"I suppose they are of shiny leather?" asked the old lady. How beautiful they were! and the shoemaker said that they had been made for a count's daughter, but that they had not fitted her. Amongst the shoes stood a pair of red ones, like those which the princess had worn. It all looked very lovely, but the old lady could not see very well, and therefore did not get much pleasure out of it. The rich shoemaker in the town took the measure of her little foot in his own room, in which there stood great glass cases full of pretty shoes and white slippers. Karen was now old enough to be confirmed she received some new clothes, and she was also to have some new shoes. There is really nothing in the world that can be compared to red shoes! She wore neither a train nor a golden crown, but beautiful red morocco shoes they were indeed much finer than those which the shoemaker's wife had sewn for little Karen.
All the people, amongst them Karen too, streamed towards the castle, where the little princess, in fine white clothes, stood before the window and allowed herself to be stared at. One day the Queen was travelling through that part of the country, and had her little daughter, who was a princess, with her. But the mirror told her, "You are more than pretty - you are beautiful."
Karen herself was dressed very neatly and cleanly she was taught to read and to sew, and people said that she was pretty. Karen believed that this was all on account of the red shoes, but the old lady thought them hideous, and so they were burnt. Just then a large old carriage came by, and in it sat an old lady she looked at the little girl, and taking pity on her, said to the clergyman, "Look here, if you will give me the little girl, I will take care of her." They were certainly not suitable for mourning but she had no others, and so she put her bare feet into them and walked behind the humble coffin. Karen received the shoes and wore them for the first time on the day of her mother's funeral. They were clumsy, but she meant well, for they were intended for the little girl, whose name was Karen. In the middle of the village lived an old shoemaker's wife she sat down and made, as well as she could, a pair of little shoes out of some old pieces of red cloth. But in summer time she was obliged to go barefooted because she was poor, and in winter she had to wear large wooden shoes, so that her little instep grew quite red. Once upon a time there was little girl, pretty and dainty.
0 kommentar(er)
