There once was a poor little peasant named Lillia who wished that she could become a dancer for the queen and king.

“Oh, how i wish that i could dance all day in the castle!” Lillia sang as she span around in circles with her gorgeous red curls fanning out around her head.

But Lillia could not do that, for she had no fancy costumes to dance in.

While taking a walk, she came across a shiny length of cloth hanging from a tree.

“What on earth? Why, that cloth would be marvelous for a costume to dance in! All that I have to do is sew it, then I can dance for the King and Queen!” exclaimed the pretty young lady.

She skipped home, only to find her angry father waiting for her.

“Where have you been, Lillia? And what is that wretched scrap of cloth for?” her father asked angrily.

“Father, I have been out taking a walk and I found this wonderful fabric to make a costume with, so I can dance at the palace,” Lillia calmly replied.

But her father did not want her to be a dancer at the palace. So he snatched up the cloth and shredded it to pieces before her crying eyes.

“Oh, what will I do now?” she muttered to herself late at night as she wiped her eyes, “The cloth is ruined! I can never go to the palace now!”

Lillia stumbled down a few steps before remembering that she could not wake her father, and crept silently down to the kitchen. There was the cloth, whole again and sitting in a neat pile on the kitchen table.

Lillia gasped, snatched up the material, and pressed the silky fabric to her cheek. “It must be magical,” whispered Lillia.

She barely restrained herself from running up the stairs to the attic, where needles and thread were kept. She pulled out a needle and the finest thread that she owned, and set to work. By morning she was finished.

“Lillia, why are you so tired?” her father asked in the morning, “Please tell me that you weren’t crying about the fabric again.”

“No father, of course I wasn’t, I just could not sleep well,” Lillia lied.

Lillia now had a different problem. She needed shoes to dance in.

“I am going to the market today. Do not leave the house!” her father ordered.

So of course that is exactly what Lillia did. She snuck out a few minutes after he had left, stole the horse, and rode to the neighboring town’s market. There she traded for a pair of dance shoes.

“Oh, no! My father will be home soon, and he will find me missing!” she exclaimed.

Lillia rode with haste, and made it home just as her father’s carriage pulled up front. Shoving the horse into the stable, she pretended that she had been brushing it. Her father noticed that the horse was warm, and knew that she had been riding. He searched her bag and took out the slippers.

“Where did you get those?” he screamed.

Lillia didn’t answer, she just went up to her room slipper-less, for he took them away and burned them. Her room was locked from outside.

Lillia knew that she had to get to the palace by the next day, or she would miss the date that she could apply for the dancer’s position. But she had only a tiny scrap of the magical fabric to make shoes with. She had only one true wish, and a very good idea.

“I wish that I had enough of this fabric to make a pair of dance shoes,” she whispered into the silken folds.

Instantly, the fabric grew, and grew until there was just enough to make the slippers, with not a single extra thread. Lillia knew that she wouldn’t be able to use its magic powers again, but that was her one true wish, so she didn’t need the magic again.

That night, Lillia climbed out of her window and walked out to the castle. She presented herself, in a flowing gold dress with matching shoes, to the king and queen. They were awed by her glorious dancing skills, and she got the job at the palace.

“Now all of my dreams have come true!” Lillia gleefully shouted, “I will live here in happiness for ever!”