es and taught to read and sew.
People told her she was pretty, but the mirror said, "You are much more
than pretty--you are beautiful."

It happened not long afterwards that the queen and her little daughter,
the princess, traveled through the land. All the people, Karen among the
rest, flocked toward the palace and crowded around it, while the little
princess, dressed in white, stood at the window for every one to see.
She wore neither a train nor a golden crown, but on her feet were
beautiful red morocco shoes, which, it must be admitted, were prettier
than those the shoemaker's wife had given to little Karen. Surely
nothing in the world could be compared to those red shoes.

Now that Karen was old enough to be confirmed, she of course had to have
a new frock and new shoes. The rich shoemaker in the town took the
measure of her little feet in his own house, in a room where stood great
glass cases filled with all sorts of fine shoes and elegant, shining
boots. It was a pretty sight, but the old lady could not see well and
naturally did not take so much pleasure in it as Karen. Among the shoes
were a pair of red ones, just like those worn by the little princess.
Oh, how gay they were! The shoemaker said they had been made for the
child of a count, but had not fitted well.

"Are they of polished leather, that they shine so?" asked the old lady.

"Yes, indeed, they do shine," replied Karen. And since they fitted her,
they were bought. But the old lady had no idea that they were red, or
she would never in the world have allowed Karen to go to confirmation in
them, as she now did. Every one, of course, looked at Karen's shoes;
and when she walked up the nave to the chancel it seemed to her that
even the antique figures on the monuments, the portraits of clergymen
and their wives, with their stiff ruffs and long black robes, were
fixing their eyes on her red shoes. Even when the bishop laid his hand
upon her head and spoke of her covenant with God and how she must now
begin to be a full-grown Christian, and when the organ pealed forth
solemnly and the children's fresh, sweet voices joined with those of the
choir--still Karen thought of nothing but her shoes.

In the afternoon, when the old lady heard every one speak of the red
shoes, she said it was very shocking and improper and that, in the
future, when Karen went to church it must always be in black shoes, even
if they were old.

The next Sunday was Karen's first Co