Seven-league boots are an element in
European folkloreEuropean folklore:*Northern Europe**Estonian folklore**Finnish folklore** Lithuanian folklore**Scandinavian folklore*Western Europe**Alpine folklore**Dutch folklore**French folklore**German folklore**Italian folklore**Swiss folklore**British Isles...
. The
bootA boot is a type of footwear that covers the foot and the ankle and extends up the leg, sometimes as far as the knee or even the hip. Most boots have a heel that is clearly distinguishable from the rest of the sole, even if the two are made of one piece. Traditionally made of leather or rubber,...
s allow the wearer to take great strides—seven
leaguesA league is a unit of length . It was long common in Europe and Latin America, but it is no longer an official unit in any nation. The league most frequently refers to the distance a person or a horse can walk in an hour...
each step—resulting in great speed. The boots are often presented by a magical character to the
protagonistA protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, video game, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to share the most empathy...
to aid in the completion of a significant task. (A league is three miles, so seven leagues is 21 miles or just under 35 kilometers.)
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
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
- Sweetheart RolandSweetheart Roland is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, number 56.It combines several Aarne-Thompson types: type 1119, Ogres Kill Their Own Children; type 313C, the girl helps the hero flee; and type 884, the forgotten fiancée. Others of the second type include The Master Maid,...
, Adelbert von ChamissoAdelbert von Chamisso was a German poet and botanist.He was born Louis Charles Adélaïde de Chamissot at the château of Boncourt at Ante, in Champagne, France, the ancestral seat of his family...
's Peter SchlemielPeter Schlemiel is the title character of an 1814 story, "Peter Schlemihls wundersame Geschichte" , written in German by exiled French aristocrat Adelbert von Chamisso. In the story, Schlemiel sells his shadow to the Devil for a bottomless wallet, only to find that a man without a shadow is shunned...
, Goethe's FaustJohann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust is a tragic play, although more appropriately it should be defined a tragicomedy, despite the very title of the work. It was published in two parts: and ...
(MephistophelesMephistopheles is the name of the demon in the Faust legend. The character has since appeared in other works as a stock character version of the devil.-In the Faust legend:...
uses them at the start of Part Two, Act Four), Wilhelm HauffWilhelm Hauff was a German poet and novelist.-Early life:Wilhelm Hauff was born in Stuttgart, the son of August Friedrich Hauff, a secretary in the ministry of foreign affairs, and Hedwig Wilhelmine Elsaesser Hauff...
's "Der Kleine Muck"
- France
France , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
- Charles Perrault'sCharles Perrault was a French author who laid foundations for a new literary genre, the fairy tale, and whose best known tales, often derived from pre-existing folk tales, include Le Petit Chaperon rouge , La Belle au bois dormant , Le Maître chat ou le Chat botté ,...
- Hop o' My Thumb"Hop o' My Thumb" is a literary fairy tale by Charles Perrault . At the age of 67, Perrault decided to dedicate himself to his children and published Tales and Stories of the Past with Morals , with the subtitle: Tales of Mother Goose...
- Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a country in Northern Europe occupying the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, as well as Jan Mayen and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard under the Spitsbergen Treaty...
- Peter Christen AsbjørnsenPeter Christen Asbjørnsen was a Norwegian writer and scholar. He and Jørgen Engebretsen Moe were collectors of Norwegian folklore...
and Jørgen MoeJørgen Engebretsen Moe was a Norwegian bishop and author.He is best known for the Norske Folkeeventyr, a collection of Norwegian folk tales which he edited in collaboration with Peter Christen Asbjørnsen....
- Soria Moria CastleSoria Moria Castle is a Norwegian fairy tale made famous by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in their classic Norske Folkeeventyr. Later Andrew Lang included the story in his series of fairy tale collections in The Red Fairy Book.-Synopsis:...
- England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
- Jack the Giant Killer"Jack the Giant Killer" is a fairy tale. As a variation on "The Brave Little Tailor", it shares some similarities to what is known today as "Jack and the Beanstalk."...
, Howl's Moving CastleHowl's Moving Castle is a young adult fantasy novel by British author Diana Wynne Jones, first published in 1986. It won a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award and was named an ALA Notable book for both children and young adults. In 2004 it was adapted as an Academy Award-nominated animated film by Hayao...
, The Midnight FolkThe Midnight Folk is a children's fantasy novel by John Masefield first published in 1927. It is about a boy, Kay Harker, who sets out to discover what became of a fortune stolen from his sea-faring great grandfather Aston Tirrold Harker. The treasure is also sought by a coven of witches who are...
, The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Jenny NimmoJenny Nimmo is a British author of numerous books for children, including many fantasy and adventure novels, beginning reader books, and picture books....
's Midnight for Charlie BoneMidnight for Charlie Bone is the debut fantasy novel in the Children of the Red King series by Jenny Nimmo.-Plot summary:In a mix-up at the photo developer, Charlie Bone receives a photo of a man, woman, and child instead of his own. Charlie is shocked when he realizes he can hear voices in the...
- Boots of speed are a frequent item in role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which the participants assume the roles of fictional characters. Participants determine the actions of their characters based on their characterization, and the actions succeed or fail according to a formal system of rules and guidelines...
s and roguelikeThe roguelike is a sub-genre of role-playing video games, characterized by randomization for replayability, permanent death, and turn-based movement. Many early roguelikes featured ASCII graphics. Games are typically dungeon crawls, with many monsters, items, and environmental features...
s.
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Seven-league boots are an element in
European folkloreEuropean folklore:*Northern Europe**Estonian folklore**Finnish folklore** Lithuanian folklore**Scandinavian folklore*Western Europe**Alpine folklore**Dutch folklore**French folklore**German folklore**Italian folklore**Swiss folklore**British Isles...
. The
bootA boot is a type of footwear that covers the foot and the ankle and extends up the leg, sometimes as far as the knee or even the hip. Most boots have a heel that is clearly distinguishable from the rest of the sole, even if the two are made of one piece. Traditionally made of leather or rubber,...
s allow the wearer to take great strides—seven
leaguesA league is a unit of length . It was long common in Europe and Latin America, but it is no longer an official unit in any nation. The league most frequently refers to the distance a person or a horse can walk in an hour...
each step—resulting in great speed. The boots are often presented by a magical character to the
protagonistA protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, video game, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to share the most empathy...
to aid in the completion of a significant task. (A league is three miles, so seven leagues is 21 miles or just under 35 kilometers.)
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
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
- Sweetheart RolandSweetheart Roland is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, number 56.It combines several Aarne-Thompson types: type 1119, Ogres Kill Their Own Children; type 313C, the girl helps the hero flee; and type 884, the forgotten fiancée. Others of the second type include The Master Maid,...
, Adelbert von ChamissoAdelbert von Chamisso was a German poet and botanist.He was born Louis Charles Adélaïde de Chamissot at the château of Boncourt at Ante, in Champagne, France, the ancestral seat of his family...
's Peter SchlemielPeter Schlemiel is the title character of an 1814 story, "Peter Schlemihls wundersame Geschichte" , written in German by exiled French aristocrat Adelbert von Chamisso. In the story, Schlemiel sells his shadow to the Devil for a bottomless wallet, only to find that a man without a shadow is shunned...
, Goethe's FaustJohann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust is a tragic play, although more appropriately it should be defined a tragicomedy, despite the very title of the work. It was published in two parts: and ...
(MephistophelesMephistopheles is the name of the demon in the Faust legend. The character has since appeared in other works as a stock character version of the devil.-In the Faust legend:...
uses them at the start of Part Two, Act Four), Wilhelm HauffWilhelm Hauff was a German poet and novelist.-Early life:Wilhelm Hauff was born in Stuttgart, the son of August Friedrich Hauff, a secretary in the ministry of foreign affairs, and Hedwig Wilhelmine Elsaesser Hauff...
's "Der Kleine Muck"
- France
France , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
- Charles Perrault'sCharles Perrault was a French author who laid foundations for a new literary genre, the fairy tale, and whose best known tales, often derived from pre-existing folk tales, include Le Petit Chaperon rouge , La Belle au bois dormant , Le Maître chat ou le Chat botté ,...
- Hop o' My Thumb"Hop o' My Thumb" is a literary fairy tale by Charles Perrault . At the age of 67, Perrault decided to dedicate himself to his children and published Tales and Stories of the Past with Morals , with the subtitle: Tales of Mother Goose...
- Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a country in Northern Europe occupying the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, as well as Jan Mayen and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard under the Spitsbergen Treaty...
- Peter Christen AsbjørnsenPeter Christen Asbjørnsen was a Norwegian writer and scholar. He and Jørgen Engebretsen Moe were collectors of Norwegian folklore...
and Jørgen MoeJørgen Engebretsen Moe was a Norwegian bishop and author.He is best known for the Norske Folkeeventyr, a collection of Norwegian folk tales which he edited in collaboration with Peter Christen Asbjørnsen....
- Soria Moria CastleSoria Moria Castle is a Norwegian fairy tale made famous by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in their classic Norske Folkeeventyr. Later Andrew Lang included the story in his series of fairy tale collections in The Red Fairy Book.-Synopsis:...
- England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
- Jack the Giant Killer"Jack the Giant Killer" is a fairy tale. As a variation on "The Brave Little Tailor", it shares some similarities to what is known today as "Jack and the Beanstalk."...
, Howl's Moving CastleHowl's Moving Castle is a young adult fantasy novel by British author Diana Wynne Jones, first published in 1986. It won a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award and was named an ALA Notable book for both children and young adults. In 2004 it was adapted as an Academy Award-nominated animated film by Hayao...
, The Midnight FolkThe Midnight Folk is a children's fantasy novel by John Masefield first published in 1927. It is about a boy, Kay Harker, who sets out to discover what became of a fortune stolen from his sea-faring great grandfather Aston Tirrold Harker. The treasure is also sought by a coven of witches who are...
, The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Jenny NimmoJenny Nimmo is a British author of numerous books for children, including many fantasy and adventure novels, beginning reader books, and picture books....
's Midnight for Charlie BoneMidnight for Charlie Bone is the debut fantasy novel in the Children of the Red King series by Jenny Nimmo.-Plot summary:In a mix-up at the photo developer, Charlie Bone receives a photo of a man, woman, and child instead of his own. Charlie is shocked when he realizes he can hear voices in the...
In fiction
- Boots of speed are a frequent item in role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which the participants assume the roles of fictional characters. Participants determine the actions of their characters based on their characterization, and the actions succeed or fail according to a formal system of rules and guidelines...
s and roguelikeThe roguelike is a sub-genre of role-playing video games, characterized by randomization for replayability, permanent death, and turn-based movement. Many early roguelikes featured ASCII graphics. Games are typically dungeon crawls, with many monsters, items, and environmental features...
s. In the Dungeons & DragonsDungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game is currently published by Wizards of the Coast, a subsidiary of Hasbro...
role-playing game boots of speed are a variation of the famous magical boots. They enable the wearer to run very fast—usually as fast as a galloping horse, or slower if the wearer is heavy. The wearer must usually rest for long periods after use. Sometimes, these items are still called 7 league boots.
- Seven League Boots appear in all three of the books of the Bartimaeus Trilogy, worn by the mercenary Verroq. In The Amulet of Samarkand, Bartimaeus remarks that the boots were created in Medieval Europe by imprisoning a djinni
In Islam, a Djinn is a supernatural creature which occupies a parallel world to that of mankind, and together with humans and angels makes up the three sentient creations of Allah...
in each boot who could operate on a theoretical eighth plane. Because of this, normal rules of time and space do not apply to them. It is supposed to have been forged by weaving the essence of a Djini into the soles of the boot using cruel spells.
- Seven Mile Boots is a new media art
New media art is a genre that encompasses artworks created with new media technologies, including digital art, computer graphics, computer animation, virtual art, Internet art, interactive art technologies, computer robotics, and art as biotechnology...
piece by Erich Berger, Laura Beloff and Martin Pichlmair. It consists of two boots that allow the wearer to travel through the internet. By taking a few steps, the user traverses from one chat room to the next. The user can hear people chatting through the speakers that are built into the tips of the shoes.
- Ten-league boots is a common variant.http://www.google.com/search?q=ten-league+boots&hl=en&start=10&sa=N
- Seven-league-boots are used in Terry Pratchett
Sir Terence David John Pratchett, OBE , more commonly known as Terry Pratchett, is an English novelist, known for his frequently comical work in the fantasy genre. He is best known for his popular and long-running Discworld series of comic fantasy novels...
's DiscworldDiscworld is a comedic fantasy book series by the British author Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a flat world balanced on the backs of four elephants which, in turn, stand on the back of a giant turtle, Great A'Tuin. The books frequently parody, or at least take inspiration from, J. R. R....
books by the wizards of Unseen University. It is noted that unless some basic precautions are taken, using the boots results in having one's feet twenty-one miles apart causing unacceptable groin strain.
- The character Jack is reported to have attempted to use the boots to win the Boston Marathon in Fables (comic).
- Nostro's Boots of Striding are a legendary item described in Book 6 of the Dragon Warriors
Dragon Warriors is a fantasy role playing game system written by Dave Morris and Oliver Johnson and published by Corgi Books between the years 1985 and 1986. In 2009 it was re-collected in a new hardcover edition by Mongoose Publishing...
role-playing game, having a similar function to seven-league boots.
- Seven league boots is an item in the computer game Ancient Domains of Mystery
Ancient Domains of Mystery, or ADOM, is a roguelike game by Thomas Biskup first released in 1994. The player's aim is to stop the forces of Chaos that invade the world of Ancardia....
(ADOM) that reduces the time to traverse wilderness and dungeon squares.
- 7 League Boots (or simply "boots", if the item isn't detailed) is a usable item in the game Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen
is a strategy video game for Nintendo's Super Nintendo Entertainment System, directed by Yasumi Matsuno with artwork by Akihiko Yoshida. It is the first installment of an episodic series , and was originally developed by Quest for the Super Famicom system is a strategy video game for Nintendo's...
. If used, it transports a player's unit to any freed town in the current map.
- Boots of Blinding Speed are a pair of boots in the Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind.
- Ten Pace Boots Also found in Morrowind, these boots let you take very large jumps to travel quickly, at the cost of drained fatigue.
- Seven League Boots are used by Princess Addie in The Two Princesses of Bamarre
The Two Princesses of Bamarre is a 2001 novel by Gail Carson Levine author of Ella Enchanted and several other books. The story revolves around the lives of two sisters who are very close, but as different as night and day. Adelina , the younger and fearful sister, is frightened by many things,...
by Gail Carson Levine.
- Seven League Boots are used by the protagionist Giannine Bellisario, in the fantasy novel, Heir Apparent (novel)
Heir Apparent is a science fiction/fantasy novel by young adult author Vivian Vande Velde, about a girl, Giannine Bellisario, who becomes trapped inside a looping virtual reality role-playing game....
. They are used to travel to a dragon's lair that would have originally taken days, but was managed in a few hours.
Non fictional
- Seven League Boots is a 1935 travelogue by American adventurer Richard Halliburton
Richard Halliburton was an American traveler, adventurer, and author. Best known nowadays for having swum the length of the Panama Canal and paying the lowest toll in its history—thirty-six cents—Halliburton was headline news for most of his brief career...
- Jumping stilts, a device for jumping and running
- Rocket boots
Rocket boots are a patented Russian invention to speed up walking. Created by scientist Viktor Gordeyev, the "boots" are actually a mechanical construction strapped on the legs and are powered by small Internal combustion engines that adds energy to every step....