The book was about a shoemaker and his wife who were poor and only had one piece of leather left to make one last pair of shoes for them to sell. The next morning when they woke up to a pair of shoes already made for them and they sold them and bought more leather to make more shoes. When the shoemaker left the leather on the table, he woke up again to find more shoes had been made. He and his wife stayed up to see who was making the shoes and to their suprise was a couple of elves. The shoemaker and his wife and with the help of the elves allowed them to make a successful shoe business.