ndertaken ... if not the first time, well, then the second or the third
... or the tenth.

By the next evening she had plaited enough to begin the soles, and the
following day, having bought a curved awl for the price of one sou, some
thread for one sou, a piece of ribbon for the same price, a small piece
of rough canvas for four sous, in all seven sous, which was all that she
could spend if she did not wish to go without bread on the Saturday, she
tried to make a sole like those worn on shoes. The first one that she
made was almost round. This was not exactly the shape of the foot. The
second one, to which she gave much more attention, seemed to resemble
nothing at all; the third was a little better, but finally the fourth,
which, with some practice, she had managed to tighten in the center and
draw in at the heel, could pass for a sole.

Once more she had proved that with a little perseverance, a little will,
one can do what one wants, even if at first it seems impossible. And she
had done this with scarcely anything, a few sous, with no tools, with
hardly anything at her command. She was really very happy and she
considered that her work was very successful.

Now what she needed most to finish her sandals were scissors. They would
cost so much to buy she would have to manage without them. Fortunately
she had her knife, and with the help of a stone to sharpen the point she
could make it fine enough to trim the canvas.

But the cutting of the pieces of canvas she found quite a difficult
matter. Finally she accomplished it, and on the following Saturday
morning she had the satisfaction of going forth shod in a nice pair of
gray canvas shoes, tied with blue ribbons crossed over her stockings.

While she had been working on her shoes (the work had taken four
evenings and three mornings beginning at the break of day), she had
wondered what she should do with her leather shoes while she was away
from the hut. She had no fear that they would be stolen by anyone, for
no one came to the place, but then the rats might eat them. So as to
prevent this she would put them in a place where the rats could not get
at them.

This was a rather difficult matter, for the rats seemed to be
everywhere. She had no closet, no box to put them away in. Finally she
tied them to the roof with some wisps of straw.

CHAPTER XIII

STRANGE HOUSEKEEPING

Although she was very proud of her shoes, she was rather anxious as to
how she