THE COBBLER AND THE EL YES was a cobbler who lived with his wife in the Forest of Thuringia, in Germany, where all the countryfolk wore wooden shoes. As Hans made only leather shoes he had a hard task to get a living. Things went from bad to worse, and at last he had nothing left in the house but a bit of leather scarcely large enough to make one pair of shoes. Hans cut the leather out very carefully, and went to bed. When he came down in the morningoh. wonder of wonders I-there, on the board, were the shoes already made. And a customer came in and bought them at a good price, and with the money Hans got some food and also purchased a larger piece of leather. He cut this out into the stuff for two pairs of shoes, and in the morning he found the two pairs made, and he sold them in the course of the day. Then he purchased leather enough for four pairs of shoes, and cut them out, and in the morning there were four pairs made. So it went on. No matter how many pairs he cut out overnight, they were all made for him the next day. And the end of it all was that he became a very prosperous man. Just before Christmas Hans and his wife sat up to see who it .was who made
the shoes, and at midnight in jumped two wee men. They at once squatted down on the board and took up the pieces of leather, and sewed away so quickly that Hans and his wife could not follow the movements of their hands. When aU the work was done the two wee men went quietly away. The next morning Hans's wife said: " Now that the two wee men have made us rich we must do something for them. I have it! I will make them some clothes, and you must make them some shoes." So the next night Hans and his wife put the clothes and shoes on the board for the little creatures, and watched to see what they would do. The two wee men were at first astonished to find that no leather had been cut for them to w.ork on. Then they saw the clothes and shoes, and put them on, and danced merrily about the room, singing:
HANS STUMPIE
Neat and natty boys are we; Cobbler's elves no more we'll be.
They hopped over the chairs, the) hopped over the tables, and at last they hopped out of the window, and they never came back. But Hans alwavs prospered in his work, and he and his wife lived in ease and happiness all the rest of their lives.
HOW GOTHAM GOT A BAD NAME has heard of the Wise Fools of Gotham. But perhaps we do not know who these men were, or where Gotham is, or exactly what is meant by calling them "Wise Fools." This is the story. Gotham is a village in Nottinghamshire, and one day his Majesty King John of England, marching toward the town of Nottingham, commanded that his retinue should pass through Gotham meadow. Now, it was popularly thought that any land over which the King passed became ever after a public road; so the men of Gotham, who valued their meadow, took steps to prevent King John from crossing that way. The King, angered by their proceedings, sent his officers to conduct an inquiry in the village. When the officers arrived they found some of the men shouting and making a tremendous din over a pond. These noisy fellows had an eel on a string, and were trying, so they said, to drown it in the pond 1 Others were found rolling EVERYBODY
cheeses down the road, glvmg them a push and letting them bowl along of their own accord. They were sending their cheeses, they said, to Nottingham market. Others, in a tremendous hurry, were dragging carts and wagons up a hill. They were going to shade a wood, they said, from the hot rays of the Sun. And others were building a hedge round a bush on which a cuckoo had se.ttled to prevent the bird from flying away. The officers went away half-amused and half-disgusted, and reported that Gotham was a village of fools utterly beneath the King's notice. But others, who knew more of the story, said that there were some very wise fools in Gotham, and so the phrase came to signify folly which was assumed for a wise purpose. It was really a compliment to Gotham, not a sneer. A charming old English writer, named Thomas Fuller, says: "Gotham doth breed as wise people, as ~~y ,,;:hich causelessly laugh at the slmphclty.
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