The setting of this book is in a hut that a father and his three sons live in. On Christmas a little man comes into their home unexpectedly and make the sons do tricks while their dad is mending shoes for soldiers to earn money. The boys are kicked out of the bed and told to do cartwheels to stay warm, while do so food and money falls out of their pockets. Once father comes home he tells his sons about the King and that every year he goes to one house and plays tricks on them. I believe the style of the book is a traditional folklore. The little man looks like a Leprechaun and comes with food and money. The story starts out as “Long ago there lived” which is very common in traditional folklores. ( )

This is related to the American Christmas Story. I like this one better. The gifts went to the needy instead of just the good little ones. There is also the difference where the goblin king does not give gifts to everyone. Since this is folklore from Austria, I'm curious as to whether this character has become as commercialized as Santa. ( )

This delightful Tyrolean folktale, originally included by Ruth Sawyer in her 1941 collection, The Long Christmas, where it appears as Schnitzle, Schnotzle, and Schnootzle, follows the story of a poor cobbler and his three sons, who receive a most unexpected visitor one Christmas Eve night, and learn that there is truth in some of the old mountain legends. When the cobbler sets out for the village on Christmas Eve, hoping to earn a little money by mending the soldiers' shoes, he instructs his sons to admit no one to their small hut. But a persistent knocking, after he has left, reveals a most unusual visitor at the door: a grouchy little man with a big bulbous nose, who proceeds to make himself a real pest. But although he is very annoying, he also brings great good fortune, for he is none other than King Laurin, the king of all the goblins that live under the Tyrolean alps...

I enjoyed The Remarkable Christmas of the Cobbler's Sons - which I have also encountered in Neil Philip's collection, Christmas Fairy Tales - immensely, and would love to track down more Tyrolean folktales, perhaps Ruth Sawyer's own Dietrich of Berne: Hero Tales of the Austrian Tirol. King Laurin is a fascinating figure, and reminds me of so many other diminutive kings "of the mountain." Barbara Cooney's illustrations are, unsurprisingly, utterly charming, homey and magical by turn. Recommended to all young readers who enjoy folktales, to anyone looking for magical Christmas stories, and to Barbara Cooney fans! ( )