Fairy tale · Honesty · Craft
The Shoemaker's Honest Mistake
He sold the queen a pair of shoes with a flaw only he can see.
- Age range
- Ages 6-10
- Reading time
- 8 minutes
- Category
- Fairy tales
What happens
A shoemaker realizes, days after the sale, that the queen's new boots have a hidden fault. Nobody will ever know. Getting to the palace to say so is harder than making the boots was.
Read the opening
Listen to this story
The boots were the best work of his life. Everyone said so, including the queen, who wore them out of the shop and down the entire length of the market so that people would look.
It was three days later, sweeping up, that Emrys found the offcut of leather and understood what he had done. The left boot had been lined with the weaker hide. It would hold for a season. Then it would split, probably on a stair.
Nobody knew. Nobody could know. He sat down on the floor of his shop among the sweepings and knew, with complete misery, exactly what he was going to have to do.
The rest of the story is written around your child — their name, their age, and the hero they describe.
What if your child were the hero?
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Why this one is worth your time
- Honesty when there is a real cost, which is the only version worth teaching.
- Shows craftsmanship and pride in work — uncommon and valuable for this age.
- Ends with repair rather than punishment.
Talk about it afterward
- Why didn't Emrys just say nothing?
- Has telling the truth ever been hard for you? What happened?
What if your child were the hero?