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Literary Fairy Tale by Hans Christian Andersen

"The Red Shoes" (De røde sko) is a literary fairy tale by Danish poet and author Hans Christian Andersen first published by C. A. Reitzel in Copenhagen 7 April 1845 in New Fairy Tales. First Volume. Third Collection (Nye Eventyr. Første Bind. Tredie Samling). Other tales in the volume include "The Elf Mound" (Elverhøi), "The Jumpers" (Springfyrene), "The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep" (Hyrdinden og Skorstensfejeren), and "Holger Danske" (Holger Danske). The tale was republished 18 December 1849 as a part of Fairy Tales. 1850. (Eventyr. 1850.) and again on 30 March 1863 as a part of Fairy Tales and Stories. Second Volume. 1863. (Eventyr og Historier. Andet Bind. 1863.). The story is about a girl forced to dance continually in her red shoes. "The Red Shoes" has seen adaptations in various media including film.

After her mother's death, a peasant girl named Karen is adopted while still very young by a rich old lady and, as such, grows up vain and spoiled. Before her adoption, Karen had a roughly made pair of red shoes; after, she has her adoptive mother buy her a pair of red shoes fit for a princess. Karen is so enamoured of her new shoes that she wears them to church, but the old lady tells her, "This is highly improper: you must only wear black shoes in church". The following Sunday, Karen is unable to resist putting the red shoes on again. As she is about to enter the church, she meets a mysterious old soldier with a red beard. "Oh, what beautiful shoes for dancing," the soldier says. "Never come off when you dance," he tells the shoes, and he taps each of the shoes with his hand. After church, Karen cannot resist taking a few dance steps, and off she goes, as though the shoes controlled her, but she finally manages to stop them after a few minutes. After her adoptive mother becomes ill and passes away, Karen doesn't attend her funeral, choosing to go to a dance instead. Once again, the red shoes take control; this time, she is unable to stop dancing. An angel appears to her, bearing a sword, and condemns her to dance even after she dies, as a warning to vain children everywhere. Karen begs for mercy but the red shoes take her away before she hears the angel's reply. Karen finds an executioner and asks him to chop off her feet. He does so; however, the shoes continue to dance, even with Karen's amputated feet inside them. The executioner gives her a pair of wooden feet and crutches. Thinking that she has suffered enough for the red shoes, Karen decides to go to church so people can see her. Yet her amputated feet, still in the red shoes, dance before her, barring the way. The following Sunday she tries again, thinking she is at least as good as the others in church. Once again, the dancing red shoes bar the way. When Sunday comes again, Karen dares not go to church. Instead, she sits alone at home and prays to God for help. The angel reappears, now bearing a spray of roses, and gives Karen the mercy she asked for: her heart becomes so filled with peace and joy that it bursts. Her soul flies on to Heaven, where no one mentions the red shoes.

Andersen named the story's anti heroine Karen after his own loathed half sister, Karen Marie Andersen. The story is based on an incident Andersen witnessed as a small child. His father, who was a shoemaker, was sent a piece of red silk by a rich lady to make a pair of dancing slippers for her own daughter. Using some valuable red leather along with the silk, he carefully created a pair of shoes only for the rich customer to tell him they were awful. She said he had 'done nothing but spoil [her] silk'. To which his father replied, "In that case, I may as well spoil my leather too," and he cut up the shoes in front of her.