This fairytale had three parts to it, but they all went together. First, there was a poor shoemaker who only had enough leather for one more shoe. After leaving out the leather overnight, he woke to find a pair of shoes perfectly made. Since a customer paid extra for them, the shoemaker was able to buy enough leather for 2 more shoes. The mysterious pattern continued with the shoes being made perfectly at night. Eventually the shoemaker became wealthy enough to pay back the mysterious nighttime shoemakers back by making clothes and shoes for them. After his wife and him stay up all night to find the two small, naked men get the clothes, they never saw them again. The second part of the story holds similar mysterious elves, but this story is about a servant girl who receives a letter from elves asking her to hold a child for a Christening. The elves made her so happy at the Christening that they tricked her into staying "3 days" with them. When she finally is able to return hime, she finds out that her master is dead because it actually had been 7 years! The third part of this fairytale is about a child that is taken by elves and exchanged for a changeling. To get the child back, the people have to boil an egg shell over water to make the changeling laugh.
This fairytale would be tricky to teach, but I thought that it could be taught during St. Patrick's Day celebrations after or before the "leprechaun" came to the classroom to mess up the room.
I also thought a fun activity would be during Christmas to compare these elves to the "Elf on Shelf," and students could make and leave out clothes for the elves.
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