Kuli English Podcast

011 The Craziest Children’s Book

• Chris • Season 1 • Episode 11

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In this episode, we dive into a wild Japanese children’s book called The Red Shoes. I rewrote the story into easy-to-understand “Kuli English” and added comments and explanations to help English learners follow along.

Hi everyone and welcome to the Red Shoes episode of Kuli English Podcast. So in the last episode, we had sort of like a free talk episode, so this time we're going to go for a different style. This time I'm going to read you a story called The Red Shoes.

And if you've listened to my old podcast, not this one, but my old one from two years ago, I also made an episode about this book back then, but this episode today is going to be the high quality version. So the way that I found this book is I went to a bookstore in Japan, and at the time I couldn't really read Japanese and, you know, all the books are in Japanese, right? So I had to go to the kids section, and the kids section matches my Japanese level at the time. And I found this cute little children's book, and it's from the kids section.

So, you know, it uses easy Japanese and surely the story is going to be nice and simple, right? Well, actually, no, this book is crazy. Like, it's written in easy Japanese, and it has cute anime and art and stuff like that, but the story is really messed up. So I figured, okay, maybe this would make a good podcast episode.

And so what I did was I rewrote the whole story into easy English, and I call this the Kuli English version. And I also added in comments and stuff to help explain certain things, and that's what this episode is going to be. So let's go ahead and get started right after this music break.

Once upon a time, there was a girl named Karen. She was a peasant, and that means she's poor. Her life sucks. 

Sucks means very bad. Why does her life suck? Because not only is she poor, but she also has no dad. No one knows where her dad is.

Maybe he ran away. Maybe he's dead. Nobody knows.

Karen's life is very sad, but at least Karen has her mom. Her mom is very nice. And one day, her mom gave Karen, dun dun dun, some red shoes, the name of the book.

Karen, here are some red shoes. But then Karen's life started to suck even more, because her mom also died.

Okay, so this is just the beginning, and it's already very sad.

And by the way, when you hear music like this in the background, that means I'm pausing the story reading, and I'm giving you some comments. Okay, let's continue.

So Karen had no money, no dad, and now she also had no mom, because the mom died.

But then, Karen's life started to get better. She got adopted by a rich old lady, so now she has a new mom. Well, she's actually really old, and I don't want the names to be confusing, so let's call her Grandma.

And the new grandma that adopted Karen was very, very rich. So she bought Karen many new nice presents. For example, nice clothes, a nice new necklace, some new gloves, and there was one more very nice present, some very expensive red shoes.

But do you remember, Karen already had red shoes. It was a gift from her late mom, late mom meaning a dead mom. But Karen liked the expensive shoes more, so she threw away the old shoes and started wearing the new red shoes every day.

Okay, so just to review, in this story we have Karen who got adopted by a rich grandma, and the grandma bought her some nice new red shoes, and Karen started wearing those new shoes every day. Okay, let's continue.

The next Sunday, Karen and her rich grandma went to church.

They went to church every Sunday. But the pastor, the pastor is the church speaker, scolded Karen. Karen, what are those shoes you're wearing? At church you have to wear black shoes.

The grandma looked at Karen. How could you, she said. And Karen said, oh no, I'm sorry, I promise not to wear the red shoes to church anymore.

And then the next Sunday, it was time to go to church again. And while Karen was getting ready to go to church, she saw her red shoes.

Hmm, the red would probably match my outfit really well, she thought to herself. And then she decided to wear the shoes to church again.

Okay, so just to review, Karen and her grandma went to church, and then Karen got in trouble for wearing red shoes. And she promised not to do it again, but then the next week she went and did it again. Come on, Karen, you gotta be a good girl. Anyways, let's go ahead and see what happens to her.

At church, a man noticed Karen's shoes. Oh, your shoes are so bright. I bet they're really good for dancing. I hope they never come off when you dance, ever. And the man touched the shoes. And Karen thought, hmm, you're right, I should dance because these shoes just look so good.

And then outside the church, Karen decided to try dancing a little bit. And she wanted to dance a little, but the shoes, like magic, helped her dance. It was like the shoes were moving on their own.

She started dancing more and more, and she was spinning and jumping, and everyone was looking at Karen. Dancing at church? That's not good, everyone was thinking. And then someone yelled, Karen, stop! Actually, I think the voice is not good. Karen, stop! It was Grandma. But Karen was spinning too hard and she couldn't control herself, and then she crashed into Grandma. Oof.

But whew, thank goodness, Karen was okay. She was lucky, and she landed on something soft. Karen had landed on her grandma.

And the grandma was injured and couldn't walk anymore for the rest of her life.

Okay, so let's review. So Karen wore her red shoes to church again, even though she's not supposed to.

And then a man told her, wow, you have really good shoes. I bet they're good for dancing. And then Karen thought, oh, you know what, you're right.

And then she danced, and then she danced too hard, and then she crashed into her grandma. Boom, she bumped into her grandma. And then the grandma got hurt, and she can't walk anymore for the rest of her life.

So this was like a really bad injury. Okay, let's continue.

The rich grandma was injured.

She was bedridden, meaning she had to stay in bed. She couldn't even take a bath by herself. So Karen took care of her grandma every day.

She cooked for Grandma. She gave her baths. She took care of her grandma for every single little thing that was needed.

And what did the grandma say? She said, Karen, I'm so lucky to have a good girl like you by my side. I love you, Karen. And what was Karen thinking? Karen was thinking she wanted to go to a dance party that night.

And then she had an idea. Oh, I know. When Grandma falls asleep tonight, I'll sneak out and go to the dance party.

Is she going to be okay without me? And Karen looked at her sleeping grandma. And then she looked at her red shoes. Yeah, she'll be fine.

And Karen decided to go to the dance party.

Okay, so just to review here, the grandma got injured at the church. So now she has to stay in bed forever.

And she really can't do anything by herself. So Karen has to take care of her. And the most amazing part is the grandma, she didn't get mad at all.

Like if I were the grandma, I would definitely be mad. But, you know, I guess the grandma is just really nice. And, you know, even though Karen was being stupid and she crashed into the grandma, the grandma is really nice and she's not mad.

And she even tells Karen, Karen, I love you. And now Karen is sneaking out while the grandma is sleeping so that she can go to a dance party. Okay, let's continue.

Karen got to the dance party. And she was so good at dancing that everyone wanted to dance with her. But the more she danced, the more the shoes started dancing on their own.

And then suddenly, instead of dancing with a partner, Karen was dancing on her own. And her dancing became more and more intense. And then Karen kept dancing until she realized she wasn't in the dance party anymore.

She was outside on the street and she couldn't stop dancing.

Okay, so just a little summary here. Karen got to the dance party.

And I should also mention that this story is like a pretty old story. So, you know, the dance party is not like a club. It's more like a ball.

So imagine like a fancy Cinderella princess party. But anyways, Karen got there and then she's really good at dancing. And then so she started dancing and the shoes started dancing on their own.

And then she kept dancing until she was outside and she was still dancing. Okay, let's continue.

Karen was scared.

The shoes took her out onto the street and then out of the town and then into the forest, all while dancing. The shoes took her through lots of sharp plants in the forest. So Karen got scratched all over and her blood was all over her clothes and her shoes.

Oh, please, someone help me, Karen cried. And then finally an angel appeared. But the angel had a scary face.

And the angel pointed at her and said, while wearing your red shoes, you will dance forever. And the shoes kept dancing and Karen had no choice but to continue. Karen had been dancing in her shoes for over 24 hours.

And then deep in the forest, Karen heard voices. There was a funeral going on. It turns out that the grandma was so worried about Karen that she died.

And they were having a funeral for her. The shoes kept dancing so Karen couldn't attend the funeral. Karen had no choice but to continue dancing deeper and deeper into the forest.

Okay, so let's review here. The shoes made Karen dance all the way into the forest. And in the forest, because there's a bunch of nasty sharp plants, she got cuts all over her.

And then finally an angel appeared. And you know, angels are supposed to be good, right? But this one has a scary face. So he's not a nice angel.

He's mean and he didn't help her. And then she noticed that there was a funeral for her grandma. And if you think about it, this grandma, she got injured, right? She can't walk, she can't cook, she can't eat, or she can't even take baths without the help of Karen.

But since back then, there's no food delivery, there's no Uber Eats. Karen is too busy dancing for 24 hours. So the grandma died.

And what the book actually says is that the grandma was so worried about Karen that she died. But we all know that eating and drinking are also important to staying alive. So don't forget to drink water.

Anyways, let's continue until the end of the story.

Karen kept dancing day and night. And she couldn't even stop even though she wanted to.

Then she found a small house where a fisherman lived. She asked the fisherman, Please, oh please, could you help me? Please cut off my feet. And so the fisherman cut off her feet and made her new fake wooden feet, feet made from wood. And gave her crutches so that she could walk. And now Karen has no grandma, no red shoes, and no feet.

Her life really sucks. And the scary thing is, the red shoes, along with Karen's feet that got cut off, it kept dancing and dancing. And it went further into the forest, leaving Karen behind.

Karen started working at the church and prayed every day. Sometimes she would hear other girls talking about what they wanted. For example, she would hear things like, Oh my God, I wish I had pretty clothes.

Or, Oh my God, I would do anything for some pretty shoes. But when Karen heard this, she shook her head. No, no, no.

Having pretty clothes or having pretty shoes does not give you true happiness. And she would remember this every time she looked down at her feet. And then one day, while Karen was praying, an angel appeared again.

It was the same angel from the forest. But this time, he didn't have a scary face. He was carrying flowers.

And he told Karen, You can go to heaven now. So Karen went to heaven where no one ever asked her about the red shoes ever again. The end.

Okay, that's the end. Let's take a short little music break and then we'll come back and talk about a few things.

Okay, so now you might be thinking, Okay, there's no way that this is the original story.

I bet Chris made up most of that. And the truth is, like, I didn't make up most of that at all. I made up almost nothing.

So originally, this story wasn't even a children's story. It was written in 1845 by a Dutch guy. So someone from the Netherlands.

And the Japanese version was made in 1997. And they changed some of the stuff so that it's not as dark. So it's not as like really morbid and sad.

Like originally, it wasn't a fisherman, but an executioner who cut off Karen's feet. And by the way, an executioner is someone whose job is to cut off people's heads. And my version, the Kuli English version, like I tried to use easier words.

But the story is more or less about the same. And of course, some stuff like, you know, the lines that they say, for example, like, Oh, my grandma is dying, but I want to go to the dance party anyways. Like these aren't from the original story, but I just added these to make it easier to understand.

But yeah, this story is really, really messed up. Like in the original Japanese version, like, sorry, in the Japanese version, it's made into like a small cartoon, like anime for kids. And the main character, she looks like an eight-year-old girl.

But, you know, even though she's just a little girl, like all these terrible things happen to her. Like, you know, right from the beginning, her mom dies, and that's on page two. And then on page three, they're going to a funeral for the mom.

And then later on, like she gets her feet chopped off. And, you know, these are like pretty scary things. You know, it's not like, oh, there's a monster and the monster is going to eat you. And then after you think about it and after the story is over, you're like, well, monsters aren't actually real. So there's nothing to be scared of.

But no, like this one, it's the next level of scary.

So like, you know, it talks about your mom dies, your grandma dies, and then you get your feet chopped off. And this actually, this reminds me of a story that I read as a kid. There's a story that I read called Mr. Miacca.

And in that story, there was a little boy named Tommy. And Tommy was a bad boy. And so Tommy's mom would always be like, Tommy, you need to be a good boy or Mr. Miacca is going to catch you and eat you.

And then, you know, of course, like Tommy kept doing bad things. So then one day he actually got caught by Mr. Miacca. And then Mr. Miacca like tried to eat him and like almost ate him.

But then Tommy was able to run away. And then after that, then Tommy's like, okay, I got to be a good boy so I don't get eaten. And like, you know, with this story, like it's not that scary.

Like, I was like, what, like seven years old. And I remember at night, like I would like hug my legs in bed. And I'd be thinking like, oh, my God, I don't want Mr. Miacca to eat me.

But, you know, like you got to remember like kids get scared more easily. So, you know, of course, it probably depends on the kid. But for the most part, they get scared easily.

And yeah, I don't know if like this kind of this Red Shoes book is really appropriate for kids. Anyways, let's take a short little break here.

Okay, so now I want to tell you about a couple of things that were different from the original version.

So I already mentioned this before, but in the Japanese version, Karen met a fisherman in the woods. And then the fisherman cut off her feet. And in the original version, it's not a fisherman, but an executioner.

And again, an executioner is someone whose job it is to cut people's heads off and kill them. You know, so for example, like if a criminal did something really bad, and then they got caught by the police, then like in the old times, they would sentence him to death. So they say, okay, you need to die.

And whose job is it to chop off their head? It's the executioner. Like that's his job. And then another thing is in the original story, Karen asks, hey, Mr. Executioner, can you please help me? And the executioner says, oh, you probably don't know who I am.

Like my job is I chop people's heads off. And Karen says, and this is kind of funny, but she's like, oh, no, don't chop off my head, because then I can't properly regret my actions. So can you actually just chop off my feet instead? So like the main difference here is just like the fisherman versus the executioner, probably because the executioner is just kind of like a really dark job.

And I don't know. I don't think you want to put that in a kid's book. Okay.

So difference number two is, and it's just a gory little detail, but when the feet get chopped off in the original version, Karen has no feet anymore. Right. So like she wants to go to church and she has to like, you know, make her way to church using whatever tools she can.

And then there is something that would block her from going to church. And then it's the thing that's blocking her is her own dancing feet. So the feet got chopped off and they're still in the bloody shoes and they're blocking the way and they're just like dancing and blocking her.

So she's like, oh, come on. I want to go to church, but she can't go to church. And then, you know, this is actually really scary.

It's like a horror kind of feeling. So they didn't put that in the Japanese kid's version. Okay.

And then a difference number three. And then after this one, there's really no more differences. But number three.

Okay. So do you remember in the story, Karen went to the dance party while her grandma was sleeping. So she's like sneaking out, you know, oh, grandma's asleep.

She won't know if I go to the dance party. Let me go to the dance party. Well, in the original story, the grandma wasn't sleeping, but she already died.

And then Karen was deciding between two things. She was deciding, do I want to go to the funeral for my grandma or do I want to go to a dance? And then she ended up going to the dance instead of going to the funeral. And actually, I want to talk about this one a little bit more.

So I was thinking like, which one is worse? Okay. So let me give you the options again. 

So option A is grandma is sleeping and then you sneak out to go to the dance.

So that's like the story that I was telling. 

And then option B is the grandma is already dead. And then instead of attending the funeral, like you go to the dance.

So, you know, in both cases, the grandma dies and you go to the dance. But I was thinking like, which one is considered like worse? Which one would make Karen a more bad character, like a worse character? 

And so actually, let me give you a couple seconds of silence so that you can think about it. Just like three seconds or something while you think about, you know, which one would make Karen a worse character.

So in option B, option B is the one where grandma's already dead. And then and if you decide to not go to the funeral because you want to go to the dance, I feel like this one sounds pretty bad. Like, you know, if you can't attend the funeral for your parents, like usually you have a good reason, right? Like, you know, maybe someone asks you like, oh, hey, I went to the funeral.

How come you weren't there? And hopefully you have a good reason. You can say something like, oh, like I was really sick. Or you can say like, you know, someone kidnapped me or something like that.

You know, but if someone asked you like, hey, how come you didn't come to the funeral? And then your reason is, oh, I wanted to go to a dance. Then I feel like that's pretty bad. Like people are going to think pretty badly of Karen.

So option B is pretty bad.

But now let's let's talk about option A. So again, option A is while grandma is sleeping, you sneak out to go to the dance. And while you're dancing and dancing like you dance too long and then grandma dies.

And why did she die? Because you were supposed to take care of her. Remember, like she can't walk. She can't cook.

She can't even take baths. But then, you know, because you didn't take care of her because you're dancing, then she died. So this one I think is actually it's actually even worse than the other one, because it's like kind of your fault that the grandma died.

In option B, you know, the grandma is already dead. And, you know, even if you don't attend the funeral, like you didn't cause her to die or anything. But in this option A, like you are the reason why grandma didn't live.

If you had just stayed home and didn't go to this dance party, then, you know, you probably could have taken care of her and she she wouldn't be dead. But anyways, you know, I think there's not really an answer here. I could see like an argument for the other way around.

But anyways, it's been sort of like a long episode. So let's go ahead and wrap things up here. So if you like this episode or you want to help me out, definitely feel free to share this episode with someone that you think who might like it.

The whole goal of this podcast is to give English listening practice in a fun way so that people can practice their English while doing other things, like folding laundry or doing the dishes. And the truth is I actually recommend the audio version over the video version. So, you know, Spotify or Apple podcasts over the video version, which is YouTube.

But the video version on YouTube does have subtitles. So if you really want to follow along like you can do that. But I what I recommend is if you understand like 80 percent or more, then just continue listening on the side while you do other things.

And then, you know, maybe you can look up words on the side, but, you know, don't do too much or else it's going to cost you energy. And if it costs you too much energy, then you don't want to do it. But anyways, thanks for listening.

And I hope to see you next time on Kuli English Podcast.