A/N: I don't own Hetalia or any of its characters, or any fairytale I use. Dedicated to all of my patient readers~! And to Lumoa, who wanted Poland to be the hero!
Guide
Li = Lithuania
Po = Poland
A = America
The Elves and the Shoemaker
I'm… I'm determined to keep going! This story should be shorter, and so… I will begin work on the next one this same day, I think!
A: Hey, hey! The hero is finally back in a story! What took so long, dude?
Sorry… I guess I just hadn't been able to think of any good stories for you, America. But don't worry! I think you'll like this one!
Po: … Yeah? And, like, what about me, huh?
Li: P-Poland! Don't say things like that, you're being rude!
Haha, I don't mind, Lithuania. Now, to the story!
Once upon a time, there was a shoemaker named Toris who lived in a small village. He and his wife Felisha were quite poor indeed.
Po: W-what? But I, like, need money to buy fabulous outfits and stuff!
Don't be such a drama queen, Poland…
Anyway, the last pair of shoes Toris the shoemaker had sold were a pair of boots, to a man named Eli who owned a cat. However, on this night, he had only enough leather left to make one pair of shoes.
"Can't you, like, work any faster?" Felisha asked her husband worriedly.
Toris smiled weakly.
"I could," he told her. "I could cut quicker and make more careless stitches. But I like to do my very best work for our customers, and that takes some time."
The two stared at the very small amount of leather left and sighed.
"What will we do tomorrow?" Felisha asked. "When there's, like, no more shoes for us to sell?"
"Well… Let's just worry about that tomorrow."
So Toris left the cut-out shoe pieces on his workbench that night and went to sleep.
"Goodnight, dear. I'm sorry we're so poor," he apologized.
"… No," Felisha said at last, in a rare moment of kindness.
Po: HEY!
Sorry, Poland… Anyway!
"You can, like, only do your best, Toris."
That night, something amazing happened! For when Toris and Felisha went out into the workshop the next morning, there stood a pair of perfect shoes! The stitches were tiny and perfect, the workmanship superb.
"Who could have made them?" the shoemaker wondered.
The shoes sold for enough money that Toris was able to get leather for two pairs of shoes this time! And when he left the cut leather out on his workbench, the pairs of shoes were once again miraculously finished by sunrise!
A: … The hero has not yet appeared… Hey! Where the heck am I?
You'll see, soon enough…
Continuing… So the shoemaker was able to make his living, and people came from all around to buy the amazing shoes! In fact, the shoemaker and his wife were almost rich!
Po: … Whew! New outfits, like, here I come!
Li: … Poland…
However… Toris was thinking.
"Wouldn't you like to know who's making these shoes?" he asked Felisha.
So the two of them sat out that night, and waited.
Just at the stroke of midnight, a tiny little blond elf poked his head out from behind the clock. After a tilt of his tiny head and a blink of his blue, blue eyes, the elf hopped down to the workbench, and it was then that Toris and Felisha saw that the tiny elf hadn't a stitch of clothing on him!
Po: Haha, he's, like, naked?
A: … I'm feeling kind of… Exposed, here.
Sorry, America…
Um… where was I…? Elf… Clock… Clothing… Ah! Here we are!
And as the couple watched, fascinated, the tiny elf began to sew and hammer and lace and polish. However, it was a cold night, only a few days from Christmas, and even inside, it was mighty cold. So the poor little elf was nearly blue from head to toe, and had to keep stomping his little feet and blowing air onto his tiny hands.
"Oh my gosh!" Felisha gasped. "The poor little guy!"
Toris nodded solemnly.
"After everything he's done for us, we ought to give him a thank you present. And I know just what."
A: Oh! I bet I know what it is!
So the very next night, Christmas Eve, the tiny blond elf crawled out of his hiding spot and down to the workbench. However, he found no shoes to cobble. After looking around in confusion, his eyes landed on a pile of bright (and fashionable!) clothes. A shirt, some pants, mittens, a hat… And a tiny, tiny pair of leather boots.
The elf's eyes lit up, and he immediately put on the clothes.
"Just for me!" the elf cried happily, grinning. "Clothes, for me! No more cobbling!"
And he bustled off in his warm clothes, dancing down the snowy Christmas streets.
Felisha laughed from where she and her husband were hiding.
"Well, it looks like you're totally not gonna get any help from that little guy anymore!"
"No… But I'll just have to do my best all on my own," Toris replied.
And he did.
A: Hey, that was actually pretty sweet! And I was the hero!
That's right, you saved them from starvation! Nice job!
Po: And I totally sewed the little clothes! So, like, I'm the hero too!
Li: … Yeah. I guess we were all heroes!
Well, it was short and sweet and everyone lived happily ever after!
The End
