Section 1, A Beginning
In Copenhagen, there was a big party happening in a house not too far from the king’s market. The person who organized the party probably thought that the people they invited would also invite them to a party sometime in the future. Half of the people at the party were already sitting at tables playing card games, while the other half were waiting for their hostess to decide what fun activity they should do next. She asked herself, “What should we do to have fun?” and they were waiting for her answer.
People at the party started talking to each other, and their conversation became more and more fun as time passed. People talked about different things, including the things that happened a long time ago in the Middle Ages. Some of them thought that those events were more interesting than what’s happening nowadays. One of the people at the party, Counselor Knapp, strongly believed that idea. He argued this so passionately that the lady who hosted the party agreed with him. They both disagreed with a book called “Oersted’s Essays on Ancient and Modern Times,” which said that our time is better. The Counselor believed that the time when a Danish king named Hans was ruling was the best and happiest time in history.
While people were talking about history, a newspaper arrived, but it didn’t have much interesting news in it. The conversation continued, but for a moment it was interrupted by the arrival of the newspaper. Meanwhile, let’s go check out the room where everyone’s coats, walking sticks, and rain boots were kept. It was a room right next to where the party was taking place. In the room, there were two women sitting. One was young and the other was old, and they looked like they were waiting for their employers to finish the party and go home. However, if you looked at them closely, you could tell that they were not ordinary maids. They looked very beautiful, with lovely skin and fancy clothes that were too pretty to be work clothes. They were real fairies! The younger one was not the goddess Fortune, but she worked for one of Fortune’s helpers, who gives out less important gifts. The older one was called Care, and she looked sad and serious. She likes to do things herself because she knows that’s the best way to make sure they’re done correctly. The two women were talking to each other about where they had been and what they had done earlier that day. The woman who worked for Fortune didn’t have much important work to do that day. She only helped someone keep their hat dry in the rain and got a bow for a good person from a rich and important person. However, she had something interesting to tell her friend Care.
She said, “Today is my birthday! And to celebrate, I have been given a special task. I have been given a pair of magical shoes to give to a human. The magical shoes, galoshes, that the woman had been given could make the person wearing them imagine that they were anywhere they wanted to be or living in any time period they wished. When someone wearing these magical shoes makes a wish, their wish comes true right away! This gives people a chance to be really happy.”
Care didn’t agree that the magical shoes would make people happy. In fact, she believed that whoever wore them would end up being very unhappy and would want to take them off as soon as possible. But the woman who worked for Fortune didn’t agree. She thought that if she left the shoes by the door, someone would mistake them for their own shoes and put them on, and they would be very happy.
They stopped talking after this.
