“A rat, a tat, tat, a rat, a tat, too,
Oh, ho, it is fun to be making a shoe.”
sang the Fairy Shoemakers as Little June ran through the woods one day.
She stopped and listened and heard the fairy hammers, but she could not see where the fairies were hidden.
Little June looked down at her worn out slippers and said,
“I’d like new slippers, I’d like new shoes,
Of every color, if I could choose.”
She went on to the store, with a basket on her arm, for she was the little errand girl of the family.
As she came back home through the woods, she heard someone singing,
“A rat, a tat, tat, a rat, a tat, too,
We are making a little red slipper for you.”
Little June looked under the broad leaves about her path, and under the toad-stools, but she could not see where the voice came from.
Every day she ran out and did errands willingly, and only once did she complain to her mother about her shabby slippers.
Mother put little bows of ribbon on the shabby slippers to cover the worn part, and she said everything cost so much this year June would have to wait for a new pair.
AT THAT VERY MINUTE A LITTLE FAIRY JUMPED RIGHT ON THE LITTLE TOE
“Wait a little longer dear,
’Till coins, in my purse, you hear.”
Whenever June ran through the woods she heard a new song, and every bird and animal she met made friends with her.
“A rat, a tat, tat, a rat, a tat, too,
We’ll make a little slipper of blue,”
sang the Fairy Shoemakers, and Little June clapped her hands singing,
“I need new slippers, I need new shoes,
If they’re for me, that’s glorious news.”
One day June went on her way sadly, for one little toe showed through one little slipper.
By and by as she sat down on a log to rest two little tears began to trickle down her cheeks.
At that very minute a little fairy jumped right on the little toe, that peeped out from the little slipper, singing,
“A rat, a tat, tat, how can I see,
Who will thread the needle for me?”
It was a tiny needle of course, but Little June had bright eyes and she threaded it while the Fairy sang,
“A rat, a tat, tat, a rat, a tat, too,
I make silver slippers with buckles new.”
Then June knew that she was talking to one of the Fairy Shoemakers and she said,
“Oh Fairy Shoemaker if you choose,
Could you make me slippers or shoes?”
The Fairy pretended he did not hear, but he blew a silver whistle, and four and twenty little Fairy Shoemakers came, with their four and twenty little needles and one after another, they asked the little girl to thread them.
As they hopped about her, she never dreamed that they might be measuring her feet for a pair of slippers.
One of the Fairies hopped right up in her lap, saying,
“A rat, a tat, tat, a rat, a tat, too,
We heard you were crying, oh was it true?”
Little June said, “How would you feel if you were in a performance to be given the last day of school, and what if you had to dance in the front row, with an old pair of slippers on?”
At that, the Fairy Shoemakers all sang in a chorus,
“A rat, a tat, tat, a rat, a tat, too,
And in the front row, that will never do.”
Little June did not know that she had been dreaming in the woods that Saturday morning, until she felt a gentle tap on her shoulder, and there stood her teacher before her.
Little June cried again and told her teacher all her troubles, and her teacher said, “I love the fairies too, hark! what is that?”
They both heard the fairy song,
“A rat, a tat, tat, a rat, a tat, too,
We are making little red slippers for you.”
Little June went merrily homeward.
The last day of school drew nearer and nearer.
The little slippers grew more and more shabby!
At last the great day came, and mother said she was sorry she had no new slippers for the willing little feet.
She said,
“I’m sorry when the day is here,
No coins are in my purse, I fear.”
Little June sat down and sang,
“I need new slippers, I think it funny,
I know no way of making money.”
Evening came, and she put on the little white dress she had ironed herself, and the little red sash and hair ribbons father had given her.
She looked at the little old slippers, with patches upon them. They had been carefully blackened.
At that very minute the door-bell went, “Tinkle, tinkle, tinkle.”
She ran downstairs in her stocking feet.
There, on the door-step was a box marked, “For June.”
With trembling fingers she opened it, and took out a pair of little red slippers.
They were exactly the right size.
They had gilt buckles upon them.
Little June was so happy she danced the best of any one, she had to come out by and by all alone, in her little red slippers and dance for an encore.
The people said it was the prettiest little performance they had ever seen, and Little June knew that it was a fairy dance, and that she had learned it from the Fairy Shoemakers who measured her for a pair of slippers.
Even as she danced she thought she heard their fairy hammers ringing, and their fairy voices singing,
“A rat, a tat, tat, a rat, a tat, too,
We made the little red slippers for you.”