grew back! They were happy.
The King saw all. The Princess Royal had no hair. She was very angry. But Lyneth and her sisters were happy.
“You did a good thing,” the King said. “You may marry one of my daughters.”
Lubin chose Lyneth. She was kind and gentle. “I love you,” he said. “You are pretty inside.”
They got married. They lived with joy. The Princess Royal stayed bald. She learned a lesson.
Kindness is more important than being pretty. Lubin and Lyneth were always kind. That is the best kind of pretty.
Original Story
THE TRAVELLER’S SHOES
TO
MARY AND EMILY
THE TRAVELLER’S SHOES
A long while ago there lived a young cobbler named Lubin, who, when his father died, was left with only the shop and the shoe-leather out of which to make his fortune. From morning to night he toiled, making and mending the shoes of the poor village folk; but his earnings were small, and he seemed never able to get more than three days ahead of poverty.
One day, as he sat working at his window-bench, the door opened, and in came a traveller. He had on a pair of long red shoes with pointed ends; but of one the seams had split, so that all his toes were coming out of it.
The stranger, putting up one foot after the other, took off both shoes, and giving that one which wanted cobbling to Lubin, he said: “To-night I shall be sleeping here at the inn; have this ready in good time to-morrow, for I am in haste to go on!” And having said this he put the other shoe into his pocket, and went out of the door barefoot.
“What a funny fellow,” thought Lubin, “not to make the most of one shoe when he has it!” But without stopping to puzzle himself he took up the to-be-mended shoe and set to work. When it was finished he threw it down on the floor behind him, and went on working at his other jobs. He meant to work late, for he had not enough money yet to get himself his Sunday’s dinner; so when darkness shut in he lighted a rushlight and cobbled away, thinking to himself all the while of the roast meat that was to be his reward.
It came close on midnight, and he was just putting on the last heel of the last pair of shoes when he was aware of a noise on the floor behind him. He looked round, and there was the red shoe with the pointed toe, cutting capers and prancing about by itself in the middle of the room.
“Peace on earth!” exclaimed Lubin. “I never saw a shoe do a thing so tipsy before!” He went up and passed his hand over it and under it, but there was nothing to account for its caperings; on it went, up and down, toeing and heeling, skipping and sliding, as if for a very wager. Lubin could even tell himself the name of the reel and the tune that it was dancing to, for all that the other foot was missing. Presently the shoe tripped and toppled, falling heel up upon the floor; nor, although Lubin watched it for a full hour, did it ever start upon a fresh jig.
Soon after daybreak, when Lubin had but just opened his shutters and sat himself down to work, in came the traveller, limping upon bare feet, with the shoe’s fellow pointing its red toe out of his pocket. “Oh, so,” he said, seeing the other shoe ready mended and waiting for him, “how much am I owing you for the job?”
“Just a gold piece,” said Lubin, carelessly, carrying on at his work.
“A gold piece for the mere mending of a shoe!” cried the stranger. “You must be either a rogue or a funny fellow.”
“Neither!” said Lubin, “and for mending a shoe my charge is only a penny; but for mending that shoe, and for all the worry and temptation to make it my own and run off with it—a gold piece!”
“To be sure, you are an honest fellow,” said the traveller, “and honesty is a rare gift; though, had you made off with it, I should have soon caught you. Still, you were not so wise as to know that, so here’s your gold piece for you.” He pulled out a big bag of gold as he spoke, pouring its contents out on to the window bench.
“That is a lot of money for a lonely man to carry about,” said Lubin. “Are you not afraid?”
“Why, no,” answered the man. “I have a way, so that I can always follow it up even if I lose it.” He took two of the gold pieces, and dropped one into the sole of each shoe as he was putting them on. “There!” said he, “now, if any man steal my money, I need only wait till it is midnight; and then I have but to say to my shoes ‘Seek!’ and up they jump, with me in them, and carry me to where my stolen property is, were it to the world’s end. It is as if they had the nose and sagacity of a pair of bloodhounds. Ah, son of a cobbler, had you run off with the one I should have very soon caught you with the other; for if one walks the other is bound to follow. But, as you were honest, we part friends; and I trust God may bring you to fortune.” Then the traveller did up his bag of gold, nodded to the cobbler from the doorway, and was gone.
Lubin laid down his work, and went off to the inn. “Did anything happen here last night?” he asked.
“Nothing of much note,” answered the innkeeper. “Three travelling fiddlers were here, and afterwards a man came in barefoot, but with a red shoe sticking out of his pocket. I thought of turning the fellow away, till he let me see the colour of his gold. Presently the fiddlers started to play and the other man to drink. At first when they called on him to dance he excused himself for his feet’s sake; but presently, what with the music and the liquor, he got so lively in his head that he pulled on his one shoe and danced like three ordinary men put together.”
“What time was that?” asked Lubin.
“Getting on for midnight,” answered the innkeeper.
“Ah!” said Lubin, and went home thinking much on the way.
Towards evening he found that he had run out of leather, and must go into the town, ten miles off, to buy more. “Now my gold piece comes in handy,” thought he; so he locked up the house, put the key in his pocket, and set out.
Though it was the season of long days it was growing dark when he came to a part of the road that led through the wood; but being so poor a man he had no fear, nor thought at all about the robbers who were said to be in those parts. But as he went, he saw all at once by the side of the road two red spikes sticking up out of a ditch, their bright colour making them plain to the eye. He came quite near and saw that they were two red shoes with pointed toes; and then he saw more clearly that along with them lay the traveller, his wallet empty and with a dagger stuck through his heart.
The cobbler’s son was as sorry as he could be. “Alas, poor soul,” thought he, “what good are the shoes to you now? Now that thieves have killed you and taken away your gold, surely I do no harm if I give an honest man your shoes!” He stooped down, and was about taking them off when he saw the eyes of the dead man open. The eyes looked at him as if they would remind him of something; and at once, when he loosed hold of the shoes, they seemed satisfied. Then he remembered, and thought to himself, “The world has many marvels in it; I will wait till midnight and see.”
For over three hours he kept watch by the dead man’s side. “Only last night,” he said to himself, “this poor fellow was dancing as merry a measure as ever I saw, for the half of it surely I saw; and now!” Then he judged that midnight must be come, so he bent over the shoes and whispered to them but one word.
The dead man stood up in his shoes and began running. Lubin followed close, keeping an eye on him, for the shoes made no sound on the earth. They ran on for two hours, till they had come to the thickest part of the forest; then some way before them Lubin began to see a light shining. It came from a small square house in a court-yard, and round the court-yard lay a deep moat; only one narrow plank led over and up to the entrance.
The red shoes, carrying the dead man, walked over, and Lubin followed them. When they were at the other side they turned, facing toward the plank that they had crossed, and Lubin seemed to read in the dead man’s eye what he was to do.
Then he turned and lifted the plank away from over the moat, so that there was no longer any entrance or exit to the place. Through the window of the house he could see the three fiddlers quarrelling over the dead man’s gold.
The red shoes went on, carrying their dead owner, till they got to the threshold, and there stopped. Then Lubin came and clicked up the latch, and pushed open the door, and in walked the dead man with the dagger sticking out of his heart.
The three fiddlers, when they saw that sight, dropped their gold and leapt out of the window; and as they fled, shrieking, thinking to cross the moat by the plank-bridge that was no longer there, one after the other they fell into the water, and, clutching each other by the throat, were drowned.
But the red shoes stayed where they were, and, tilting up his feet, let the traveller go gently upon the ground; and when Lubin held down the lantern to his face, on it lay a good smile, to tell him that the dead man thanked him for all he had done.
So in the morning Lubin went and fetched a priest to pray for the repose of the traveller’s soul, and to give him good burial; and to him he gave all the dead man’s money, but for himself he took the red shoes with the pointed toes, and set out to make his fortune in the world.
Walking along he found that however far he went he never grew tired. When he had gone on for more than a hundred miles, he came to the capital where the King lived with his Court.
All the flags of the city were at half-mast, and all the people were in half mourning. Lubin asked at the first inn where he stopped what it all meant.
“You must indeed be a stranger,” said his host, “not to know, for ’tis now nearly a year since this trouble began; and this very night more cause for mourning becomes due.”
“Tell me of it, then,” said Lubin, “for I know nothing at all.”
“At least,” returned the innkeeper, “you will know how, a little more than a year ago, the Queen, who was the most beautiful woman in the world, died, leaving the King with twelve daughters, who, after her, were reckoned the fairest women on earth, though the King says that all their beauty rolled into one would not equal that of his dead wife; and, indeed, poor man, there is no doubt that he loved her devotedly during her life, and mourns for her continually now she is dead.”
“Only a small part of all this have I known,” said Lubin.
“Well, but at least,” said the innkeeper, “you will have heard how the Princesses were famed for their hair; so beautiful it was, so golden, and so long! And now, at every full moon, one of them goes bald in a night; and bald her head stays as a stone, for never an inch of hair grows on it again; and with her hair all her beauty goes pale, so that she is but the shadow of her former self—a thin-blooded thing, as if a vampire had come and sucked out half her life. Yes; ten months this has happened, and ten of the Princesses have lost their looks and their hair as well; and now only the Princess Royal and the youngest of all remain untouched; and doubtless one of them is to lose her crop to-night.”
“But how does it happen?” cried Lubin, “Is no one put to keep watch, to guard them from the thing being done?”
“Ah! you talk, you talk!” said the innkeeper. “How? The King has offered half his kingdom to anyone who can tell him how the mischief is done; and the other half to the man who will put an end to it. To put it shortly, if you believe yourself a clever enough man, you may have the King for your father-in-law, with the pick of his daughters for your bride, and be his heir and lord of all when he dies!”
“For such a reward,” said Lubin, “has no man made the attempt?”
“Aye, one a month; every time there has been some man fool enough to think himself so clever; and he has been turned out of the palace next day with his ears cropped.”
“I will risk having my ears cropped,” said Lubin; for his heart was sorry for the young Princesses, and the vanishing of their beauty. So he went up and knocked at the gates of the palace.
They went and told the King that a new man had come willing and wanting to have his ears cropped on the morrow. “Well, well,” said the King, “let the poor fool in!” for indeed he had given up all hope. From the King Lubin heard the whole story over again. The old man sighed so, it took him whole hours to tell it.
“I would be glad to be your son,” said Lubin, when the King had ended; “but I would like better to make you rid of your sorrow.”
“That is kind of you,” said the King. “Perhaps I will only crop one of your ears to-morrow.”
“When may one see the Princesses?” asked Lubin.
“They will be down to supper, presently,” answered the King; “then you shall see them, what there is left of them.”
Though it was reckoned that the next day Lubin would have to be drummed out of the palace with his ears cropped short, on this day he was to be treated like an honoured guest. When they went in to supper the King made him sit upon his right hand.
The twelve Princesses came in, their heads bowed down with weeping; all were fair, but ten of them were thin and pale, and wore white wimples over their heads like nuns; only the Princess Royal, who was the eldest, and Princess Lyneth, who was the youngest, had gold hair down to their feet, and were both so shiningly beautiful that the poor cobbler was altogether dazzled by the sight of them.
The King looked out of the window and said: “Heigho! There is the full moon beginning to rise.” Then they all said grace, and sat down.
But when the viands were handed round, all the Princesses sat weeping into their plates, and seemed unable to eat anything. For the pale and thin ones said: “To-night another of our sisters will lose her golden hair and her good looks, and be like us!” Therefore they wept.
And Lyneth said: “To-night, either my dear sister or myself will fall under the spell!” Therefore she wept more than the other ten. But the Princess Royal sat trembling, and crying:
“To-night I know that the curse is to fall upon me, and me only!” Therefore she wept more than all.
Lubin sat, and watched, and listened, with his head bent down over his golden plate. “Which of these two shall I try most to save?” he thought. “How shall I test them, so as to know? If I could only tell which of them was to lose her hair to-night, then I might do something.”
He saw that the youngest sister cried so much that she could eat nothing; but the Princess Royal, between her bursts of grief, picked up a morsel now and again from her plate, and ate it as though courage or despair reminded her that she must yet strive to live.
When the meat-courses were over, the King said to the Princesses: “I wish you would try to eat a little pudding! Here is a very promising youth, who is determined by all that is in him that harm shall happen to none of you to-night.”
“To-morrow he will be sent away with his ears cut short!” said Princess Lyneth; and her tears, as she spoke, ran down over the edge of her plate on to the cloth.
When supper was over the Princess Royal came up to Lubin, and said: “Do not be angry with my sister for what she said! It has only been too true of many who came before; to-night, unless you do better than them all, I shall lose my hair. It has been a wonder to me how I have been spared so long, seeing that I am the eldest, and, as some will have it, the fairest. Will you keep a good guard over me to-night, as though you knew for certain that I am to be the one this time to suffer?”
“I will guard you as my own life,” said Lubin, “if you will but do as I ask you.”
“Pledge yourself to me, then, in this cup!” said she, and lifted to his lips a bowl of red wine. Over the edge of it her eyes shone beautifully; he drank, gazing into their clear depth.
“Where am I to be for the night,” he asked of the King, “so that I may watch over the two Princesses?”
The King took him to a chamber with two further doors that opened out of it. “Here,” said the King, “you are to sleep, and in the inner rooms sleep the Princess Royal and the Princess Lyneth. There is no entrance or exit to them but through this; therefore, when you are here with your door bolted, one would suppose that you had them safe. Alas! ten other men have tried like you to ward off the harm, and have failed; and so to-day I have ten daughters with no looks left to them, and no hair upon their heads.”
As they were speaking, the two Princesses, with their sisters, came up to bed. And the pale ones, wearing their white wimples, came and kissed the golden hair of the other two, crying over it, and saying, “To one of you we are saying good-bye; to-morrow one of you will be like us!” Then they went away to their sleeping-place, and the Princess Royal and Lyneth kissed each other, and parted weeping, each into her own chamber.
“Watch well over us!” said Lyneth to Lubin, as she passed through. “Watch over me!” said the Princess Royal. And then the two doors were closed.
Lubin said to the King, “Could I now see the two Princesses, without being seen by them, it would help me to know what to do.”
“Come down to my cabinet,” said the King. “I have an invisible cap there, that I can lend you if you think you can do any good with it.” So they went; and the King reached down the cap from the wall and gave it to Lubin.
“Now, good-night, your Majesty,” said Lubin; “I will do for you all I can.”
The King answered, “Either you shall be my son-in-law to-morrow, or you shall have no ears. My wishes are with you that the former state may be yours.”
Lubin went into his chamber and closed and bolted the door; then he put the bed up against it. “Now, at least,” he thought, “there are three of us, and no more!” He put on his invisible cap, and going softly to the Princess Royal’s door, opened it and peeped in.
She stood up before her glass, combing out her long gold hair, and smiling proudly because of its beauty. She gathered it up by all its ends and kissed it; then, letting it fall, she went on combing as before.
Lubin went out, closing the door again; then he took off his cap and knocked, and presently he heard the Princess Royal saying, “Come in!” She was lying down upon the bed, squeezing her eyes with her hands.
“Princess,” he said, “I will watch over you like my own life, if you will do what I bid you. I am but a poor man, and the best that I can do is but poor; but I think, if you will, I can save your head from becoming as bare as a billiard ball.”
The Princess asked him how.
“You know,” said he, “that to-night something is to happen to one of you” (“To me?” said the Princess), “and all your hair will be stolen in such a way that nothing will ever make it grow again. See, here I have a pair of common scissors; let me but cut your hair close off all over your head, and then who can steal it? For a few months you will be a fright, but it can grow again.”
“I think you are a silly fellow!” said the Princess. “Better for you to get to bed, and have your ears cropped quietly in the morning! After all, it may be my sister’s turn to lose her hair, not mine. I shall not make myself a fright for a year of my life in order to save you.”
“If you think so poorly of my offer,” said Lubin, “I had better go to bed and sleep, and not trouble the Princess Lyneth at all with it.”
“No, indeed!” said the Princess Royal. “Go to bed and sleep, poor fool!” And, in truth, Lubin was feeling so sleepy that he could hardly keep open his eyes.
Then he left her, and, pulling the invisible cap once more over his head, crept softly into Princess Lyneth’s chamber.
She was standing before her glass with all her beautiful hair flowing down from shoulders to feet; and tears were falling fast out of her eyes as she kept drawing her hair together in her hands, kissing and moaning over it.
Then Lubin went out again, and, taking off his cap, knocked softly at the door.
“Come in!” said the Princess; and when he went in she was still standing before the glass weeping and moaning for her beautiful hair, that might never see another day. On the bed was lying a white wimple, ready for her to put on when her head was become bald.
“Princess,” said Lubin, very humbly, “will you help me to save your beautiful hair, by doing what I ask?”
“What is it that you ask?” said she.
“Only this,” he answered; “I am a poor man, and cannot do much for you, but only my best. To-night you or your sister must lose your hair; and we know that afterwards, if that happen, it can never grow again. Now, come, here I have a common pair of scissors; if I could cut your hair quite short, in a few months it will grow again, and there will be nothing to-night that the Fates can steal. Will you let me do this for you in true service?”
The Princess looked at him, and looked at her glass. “Oh, my hair, my hair!” she moaned. Then she said, “What matters it? You mean to be good to me, and a month is the most that my fortune can last. If I do not lose it to-night, I lose it at the next full moon!” Then she shut her eyes and bade him take off all he wished. When he had finished, she picked up the wimple and covered her head with it; but Lubin took up the long coil of gold hair and wound it round his heart.
He knelt down at her feet. “Princess,” he said, “be sure now that I can save you! Only I have one other request to make.”
“What is that?” asked the Princess.
He took off one of his red shoes with the pointed toes. “Will you, for a strange thing, put on this shoe and wear it all to-night in your sleep? And in the morning I will ask you for it again.”
The Princess promised faithfully that she would do so. Even before he had left the room she had put foot in it, promising that only he should take it off again.
Lubin’s eyes were shut down with sleep as he groped his way to bed; he lay down with the other red shoe upon his foot. “Watch for your fellow!” he said to it; and then his senses left him and he was fast asleep.
In the middle of the night, while he was deep in slumber, the red shoe caught him by the foot and yanked him out of bed; he woke up to find himself standing in the middle of the room, and there before him stood the two doors of the inner chambers open; through that of the Princess Royal came a light. He heard the Princess Lyneth getting very softly out of her bed, and presently she stood in the doorway, with her hands out and her eyes fast shut; and the red shoe was on one foot, and the white wimple on her head. Little tears were running down from under her closed lids; and she sighed continually in her sleep. “Have pity on me!” she said.
She crossed slowly from one door to the other; and Lubin, putting on his invisible cap, crept softly after her. The Princess Royal’s chamber was empty, but her glass was opened away from the wall like a door, and beyond lay a passage and steps. At the top of the steps was another door, and through it light came, and the sound of a soft voice singing.
Princess Lyneth, knowing nothing in her sleep, passed along the passage and up the steps till she came to the further doorway. Looking over her shoulder Lubin saw the Princess Royal sitting before a loom. In it lay a great cloth of gold, like a bride’s mantle, into which she was weaving the last threads of her skein. Close to her side lay a pair of great shears that shone like blue fire; and while she sang they opened and snapped, keeping time to the music she made.
Without ever turning her head the Princess Royal sat passing her fingers along the woof and crying:
“Sister, sister, bring me your hair,
Of our Mother’s beauty give me your share.
You must grow pale, while I must grow fair!”
And while she was so singing, Lyneth drew nearer and nearer, with her eyes fast shut, and the white wimple over her head. “Have pity on me!” she said, speaking in her sleep.
As soon as the Princess Royal heard that she laughed for joy, and catching up the great flaming shears, turned herself round to where Lyneth was standing. Then she opened the shears, and took hold of the wimple, and pulled it down.
All in a moment she was choking with rage, for horrible was the sight that met her eye. “Ah! cobbler’s son,” cried she, “you shall die for this! To-morrow not only shall you have your two ears cropped, but you shall die: do not be afraid!”
Lubin looked at her and smiled, knowing how little she thought that he heard her words. “Ah! Princess Royal,” he said to himself, “there is another who should now be afraid, but is not.”
Then for very spite the Princess began slapping her sister’s face. “Ah! wicked little sister,” she cried, “you have cheated me this time! But go back and wait till your hair has grown, and then my gown of gold shall be finished, although this once you have been too sly!” She threw down the shears, and drove her sister back by stair and passage, and through the looking-glass door at the other end.
Lubin following, stayed first to watch how by a secret spring the Princess Royal closed the mirror back into the wall; then he slipped on before, and taking off his cap, lay down on his bed pretending to be fast asleep. He heard Princess Lyneth return to her couch, and then came the Princess Royal and ground her teeth at him in the darkness.
Presently she, too, returned to her bed and lay down; and an hour after Lubin got up very softly and went into her chamber. There she lay asleep, with her beautiful hair all spread out upon the pillow; but Lubin had Princess Lyneth’s hair wound round his heart. He touched the secret spring, so that the mirror opened to him, and he passed through toward the little chamber where stood the loom.
There hung the cloth of gold, all but finished; beside it the shears opened and snapped, giving out a blue light. He took up the shears in his hand, and pulled down the gold web from the loom, and back he went, closing the mirror behind him.
Then he came to the Princess Royal as she lay asleep; and first he laid the cloth of gold over her, and saw how at once she became ten times more fair than she was by rights, as fair almost as her dead mother, lacking one part only. But her beauty did not win him to have pity on her.
“There can be thieves, it seems, in high places!” he said; and with that he opened the shears over her head and let them snap: then all her long hair came out by the roots, and she lay white and withered before his eyes, and as bald as a stone.
He gathered up all her hair with one hand, and the cloth of gold with the other, and went quietly away. Then, hiding the shears in a safe place, first he burnt the Princess Royal’s hair, till it became only a little heap of frizzled cinders; and after that he went to the chamber of the ten Princesses, whose hair and whose sweet youth had been stolen from them. There they lay all in a row in ten beds, with pale, gentle faces, asleep under their white wimples.
He went to the first, and, laying the cloth of hair over her, cried:
“Sister, sister, I bring you your hair,
Of your Mother’s beauty I give you your share.
One must grow pale, but you must grow fair!”
And as he said the words one part of the cloth unwove itself from the rest, and ran in ripples up the coverlet, and on to the pillow where the Princess’s head lay. There it coiled itself under the wimple, a great mass of shining gold, and the face of the Princess flushed warm and lovely in her sleep.
Lubin passed on to the next bed, and there uttered the same words; and again one part of the web came loose, and wound itself about the sleeper’s face, that grew warm and lovely at its touch. So he went from bed to bed, and when he came to the end there was no more of the web left.
He went back into his own chamber, laughing in his heart for joy, and there he dropped himself between the sheets and fell into a sound slumber.
He was wakened in the morning by the King knocking and trying to get into the room. Lubin pulled back the bed, and in came the King with a mournful countenance.
“Which of them is it?” said he.
“Go and ask them!” said Lubin.
The King went over and knocked at the Princess Royal’s door; the knocking opened her eyes. Lubin heard her suddenly utter a yell. “Ah! now she has looked at herself in the glass,” thought he.
“What is the matter?” called the King. “Come out and let me look at you!” But the Princess Royal would not come out. She ran quick to her mirror, and touched the secret spring. “At least,” she thought, “though fiends have robbed me of all my beauty, I can get it back by wearing the cloth woven from my sisters’ hair!” She skipped along the passage and up the steps to the little chamber where the loom was.
The King, getting no answer, went across and knocked at Lyneth’s door; she came out, all fresh in her beauty, but wearing upon her head the wimple. “Ah!” said the King dolorously; and he snipped his fingers at Lubin.
Lubin laughed out. “But look at her face!” he said. “Surely she is beautiful enough?”
The Princess lifted up her wimple, and showed the King her hair all short beneath. “That was my doing,” said Lubin; “’twas the way of saving it.”
“What a Dutchman’s remedy!” cried the King; and just then the Princess Royal’s door flew open.
She came out tearing herself to pieces with rage; her face was pale and thin, and her head was as bare as a billiard ball. “Have that clown of a cobbler killed!” she cried in a passion. “That fool, that numbskull, that cheat! Have him beheaded, I say!”
“No, no, I am only to have one of my ears cropped off!” said Lubin, looking hard at her all the time.
“I am not at all sure,” said the King. “You have done foolishly and badly, for not only have you let the disease go on, but your very remedy is as bad. Two heads of hair gone in one night! You had better have kept away. If the Princesses wish it, certainly I will have you put to death.”
“Will you not see the other Princesses too?” asked Lubin. “Let them decide between them whether I am to live or die!”
The King was just going to call for them, when suddenly the ten Princesses opened the door of their chamber, and stood before him shining like stars, with all their golden hair running down to their feet.
“Now put me to death!” said Lubin; and all the time he kept his eye upon the Princess Royal, who turned flame-coloured with rage.
“No, indeed!” cried the King. “Now you must be more than pardoned! You see, my dears,” he said to Lyneth and the Princess Royal, “though you have suffered, your sisters have recovered all that they lost. They are ten to two; and I can’t go back on arithmetic; I am bound to do even more than pardon him for this.”
“Indeed and indeed yes!” replied the Princess Lyneth. “He has done ten times more than we thought of asking him!” And she went from one to another of her recovered sisters, kissing their beautiful long hair for pure gladness of heart. But when she came to the Princess Royal, she kissed her many times, and stooped down her face upon her shoulder, and cried over her.
“Tell me now,” said the King to Lubin, “for you are a very wonderful fellow, how did it all happen?”
Lubin looked at the Princess Royal; after all he could not betray a lady’s secret. “I cannot tell you,” he said; “if I did, there would be a death in the family.”
“Well,” said the King, “however you may have done it, I own that you have earned your reward. You have only to choose now with which of my daughters you will become my son-in-law. From this day you shall be known as my heir.” He ranged all the Princesses in line, according to their ages. “Now choose,” said the King, “and choose well!”
Lubin went up to the Princess Royal. “I won’t have you!” he said, looking very hard at her; and the Princess Royal dropped her eyes. Then he went on to the next. “Sweet lady,” he said, “I dare not ask one with such beautiful hair as yours to marry me, who am a poor cobbler’s son.” But all the while he had the Princess Lyneth’s hair bound round his heart.
He went on from one to another, and of each he kissed the hand, saying that she was too fair to marry him.
He came to Lyneth, and knelt down at her feet. “Lyneth,” he said, “will you give the poor cobbler back his shoe?”
Lyneth, looking in his eyes, saw all that he meant. “And myself in it,” she said, “for you love me dearly!” She put her arms round his neck, and whispered, “You marry me because I am a fright, and have no hair!”
But Lubin said, “I have your hair all wound round my heart, making it warm!”
So they were married, and lived together more happily than cobbler and princess ever lived in the world before. And the cobbler dropped mending shoes: only his wife’s shoes he always mended. Very soon Lyneth’s hair grew again, more shining and beautiful than before; but the Princess Royal remained pale, and thin, and was bald to the day of her death.
Story DNA
Moral
True worth and love are found in character and kindness, not in outward beauty or status.
Plot Summary
Lubin, an honest cobbler, mends a magical red shoe for a mysterious traveller. After the traveller is murdered, Lubin uses the shoes to track down the thieves and return the stolen gold to the King. Impressed, the King tasks Lubin with solving the mystery of his daughters' fading beauty. Lubin discovers the Princess Royal is stealing her sisters' youth and hair using a magical loom. With the help of Princess Lyneth, Lubin exposes the Princess Royal, restores her sisters' beauty, and is offered a royal marriage. He chooses Lyneth, who had lost her hair, proving that true love and worth lie beyond superficial appearances.
Themes
Emotional Arc
struggle to triumph
Writing Style
Narrative Elements
Cultural Context
Reflects common themes and tropes of European fairy tales, including magical objects, royal families, and moral lessons about honesty and greed.
Plot Beats (13)
- Lubin, a poor cobbler, mends a red shoe for a mysterious traveller.
- Lubin witnesses the mended shoe dancing by itself at midnight and charges the traveller a gold piece for the 'worry and temptation'.
- The traveller reveals his shoes are magical, leading him to stolen gold, and drops gold pieces into them before departing.
- Lubin later finds the traveller murdered and his money stolen; he uses the shoes to track the robbers.
- The shoes lead Lubin and the dead man to a fortified house where three fiddlers (the robbers) are quarreling over the gold.
- Lubin traps the robbers, and the dead man's shoes lead him to the stolen gold, which he returns to the King.
- The King, impressed, offers Lubin a reward and a challenge: to discover why his twelve daughters' hair and youth are fading.
- Lubin discovers a secret passage and a magical loom where the Princess Royal weaves her sisters' stolen hair into a cloth of gold to maintain her own beauty.
- Lubin enlists the help of Princess Lyneth, who is also suffering, to set a trap for the Princess Royal.
- Lubin uses magical shears to cut the Princess Royal's hair and then uses the cloth of hair to restore beauty and youth to the ten suffering princesses.
- The King discovers the Princess Royal's baldness and the restored beauty of the other ten princesses.
- Lubin is vindicated and offered a choice of wives from the King's daughters.
- Lubin chooses Princess Lyneth, who had lost her hair, and they marry and live happily, while the Princess Royal remains bald.
Characters
Lubin ★ protagonist
Of average height and build, likely lean from physical labor. His hands would be calloused from cobbling. His face is probably earnest and often thoughtful.
Attire: Simple, practical working clothes of a cobbler: a sturdy linen or wool tunic, possibly an apron, and practical trousers, all in muted, earthy tones. His own shoes would be well-worn but expertly mended.
Wants: To escape poverty, to earn an honest living, and later, to solve the mystery of the dancing shoes and help the Princesses.
Flaw: Initially, his poverty and lack of worldly experience. He can be a bit naive about the dangers of the world, but learns quickly.
Transforms from a struggling village cobbler to a clever hero who solves a royal mystery, earns a fortune, and marries a princess, becoming an heir to a kingdom.
Honest, observant, clever, resourceful, kind-hearted, and persistent. He is not easily fooled and possesses a strong moral compass.
Image Prompt & Upload
A young man standing, facing forward, full body visible from head to toe. He has short, practical dark brown hair, earnest brown eyes, and a lean, strong build. He wears a simple, practical grey linen tunic, dark brown trousers, and a well-worn leather apron tied at his waist. His hands are calloused, and he holds a small cobbler's hammer. He has a thoughtful, observant expression. Plain white background, full body visible head to toe, single figure, no watermark, no text, no signature.
The Traveller ◆ supporting
A man of indeterminate age, with a lean, weathered appearance suggesting a life on the road. His movements are quick and somewhat eccentric.
Attire: Practical, durable traveling clothes, but with a distinctive flair. His most notable items are his long, red, pointed shoes. His other clothing would be functional, perhaps a cloak or tunic in muted colors, but well-made.
Wants: To travel, to protect his wealth, and to enjoy life. He seems to be testing Lubin's character.
Flaw: His overconfidence in his magical shoes, which ultimately leads to his demise when he is robbed and killed.
Serves as a catalyst for Lubin's journey, introducing him to magic and wealth. His death provides Lubin with the means to begin his own adventure.
Mysterious, eccentric, wise, wealthy, and somewhat boastful about his magical shoes. He is also fair and recognizes honesty.
Image Prompt & Upload
A middle-aged man standing, facing forward, full body visible from head to toe. He has a lean, weathered face with sharp eyes and a short, practical dark beard. He wears a sturdy, dark green traveling cloak over a simple brown tunic and trousers. His most distinctive feature is a pair of long, bright red shoes with pointed toes. He carries a large, heavy leather pouch at his hip. He has a confident, slightly mysterious expression. Plain white background, full body visible head to toe, single figure, no watermark, no text, no signature.
The King ◆ supporting
An older man, likely with a regal but perhaps weary bearing due to his long-standing problem with his daughters. He would be of noble stature.
Attire: Royal attire, but perhaps slightly subdued due to his ongoing distress. A rich velvet robe in deep blue or crimson, embroidered with gold, over fine linen. A simple gold crown or circlet.
Wants: To restore his daughters' beauty and health, and to find a suitable heir and husband for one of them.
Flaw: His inability to solve his daughters' mysterious illness, and his initial skepticism towards Lubin's unconventional methods.
Begins as a worried and somewhat helpless ruler, but through Lubin's intervention, he finds a solution to his family's problem and gains a wise heir.
Concerned, loving (towards his daughters), just, a bit exasperated, and ultimately grateful. He is bound by his word and by logic.
Image Prompt & Upload
An elderly man standing, facing forward, full body visible from head to toe. He has a kind but worried face, with a neatly trimmed white beard and white hair. He wears a rich, deep blue velvet robe with gold embroidery, over a fine white linen tunic. A simple, elegant gold circlet rests on his head. He holds his hands clasped in front of him, a look of concern on his face. Plain white background, full body visible head to toe, single figure, no watermark, no text, no signature.
Princess Lyneth ◆ supporting
Initially pale and thin with short hair due to the magical illness. After Lubin's intervention, she regains her warmth and beauty, though her hair is still short. She is graceful and gentle.
Attire: Fine, modest gowns befitting a princess, perhaps in soft, muted colors. She wears a white wimple to cover her short hair. Later, she would wear more elaborate gowns as Lubin's wife.
Wants: To be free from the magical illness and to find true love and happiness.
Flaw: Her initial physical affliction and the vulnerability it brings.
Transforms from an ailing, humble princess to a radiant, beloved wife and queen, regaining her beauty and finding true happiness with Lubin.
Gentle, kind, understanding, humble, and loving. She is not vain and appreciates Lubin for his character.
Image Prompt & Upload
A young woman standing, facing forward, full body visible from head to toe. She has a gentle, kind face with soft brown eyes and a warm complexion. Her short, dark brown hair is neatly styled beneath a simple white linen wimple. She wears a modest, flowing gown of pale blue linen, with delicate silver embroidery at the cuffs. She has a serene and loving expression. Plain white background, full body visible head to toe, single figure, no watermark, no text, no signature.
The Princess Royal ⚔ antagonist
Initially described as having great beauty and long golden hair. After Lubin's intervention, she becomes pale, thin, and bald, remaining so until her death. She is physically striking, even in her diminished state.
Attire: Elaborate and luxurious gowns, likely in rich colors, reflecting her vanity and status. She would wear the finest silks and jewels. After her transformation, she might still wear fine clothes, but they would contrast with her altered appearance.
Wants: To maintain her beauty and status, and to punish anyone who threatens them.
Flaw: Her extreme vanity and self-absorption, which lead to her downfall and inability to accept her changed appearance.
Begins as a beautiful but cruel princess, secretly harming her sisters. Her vanity leads to her permanent baldness and loss of beauty, serving as a cautionary tale.
Vain, proud, selfish, cruel, and prone to extreme rage. She values her beauty above all else and is unforgiving.
Image Prompt & Upload
A young woman standing, facing forward, full body visible from head to toe. She has a pale, thin face with sharp, angry blue eyes. Her head is completely bald. She wears a luxurious, deep crimson silk gown with intricate gold embroidery, and a heavy gold necklace. Her posture is rigid and furious, her hands clenched at her sides. She has a scowling, enraged expression. Plain white background, full body visible head to toe, single figure, no watermark, no text, no signature.
Locations
Lubin's Cobbler Shop
A small, humble shop with a window-bench where Lubin works. It is filled with shoe-leather and tools. Later, a rushlight illuminates it at night.
Mood: Humble, industrious, later mysterious and a bit eerie when the shoe dances.
Lubin mends the magical red shoe, witnesses its midnight dance, and receives a gold piece from the traveler.
Image Prompt & Upload
A small, rustic German cobbler's workshop interior. A worn wooden window-bench is bathed in the cool, soft light of early morning, revealing piles of leather scraps and various hand tools. A single rushlight flickers on a rough-hewn timber wall, casting long shadows across the uneven wooden floorboards. In the center of the room, a single red shoe with a pointed toe rests on the floor. no border, no frame, no watermark, no text, no signature, edge-to-edge illustration.
The Road Through the Wood
A part of the road that leads through a dense wood, where it grows dark even in the season of long days. A ditch runs alongside the road.
Mood: Foreboding, dangerous, desolate.
Lubin discovers the murdered traveler and the magical red shoes in the ditch.
Image Prompt & Upload
A narrow, winding dirt road cuts through a dense, ancient European forest at dusk. Tall, gnarled oak and beech trees with dark, rough bark line the path, their canopies interlocking to form a shadowy tunnel. On one side, a deep, overgrown ditch is partially obscured by ferns and brambles. The last vestiges of golden hour light filter weakly through the thick foliage, creating a somber, muted green and brown palette. no border, no frame, no watermark, no text, no signature, edge-to-edge illustration.
The King's Palace - Princesses' Chambers
A grand, opulent palace, specifically the chambers where the twelve princesses sleep in individual beds. The rooms are described with white wimples, and later, a secret chamber with a loom.
Mood: Regal, mysterious, later tense and joyful.
Lubin restores the princesses' hair, the King discovers the change, and Lubin chooses Lyneth.
Image Prompt & Upload
The interior of a grand, late medieval European palace chamber, softly lit by moonlight streaming through tall, arched windows. Twelve ornate, four-poster beds with white linen and wimples are arranged symmetrically on a polished stone floor. Walls are adorned with rich tapestries depicting heraldic scenes, and heavy velvet curtains frame the windows. The air is still and hushed, creating a sense of quiet majesty. no border, no frame, no watermark, no text, no signature, edge-to-edge illustration.
