More Unfairy Tales

by T F Carthick

  The next morning, the elves waited outside his home to see if he took their advice. They saw him leave early in the morning. But he did not have his things nor his old woman with him. As he left, he told the old woman. “If anyone comes for shoes today, tell them there was a small fire and all the shoes have been destroyed. It will take me a week more to get things back in order and get their shoes ready.”

  After a few hours, he returned. He was accompanied by five men. The men looked familiar—they were the cobblers who the elves had seen under the tree the previous day.

  He led them to his workshop and once they were in, he addressed them, “So this is the deal. You used to make two silver coins per shoe after factoring in the price of the leather. Now I will supply the leather and give you five coins per shoe. Make as many as you many as you can and you will be paid accordingly. You will not get a better deal than this.”

  “But Josef, we have seen some of the shoes you have been selling. We can’t make them like that.”

  “I know that. But it doesn’t matter. Make them however you can. My customers will buy them.”

  Flip looked at Binkle, “I don’t think this will work. He is surely going to get into trouble.”

  “Even I fear so. But this is his own doing. We gave him the right advice. He should have listened to us and fled the town.”

  The next morning, the first customers to arrive were the twins. They were handed eight pairs of shoes.

  “But we had ordered twenty-four,” they said.

  “I am sorry, Sir. But there is a shortage of workers and it will take some time.”

  They left grumbling about the delay. Not a word they spoke about the quality of the shoes. The elves followed after them curiously. When they were a little distance away, one of them asked the other. “These shoes don’t look like the earlier ones.”

  His brother replied, “How does that matter? Josef is the best judge of what constitutes a good shoe. If he thinks these are good shoes, they must be. What we need to do is to have more of them than anyone else.”

  One by one, others came and left grumbling only about the quantity and not a murmur about quality.

  “I think things have turned out well for Josef, the cobblers as well as us. We don’t have to make any more of those beastly shoes again.”

  But Binkle had a thoughtful expression on his face,

  “But still the problem of the poor folks without shoes is not solved. They are still going to go into the winter without shoes.”

  “What can we do about that? I think if we interfere again, we will only make matters worse and we will find ourselves neck deep in a human situation once again with no means of extricating ourselves.”

  “But I feel responsible. I am thinking if there is something we can do, Flip.”

  “Hmm…maybe we can steal some of the shoes from those rich folks and give it to the poor ones.”

  “No, we can’t do that. The shoes will be found, and the poor folks will be punished for stealing. We will only make things worse for them.”

  “I can’t think of anything else.”

  “Nor can I.”

  * * *

  But the elves had not seen the last of the events yet. No, not by a far shot. For that is not how things work in this world. One can’t unleash a monster into the world and then hope the monster, of its own accord, will walk into captivity after causing some minor irritant, can one? That would be no monster but an angel. And what they had let loose was no angel.

  * * *

  “We want shoes”, “We want shoes”.

  The mob was gathering strength by the minute. More and more bare-footed men were joining the crowd. They sounded really angry and seemed as if they would not subside without drawing blood.

  The mob was soon outside the mansion of the town Lord.

  “Give us shoes. Give us shoes,” they shrieked in unison.

  All the doors and windows were shut tight and not a sound could be heard from within. With every passing minute the crowd grew more furious. They began to pick up stones and throw at the glass windows. The sound of shattering windows rent the air.

  “Come and face us, you coward. Or do you want us to break in and pull you out?” yelled someone.

  “Let us set fire to the mansion,” said someone. “Let them burn like rats within an infested barn.”

  New cries began to rend the air. “Burn them! Burn them!” Burn the evil lords!” “Burn them with their shoes.” “If they love their shoes so much, let them burn with their beloved shoes.”

  “What is happening?” Flip asked Binkle fearfully.

  “This is what humans call a revolution. This is the humans’ way of resolving situations when they spin out of control.”

  “But it sounds pretty nasty.”

  “Yes, it will be nasty while it lasts, like bitter medicine. But everything will be all right once a course of it is completed.”

  Suddenly something came flying out of the window and fell right in the middle of the crowd. It was a shoe. It was one of the beautiful elven shoes. Another one followed, its pair. More shoes followed, and they were raining all about the crowd. The appearance of the shoes began to break the crowd’s unity of purpose. Everyone dropped their sticks and stones and began fighting among themselves to grab the shoes. Whoever could get a hand on a shoe broke into a run only to be chased by a dozen others. Thus, the whole crowd dispersed, the luckiest ones making their home safe and sound with a single shoe.

  “See, they have got their shoes now,” said Binkle.

  “But not all of them have and most have only one shoe”

  “Don’t worry. They will be back at another one’s dwelling and then another till all of them have shoes.”

  “But after that?”

  “Things will eventually settle down after a good shake up.”

  “What do you mean good shake up?”

  “There will be lot of bloodshed and all that. You know, humans are a bloody race.”

  “And all the blood will be on our hands?”

  “Now, don’t be too dramatic. This is not the first time such things are happening in the history of mankind. Such things would have happened and will happen. Our action only perhaps precipitated the events a bit earlier than they would have happened left to its natural course. You know the human philosophers have talked about the flow of history—how human events flow along a pre-destined path. No single individual can by himself change this flow. I guess it applies to elves as well. Whatever happened would have probably happened even without our intervention.”

  “How can you be so casual about it, Binkle? If you really thought our intervention would not affect things, why did you even try to help that old cobbler in the first place. Clearly all the terrible events in the town were caused by our actions—we can’t disavow responsibility.”

  “Come on, Flip. Why do you insist on taking such a limited view of things? Why don’t you try to take a look at the bigger picture?”

  “No. I don’t see any big picture. I only see a burning town. A town that was calm and trouble-free before our advent.”

  “Sigh! I give up. You are right. I guess you blew away my philosophical façade. It was all indeed my fault. I feel so terrible about this whole thing. I should have listened to your warnings. But I thought what harm can come from just a shoe. I was wrong. A shoe is no trivial thing—entire human kingdoms have been lost not just due to a shoe but a shoe nail. That too not from a human shoe but a horse’s.”

  “I too have to share the blame for having gone along with you. Let us return to our Council of Elders and let them be the judges of our conduct. We shall accept whatever punishment they give us, gracefully.”

  They both walked hand in hand into the shadows, away from the rioting town.

  About the Author

  T F Carthick is a Bangalore-based writer and blogger who has been blogging since 2008. He is an avid reader of Children’s Fiction, Science-fiction and Fantasy. Enid Blyton, J K Rowling,
Isaac Asimov, Frank Herbert, Mark Twain and Douglas Adams are some of his favorite authors. His first book ‘Carthick’s Unfairy Tales’ published in 2018 was well received by readers. His paranormal thriller ‘Bellary’ was one of the three stories in the book Sirens Spell Danger, published in 2013. Seven of his stories have featured in multi-author anthologies and literary magazines. He has written over 50 short stories, many of which can be read for free on his blog www.karthikl.com.

  He is an Engineer and MBA from India’s premier institutes IIT, Madras and IIM, Ahmedabad and currently works as an Analytics and Artificial Intelligence Consultant at one of the world’s leading Consulting Firms.

  His Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/threerealmsofthemind/

  His Twitter Handle - @TF_Carthick

  Acknowledgement

  No work in this world, big or small, can be a single man’s effort. Lots of people have to work behind the scenes to bring one individual’s vision to fruition. No amount of thanks would suffice for their contributions. But the least an author can do is to express his gratefulness.

  Suresh Chandrasekaran, the author of the book ‘A Dog Eat Dog Food World’ and one of India’s leading humor bloggers, has been my friend, philosopher and guide through my writing journey. He is the first person I go to for beta reads and his valuable suggestions have always contributed greatly towards improving my stories.

  Percy Wadiwala, the author of the book ‘The Day Money Died’, has edited this book. He had done a stellar job, editing my previous book, contributing to its success. His insightful suggestions have enhanced the stories in this book as well.

  Medha Gupta has done the cover design. An artist with talent, she has done a neat professional job of the cover, that I hope potential readers will find alluring.

  Pritesh Patil is someone who has a way with words and has helped in framing a catchy blurb.

  I have special thanks for three online groups – ‘For Writers by Authors’, ‘The Book Club’ and ‘Reading Racoons’ for contributing to the success of my first book, that has encouraged me to come up with this book. ‘For Writers by Authors’ was kind enough to help me promote my book by creating an online event for me. The founder Neil D’Silva was a great help in understanding the logistics involved in printing and distribution of the book. ‘The Book Club’ did my cover reveal and online book tour that brought great visibility to my book. The founder Rubina Ramesh has always been a great encouragement to upcoming writers. ‘The Senior Reading Racoons’ is one of those special communities bustling with life amidst all the mostly dead online communities. So many readers from the community read my book and gave such encouraging reviews that really made my day. I would love to name all of them. But there are so many of them. I fear I might leave out a few if I start listing them. So, I just offer my thanks to the community as a whole.

  I must also thank Archana Atri and Anupama Dalmia for helping my first book reach a younger audience by introducing it in their workshops for children. I was gratified by the interactions with the young readers and some of the notes I got from them.

  Last but not the least I need to thank my family, for letting me devote time that rightfully should have been theirs to the writing of this book, and most especially my wife, for her constant encouragement and support.