The Red Shoes

Karen was a poor girl adopted by a rich old lady after her mother died. She saw a princess wearing red shoes and longed for a pair. Her adoptive mother bought her red shoes, not knowing they were the wrong color for church. Karen wore them to communion anyway, unable to resist their allure.

When the church service ended, the shoes began to dance on their own. Karen could not stop. She danced through fields and over mountains, day and night. An angel appeared and condemned her to dance until she died. In desperation, she begged the executioner to chop off her feet. He did so, and the shoes danced away with her feet still inside. Karen repented and found peace in her heart, though her life ended shortly after.