Once, a very long time ago, there was an old shoemaker by the name of Holbrook, who had very little money. Everyday, he would sell his shoes from his small shop in Diagon Alley, but everyday he seemed to get poorer and poorer. Until one day, he had no money left to buy leather to make his shoes. He bought his last leather and put it in a drawer in his workroom hoping that he would get enough money to add to it soon. He spent days trying to sell his remaining shoes, but then came the day when he had only enough leather to make one final pair.
That night, he cut the leather to size and left it on his workbench, ready to make his last pair of shoes in the morning. As he said goodbye to his last customer, who didn’t buy a single pair, and closed up his shop, he found himself asking the empty room for some help. With a sigh, he went upstairs to join his wife.
The next morning, when the shoemaker returned to his workbench, he found something incredible. On the bench where the leather had been, sat the most beautiful pair of shoes he’d ever seen, shining red in the sunlight. He ran forward to look at them thinking that he couldn’t have made anything so beautiful himself!
That morning, a rich wizard walked past the shop. He saw the pair of shoes through the window and liked them so much that he was willing to pay twice the amount of Galleons the shoemaker was asking for them. He promised to tell his friends about the shop if he could give him another pair of shoes to match his green dress robes the next day.
The shoemaker agreed and went out to buy more leather for the green pair of shoes. He sketched how he wanted the shoes to look and cut the leather ready to be put together in the morning. He went to bed hopeful that the shoes he made would be good enough for the wizard.
The next morning he found that the shoes had been made for him, with black ribbon laces and silver buckles which he was certain he hadn’t bought. When the wizard returned he was so happy with his shoes that he gave the shoemaker all of the money in his purse and promised to return the next day with his friends.
Now the shoemaker had enough money to buy leather for four more pairs of shoes. He cut them out and left them on his workbench and in the morning, to his amazement, the leather had been stitched into more beautiful pairs of shoes. He sold the shoes and had enough money for eight more pairs of shoes.
For some time, the shoemaker carried on in this way, buying the leather and selling the magical shoes for more and more money. Very soon, the shoemaker and his shop became famous and rich witches and wizards came from all over the country to buy his shoes.
One day, as the shoemaker said goodbye to the crowd of customers at closing time, he said to his wife, “We should find out who is doing us this favour and thank them. Think how poor we once were and how well we’re doing now. Let’s stay tonight and see who’s making these shoes.”
So instead of going to bed that night, the shoemaker and his wife hid behind the door of the workroom and waited.
At midnight, as the old wooden clock on the wall chimed, two small elves with large eyes and bat-like ears clambered onto the table. They were dressed in tattered rags which looked as if they were made from old pillowcases. They ran from one side of the bench to the other, picking up the leather and seeing what work they had to do. Then they picked up the shoemaker’s tools and began to put the shoes together. As they worked, they sang:
Fit for magic folk to choose,
Thread the needle, make a stitch,
Make the Mr. Cobbler rich!”
Long before the sun rose, the elves finished their work and ran away.
The shoemaker and his wife got up late the next morning and talked about what they had seen the night before.
“Think how cold those little creatures looked,” the wife said over breakfast, “Their clothes were rags and their feet were bare! It made me shiver just to look at them. Don’t you think we should repay them for everything they’ve done for us?”
The shoemaker agreed and he and his wife set to work immediately. They created the most beautiful sets of dress robes you can imagine and pairs of socks and shoes to match. Then they shrank them to fit the tiny elves and left them on the workbench for the elves to find.
At midnight, the elves clambered back onto the workbench ready to work. At first, they looked puzzled to find clothes on the bench instead of leather, but suddenly they realized that the clothes were a present to them. With cries of happiness, they pulled on the little outfits and began to dance. As they danced, they sang:
The shoemaker has set us free,
He has no need for more house elves,
Now leave him to stock his shelves.”
When they finished dancing, they ran out of the door and across the road, never to return to the shop again. The shoemaker was sad to see them go but thankful for all that they had done. And they seemed to have left some of their magic behind for he and his wife were lucky for the rest of their lives.
ex post facto
And from that day, House-Elves have often visited wizards in need. Some families have kept them, refusing to set them free as the little elves seem to enjoy their work so much. Wizards ask the elves to help and they do so without question, and nothing but clothes will prove to them that a wizard can survive without their help.