Read a modern re-telling of "The Elves and the Shoemaker" and you might conclude it's a tale in praise of gratitude: "Gratitude is noble. If someone does you a kind turn, be nice in return."
But that was not the takeaway message for earlier audiences of this tale, told to people with a very different, supernatural worldview. Back when audiences sort-of-really did believe in fairies, "The Elves and the Shoemaker" category of tales offered a warning: Do not, whatever you do, make clothes for fairies. DO NOT DABBLE IN ELF-CRAFT. DO NOT ENCOURAGE HOBGOBLINS INTO YOUR HOME.
Older, darker versions of this fairytale feature evil intruders who poke out the shoemaker's eye with an awl-a tool for punching holes in leather.
In this re-visioning, set in a fairytale land blanketed with snow, shoemaker Jobst Schuster must learn for himself whether the elves have come to his workshop for good... or for evil.
