"The Red Shoes" is a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, first published in 1845). The story is about a young girl named Karen who is so poor that she has to go barefoot in the summer and wear wooden shoes in the winter. One day, she is given a pair of red shoes made from scraps of red cloth by "Old Mother Shoemaker". Karen becomes obsessed with her red shoes and wears them to church, despite being told not to by her adoptive mother. As a result, she is cursed to dance in the shoes forever, unable to stop even when she wants to). The story has been adapted into various media, including a 1948 British film directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger). The themes of the story include vanity, temptation, and redemption.