A recent trip to the mall dazzled me with red shoes, red suede boots, red suede court shoes, wherever I looked I saw red shoes. I already possess red suede flats and red sandals, I really don't need another pair but it doesn't hurt to look does it? Most are in the form of boots and suede, very winter appropriate- not very Jeddah weather-friendly unless you have exceptionally cold feet.
As I tried on yet another pair of insanely high heeled boots with stiletto heels, and admired myself in the mirror, I had a childhood flashback and remembered there was a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale called 'The Red Shoes'. They pair I'd tried weren't that comfortable and I kept trying to remember what the fairy tale was about...
When I was online next, and still thinking about the red shoes I googled "Red Shoes" and came across the fairy tale: Here is the plot below taken from Wikipedia:
A peasant girl named Karen is adopted by a rich old lady after her
mother's death. She grows up vain. Before her adoption Karen had a rough
pair of red shoes, and now she tricks her adoptive mother into buying
her a pair of red shoes fit for a princess. Karen repeatedly wears them
to church, without paying attention to the service. She ignores the
anger of her adopted mother and disapproving stares that even the holy
images seem to express at her wearing red shoes in church.
Her adoptive
mother becomes ill, but Karen deserts her, preferring to attend a party
in her red shoes. A mysterious soldier appears and makes strange remarks
about what beautiful dancing shoes Karen has. Soon after, Karen begins
to dance and she can't stop. The shoes take over; she cannot control
them and they are stuck to her feet. The shoes continue to dance,
through fields and meadows, rain or shine, night and day, and through
brambles and briars that tear at Karen's limbs. She can't even attend
her adoptive mother's funeral.
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 but the shoes continue to
dance, now with Karen's amputated feet inside them. The executioner
gives her a pair of wooden feet and crutches, and teaches her the
criminals' psalm.
Thinking that she has suffered enough for the red
shoes, Karen decides to go to church in order for the people to see her.
However her amputated feet, still in the red shoes, dance before her,
barring the way. The following Sunday she tries again, thinking of
herself at least as good as the others in church, but again the dancing
red shoes bar the way. Karen gets a job as a maid in the parsonage, but
when Sunday comes she 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: it is as though the
church comes home to her and her heart becomes so filled with sunshine,
peace, and joy that it bursts. Her soul flies on sunshine to Heaven, and
no one there mentions the red shoes.
Needless to say, after reading this story my enthusiasm for red shoes waned somewhat..
Are you attracted by the festive red shoes everywhere , are you going to buy a pair, do you already own a pair, tell us all about it.
Are you attracted by the festive red shoes everywhere , are you going to buy a pair, do you already own a pair, tell us all about it.
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