Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Karen.
She lived with her sick mother.
One day, her mother died of illness, leaving Karen alone.
""Oh, mother. How could I live all alone!""
At her mother's funeral, Karen was weeping alone.
Then a carriage passed by, and in it sat a rich old lady.
The old lady took pity on Karen, and said to the clergyman.
""Will you please let me take care of this poor girl?""
Karen came to live with the rich old lady.
Karen lived very happily with her, studying a lot, learned sewing, and so on.
The life with the rich old lady was so wonderful
that her poor and miserable old life seemed like a bad dream to hers.
One day, the Queen was visiting the town with her princess daughter.
Karen went to see them, to find the princess with a pair of bright red beautiful shoes.
"What beautiful shoes she is wearing..."
From that day, the beautiful red shoes haunted her all the time.
After that, several years passed.
Karen grew to be old enough to be introduced into society.
One day, she found the red shoes
which exactly looked like the ones the princess was wearing.
"How beautiful! If only I could have them!" said Karen to herself.
The old lady sensed that Karen wanted the red shoes.
So she bought Karen those shoes.
"Oh, I cannot thank you enough! I've been really longing for these shoes.
I want to put them on and go to church" said Karen.
Hearing this, the old lady warned Karen.
"Karen, it is black shoes that we are supposed to wear in church.
You should not go to church in such red shoes!"
"....OK, I won't." answered Karen reluctantly.
After a while, the old lady became very ill in bed.
Karen, though the old lady had warned her not to wear the red shoes in church,
began going to church in the red shoes every time.
"See? Everyone is looking at my red shoes enviously."
She felt very happy and proud, feeling people in church were admiring her red shoes.
One day, Karen was invited to a ball.
The old lady was suffering from illness, but Karen didn't take care of her.
Instead, she got obsessed with dressing her up.
When she was about to leaving for the ball, she was in a great trouble.
The red shoes started dancing by themselves!
"I cannot stop them! I cannot! "
No matter how hard she tried to stop the red shoes, they were completely out of her control.
Karen was forced to dance by the shoes and went out of the house.
Karen danced out of the town and into the dark forest.
Then she met a horrible wizard with red beard under the tree.
The wizard said to Karen:
"Oh, these are such wonderful dancing shoes.
The shoes continue to dance unless you repent heartily of your sin."
Then the red shoes started dancing more fiercely.
Several days passed.
Karen was completely worn out from dancing by day and by night, in shine or rain.
Still, the red shoes would not stop dancing.
Karen, who was almost faint from fatigue, came dancing near her house.
There she saw the funeral of the old lady.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, Grandma!"
Karen cried loudly with her heart broken.
Karen blamed herself for causing the kind old lady to die because of her unkind deed.
She repented that she hadn't taken care of the sick old lady.
"Oh, God. Please God, take my Grandma to Heaven. I do not care even if I die here.
So, please. Take my Grandma to Heaven."
Suddenly, the bright light shone on her.
Right before her eyes stood an angel with white robes.
It smiled at Karen and said,
"" Your petition is granted by God.
Your Grandma will surely go up to Heaven safe and sound.
Your sin is also forgiven by God.""
Then, Karen's red shoes slipped out from her feet, and Karen finally stopped dancing.