Seven-league boots are an element in European folklore. The boots allow the wearer to take great strides—seven leagues each step—resulting in great speed. The boots are often presented by a magical character to the protagonist to aid in the completion of a significant task. (A league is three miles, so seven leagues is 21 miles or just under 35 kilometres.) The idea arose from the practice of horse-messengers having their boots only touch the ground every seven leagues - when changing their tired horse for a fresh one.
Mention of the legendary boots are found in:
- Germany - Sweetheart Roland, Adelbert von Chamisso's Peter Schlemiel, Goethe's Faust (Mephistopheles uses them at the start of Part Two, Act Four), Wilhelm Hauff's "Der Kleine Muck"
- France - Charles Perrault's - Hop o' My Thumb
- Norway - Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe - Soria Moria Castle
- England - Jack the Giant Killer, The Midnight Folk, The Light Fantastic, The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Jenny Nimmo's Midnight for Charlie Bone, C.S. Lewis's The Pilgrim's Regress, Diana Wynne Jones' Howl's Moving Castle
- United States - Zane Grey's The Last of the Plainsmen, Ruth Chew's "What the Witch Left"
Famous quotes containing the word boots:
“... if we take the universe of ‘fitting,’ countless coats ‘fit’ backs, and countless boots ‘fit’ feet, on which they are not practically fitted; countless stones ‘fit’ gaps in walls into which no one seeks to fit them actually. In the same way countless opinions ‘fit’ realities, and countless truths are valid, tho no thinker ever thinks them.”
—William James (1842–1910)