“The beautiful girl had not gone very far away, and she came every day to see how Smat prospered in making the second shoe. She was watching him when the king’s officers came for the shoe, and when she saw them she began to weep. But Smat looked as cheerful as ever, and even began to whistle when the officers knocked at the door.
“‘We are in a fix,’ said he, ‘but we’ll get out of it. Lend me the shoe I made for you. I’ll send that to the king and then get it back again.’
“The girl tried to take the shoe from her foot, but nothing would move it. ‘That is a sign,’ said Smat, ‘that it ought not to come off. I’ll just go to the king myself and tell him the facts in the case. That is the best way.’
“So he gathered the awl and the axe and the shoemaker’s wax, and the scraps of leather, and bundled them together. Then he told the officers that he would go with them and carry the shoe himself, so as to be sure that it came safely into the king’s hands. They went toward the palace, and Smat noticed, as they went along, that it grew darker and darker as they came nearer to the palace. The officers seemed to notice it too. By the time they reached the palace, it was so dark that Smat had great trouble in keeping up with the officers.
“There was great commotion in the palace. Nobody had ever seen it so dark before except just at the stroke of midnight, when the shadows grow thick and heavy and run together and over everything.
“Now, old King Stuff was a sort of magician himself (as, indeed, he had to be in those times, in order to manage a kingdom properly), and as soon as he saw the great darkness coming on at the wrong time of day, he thought at once of the prophecy in regard to the man who made but one shoe. So he hustled and bustled around the palace, calling for the officers he had sent after the shoe. But nobody had seen them return before the dark began to fall, and after that it was impossible to see them.
“In the midst of it all, the officers, followed by Smat, stumbled into the palace and went groping about from room to room hunting for old King Stuff and his ministers. At last, they heard him grumbling and growling, and felt their way toward him.
“‘The shoe! the shoe!’ cried King Stuff, when the officers had made themselves known.
“‘I have something that will answer just as well,’ said Smat.
“‘The shoe! give me the shoe!’ cried the king.