THE RED SHOES
'Cut not off my head!' said Karen; 'for then I could not live to repent of my sin; but cut off my feet with the red shoes.' And then she confessed to him all her sin, and the headsman cut off her feet with the red shoes on them; but even after this the shoes still danced away with those little feet over the fields, and into the deep forests.
And the headsman made her a pair of wooden feet and hewed down some boughs to serve her as crutches, and he taught her the psalm which is always repeated by criminals, and she kissed the hand that had guided the axe, and went her way over the heath. 'Now I have certainly suffered quite enough through the red shoes,' thought Karen, 'I will go to church and let people see me once more!' and she went as fast as she could to the church-porch, but as she approached it, the red shoes danced before her and she was frightened and turned her back.
All that week through she endured the keenest anguish and shed many bitter tears; however, when Sunday came, she said to herself, 'Well, I must have suffered and striven enough by this time, I dare say I am quite as good as many of those who are holding their heads so high in church.' So she took courage and went there, but she had not passed the churchyard gate before she saw the red shoes again dancing before her, and in great terror she again turned back, and more deeply than ever bewailed her sin.
She then went to the pastor's house, and begged that some employment might be given her, promising to work diligently and do all she could; she did not wish for any wages, she said, she only wanted a roof to shelter her, and to dwell with good people. And the pastor's wife had pity on her, and took her into her service. And Karen was grateful and industrious.
Every evening she sat silently listening to the pastor, while
