Seven-league boots

Hop o' My Thumb stealing the Seven-league boots from the Ogre, by Gustave Doré

Seven-league boots are an element in European folklore. The boot allows the person wearing them to take strides of seven leagues per 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.

Mention of the legendary boots are found in:

Etymology

From the context of English language, 'Seven-league boots' originally arose as a translation from the French 'bottes de sept lieues',[2] popularised by Charles Perrault's fairy tales. A league (roughly 3 miles or 4.4 km) was considered to represent the distance walked in an hour by an average man. If a man were to walk 7 hours per day, he would then walk 7 leagues, or just under 30 km. In the 17th century, post-boys' boots were called 'seven-league boots'. While some suggest that the '7 leagues' references the distance between post houses (post-boys would only have their boots touch the ground at every coach inn, when changing the horses), this is inaccurate: the distance between coach inns was fixed at no more than 5 leagues.[3]

Other variations

In fiction

Non fictional

See also

References

  1. Goethe (1959). Faust, Part Two. Middlesex: Penguin. p. 216. ISBN 0 14044093 3.
  2. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/seven-league+boots
  3. Jobé, Joseph (1976). Au temps des cochers : histoire illustrée du voyage en voiture attelée du XVe au XXe siècle. Lausanne: Édita-Lazarus. p. 54. ISBN 2-88001-019-5.

External links

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