The Skipping Shoes is a short story written by Louisa May Alcott. It is the story of a young, stubborn, naughty girl, who becomes kind and humble when she gets a pair of magical shoes.
Summary
At the beginning of the story, Kitty was a girl who didn’t like to do what others said and who always grumbled ‘I won’t’ or ‘I can’t’.
When Kitty put on her new shoes, her mother asked her to tell the cook to make a pie for dinner. Kitty started to whine ‘I don’t want to’ as usual but the shoes jumped and swept her downstairs into the kitchen.
Kitty’s father asked her to post some letters at the post office before school. Kitty tried to refuse but the shoes trotted down the street and took her to the post office, not even allowing her to stop at the bridge where she wanted to watch the boats.
At break time, Kitty got angry because a girl called Dolly knocked down the house of corn-cobs that Kitty had built.
Kitty offered to get Willy’s ball because she wanted to test if she was correct about how the shoes worked. She had begun to realise that they were cooperative when she was kind and good but stubborn when she tried to be naughty.
Kitty charmed all the girls by dancing and twirling gracefully in her new magical shoes.
Kitty felt happy after delivering the bundles to the poor. She felt happy because people always feel good when they do kind things for others.
The cricket told Kitty that her shoes had been bewitched by the fairies as it was midsummer’s day, and the fairies liked to play pranks on that day. The magic in her shoes would remain until sunset. It was also responsible for allowing Kitty to understand the animals and insects.