The Elves and the Shoemaker
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The Elves and the Shoemaker, or conversely The Shoemaker and the Elves, (German Der Schuhmacher und die Heinzelmännchen) is an often copied and remade story about a poor shoemaker who receives help from Heinzelmännchen (more correctly brownies, but translated as elves by the first translator).
The theme is a well-known one throughout European folklore. There are many warning stories about what should happen if the recipient of faerie help should offer clothes to his or her benefactor. According to the tales, pixies and faeries alike consider clothing to be a form of bondage, and see any kind offers or new clothes as a way to enslave the faerie.
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