The Little Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe

by Joseph Martin Kronheim

The Little Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe is one of our Favorite Fairy Tales, published in My First Picture Book, Printed in colours by Kronheim (1875). You might also enjoy reading Mother Goose's nursery rhyme, There was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe, and L. Frank Baum's short story, The Woman Who Lived in a Shoe. Little Bo-Peep

　　Once on a time there was a Little Old Woman who lived in a Shoe. This shoe stood near a great forest, and was so large that it served as a house for the Old Lady and all her children, of which she had so many that she did not know what to do with them.

　　But the Little Old Woman was very fond of her children, and they only thought of the best way to please her. Strong-arm, the eldest, cut down trees for firewood. Peter made baskets of wicker-work. Mark was chief gardener. Lizzie milked the cow, and Jenny taught the younger children to read.

　　Now this Little Old Woman had not always lived in a Shoe. She and her family had once dwelt in a nice house covered with ivy, and her husband was a wood-cutter, like Strong-arm. But there lived in a huge castle beyond the forest, a fierce giant, who one day came and laid their house in ruins with his club; after which he carried off the poor wood-cutter to his castle beyond the forest. When the Little Old Woman came home, her house was in ruins and her husband was no where to be seen.

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