The next morning the old woman went down to the river to fetch a pitcher of water, and on her way she observed that her shoes were very muddy.
“I will wash them in the river,” she thought, “and then my husband will see what care I take of them—”
No sooner said than done. The shoes were put in the water,—but what was her astonishment, and her fright too, when she saw them swimming away as fast as they could go! The fact is that the transformed ducks no sooner found themselves in the water than they felt compelled to swim—to swim, as it were, for life and death. And on they went, and on and on, quite heedless of the poor old woman who sat down on the shore and cried bitterly. Her shoes had now gone away so far that they looked to her no bigger than bits of floating cork; and while she was lamenting and crying, her husband came suddenly upon her. When he was informed of what happened he gave her a good beating for letting the shoes go so easily, and then he starved her all day to make up (as he said) for the price of them. Ah! what a kind man he was!
Meanwhile the shoes went sailing away, and never once stopped to inquire where they were going, till suddenly they struck against some obstacle in the water. It was the blade of an oar, and they immediately saw that they were close to a small rowing-boat, in which sat two children,—a girl of about ten or eleven years of age, and her brother, a sturdy lad some five or six years older. The little girl leaned over the side of the boat to see what had happened to the oar, and exclaimed,—
“Oh, look! A pair of shoes! A pair of wooden shoes! What a funny thing to find a pair of shoes in the sea!”
Laughing merrily, she reached out her hand, and caught the shoes, one after the other, and lifted them into the boat.
“They are actually quite new,” said her brother, examining them with curiosity. “And I do believe they will just fit you. Try them on—” And he put one on his sister’s little foot. It fitted beautifully, so she put on the other, and then both children laughed aloud,—clear ringing laughter, like the tinkling of silver bells in a sledge.
“This is a good day’s fishing!” exclaimed the little girl. “Wooden shoes are not exactly pretty, but they are strong and useful, and these will save mother buying me a new pair. They come at the right time, too, for mine are worn into holes!”
As soon as the children landed, they ran home to tell their adventure. Their home was a hut on the sea-shore, and a very poor hut it was, for their father was only a fisherman, and they, with their mother, helped him to earn a living by making and mending the nets. The good mother smiled when she saw her little daughter return—she looked so bright and happy, and so proud of her wooden shoes.
“It is a lucky fishing,” she said—“and I will say nothing to spoil your pleasure, my little one; though your father told me to give you and Denis a scolding—”