The next day the wife said to her husband: “The little men have made us rich, and we must show them how grateful we are. They must be almost frozen, running about with nothing on. I’ll tell you what we’ll do; I will make them little shirts, and coats, and vests, and trousers, and knit them stockings, and you shall make each of them a little pair of shoes.”
The shoemaker was pleased with this plan, and on Christmas Eve, when everything was ready, they laid out the presents on the table instead of the usual work, and hid themselves to see how the little men would behave.
At midnight they came bounding in, and were about to set to work; but there was no leather to be seen, only these charming little clothes. At first they were astonished, and [[37]]then perfectly delighted. With the greatest speed they put on and smoothed down the pretty clothes, singing,
“Now we are boys so fine to see,
Why should we longer cobblers be?”
Then they danced and skipped, and leaped over chairs and benches. At last they danced out at the door. From this time on they came no more; but the shoemaker prospered as long as he lived, and succeeded in all his undertakings. [[38]]
THE KING OF THE CATS
Many years ago there lived in the north of Scotland, in a very lonely house, far from all other houses, two young men who were brothers. An old woman used to do their cooking, and there was no one else, unless we count her cat and their dogs, within miles of them.