A housewife lived in a cottage on the main street of the village, but not many people came to her house. She was known to be a rather stingy woman and did not like to give or share anything. If anyone came asking for something, she would find some reason not to give it.
But one day, there was a knock at her door. Wondering who it could be, she opened the door to find a small elf standing outside.
“What do you want?” asked the housewife, not being very polite.
“I have come to request you for a saucepan, please,” said the elf, “You see that there is a wedding up on the hill among the elves and all the pots and pans have been used. We need a saucepan now.”
The housewife was wondering what to do. She didn’t really wish to give the elf a saucepan. Then she remembered an old saucepan that had a hole in it and needed fixing.
‘Elves are good at repairing things!’ she thought, ‘I will give him the old saucepan. That way, I will have the merit of sharing something and I will also get it fixed free without paying anything to the tinker in the market. I will save sixpence at least!”
She ran in and fetched the old saucepan and gave it to the elf. He thanked her and went away.
Some days later, the elf returned it and it was beautifully repaired, just as the housewife had expected it would be.
The housewife decided to check if the saucepan was mended perfectly. So, she immediately put the saucepan on the stove to boil some milk. The milk boiled without draining out of the saucepan at all. But surprisingly, it was burnt and smoked! No one could drink it.
Suddenly, she heard the sound of someone chuckling loudly. She thought the sound came from the chimney.
And right out of the chimney dropped the little elf who had borrowed the saucepan.
“What are you doing here?” asked the housewife, “And what is so funny?”
“You saved sixpence on mending the saucepan and lost milk that cost you sixpence too!” laughed the elf.
And laughing still, he ran out of the door. The housewife had learnt her lesson, but she had also got a saucepan beautifully mended.
