The Red Shoes: Another Warning About Pride and Vanity
A beautiful, but poor, girl named Karen grew up associating red shoes with the best things in life. When it came time for her to be confirmed in her church, she proudly wore new red shoes. But her source of pride was also her downfall. Despite warnings, Karen wore her red shoes to church. An old soldier she encountered after church exclaimed, “Dear me, what pretty dancing shoes!” and Karen obliged by dancing a few steps.
But the now-cursed shoes would not let her stop dancing until she took the shoes off. Later, Karen chose to wear the shoes to a ball rather than tend to her caretaker’s sickbed. But once she starts dancing, she cannot stop. She tried to take off the red shoes, but they kept going. Her only escape from the cursed shoes was to repent and ask an ax man to cut off her feet.
