Once upon a time, there was a little girl who lived in a small town in England. This little girl was extremely cute, but she had a big flaw, which was vanity. She always hoped that she could be the center of attention, wear the most beautiful clothes and own the most unique things.
One day, she saw a pair of red shoes in a store in the town. What a beautiful pair of red shoes they were! The red uppers were glittering like the most gorgeous rubies. There were also delicate bows tied on the shoelaces, as if beckoning to the little girl. As soon as the little girl saw these red shoes, she couldn't take her eyes off them. She didn't care that she actually didn't need new shoes and didn't consider whether the price of these shoes was expensive or not. She pestered her mother to buy these red shoes for her. Her mother couldn't resist her and finally bought them for her.
After getting the red shoes, the little girl was overjoyed. She immediately put on the red shoes and ran outside to show off. She found that as long as she put on these red shoes, she couldn't help but want to dance. She kept dancing and spinning in the streets of the small town like a tireless little top. People around gathered to watch her dance and praised her red shoes for being beautiful one after another. Hearing these compliments, the little girl was even more complacent. She thought she was the happiest and most beautiful person in the world.
However, gradually, the little girl found that these red shoes seemed to have their own consciousness. Whether she wanted to dance or not, as long as she was wearing these red shoes, she would start dancing involuntarily. Sometimes in the middle of the night, she would suddenly jump out of bed and dance crazily in the room, unable to control her body at all. The little girl began to be afraid. She wanted to take off the red shoes, but the red shoes seemed to be stuck to her feet and couldn't be taken off no matter what.
The little girl was dragged by the red shoes, running out of the town, across the fields, and towards the forest. Her feet got blisters, and her body was exhausted, but the red shoes still showed no sign of stopping. While crying, she begged the red shoes to let her go, but the red shoes simply ignored her pleas. She could only keep running. The scenery around her flashed by quickly. She didn't know where she was going to run to, nor did she know when she could stop.
She ran through many places and encountered a lot of difficulties. Sometimes she would encounter steep slopes, and the red shoes would still drag her to rush upwards. She would fall down and then get up and keep running; sometimes she would encounter rapid rivers, and the red shoes would also jump into the water without hesitation. She almost drowned but was still dragged across the river by the red shoes. She regretted more and more why she had been so vain and insisted on getting these red shoes at the beginning.
Finally, the little girl ran to a church. The melodious church bells and the pastor's prayers came from the church. The little girl seemed to see a glimmer of hope. She used her last bit of strength and ran towards the church. She knelt down at the church entrance and began to pray to God for forgiveness. While crying, she said, "God, I know I was wrong. I shouldn't have been so vain. I shouldn't have only thought about showing off. Please make these red shoes stop. I'm willing to accept any punishment."
Maybe the little girl's sincerity moved God. Right after she finished praying, the red shoes suddenly stopped moving. The little girl felt that her feet finally regained their freedom. She quickly took off the red shoes and threw them far away. However, because of the long - time running and dancing, her feet had become red and swollen and could no longer walk normally as before.
Since then, the little girl never dared to be vain again. She became very humble and simple. She used her own experience to warn other children not to be carried away by vanity like her, and to cherish what they had and be a down - to - earth person.
