An anytime story, perfect for Christmas.

Read a modern re-telling of "The Elves and the Shoemaker" and you might conclude it's a tale in praise of gratitude: "Gratitude is noble. If someone does you a kind turn, be nice in return."

But that was not the takeaway message for earlier audiences of this tale, told to people with a very different, supernatural worldview. Back when audiences sort-of-really did believe in fairies, "The Elves and the Shoemaker" category of tales offered a warning: Do not, whatever you do, make clothes for fairies. DO NOT DABBLE IN ELF-CRAFT. DO NOT ENCOURAGE HOBGOBLINS INTO YOUR HOME.

Older, darker versions of this fairytale feature evil intruders who poke out the shoemaker's eye with an awl—a tool for punching holes in leather.

In this re-visioning, set in a fairytale land blanketed with snow, shoemaker Jobst Schuster must learn for himself whether the elves have come to his workshop for good... or for evil.