ENF NIP story – The Shoemaker’s Daughters

His sole comfort was his daughters. He called them Alfa and Omega, for that is what they were to him, although as they grew, their names were misheard and corrupted, and they became known simply as Anna and Olga. It hardly mattered, since no one could remember whose name was whose, and each of them answered to either.

They were the most beautiful girls the townspeople had ever seen, with ivory skin and raven-black hair that made them the image of their mother. In their character, however, they were the antithesis of that dutiful treasure, who had given her life for their sake. It was sometimes said that death had rescued her from shame, for in truth, her daughters grew up spoiled and mischievous. Their father just could not bring himself to discipline them. Striking either one would be like striking his own true love, he said, and since they were identical, he never knew which one to punish. And the twins learned early to use their resemblance to advantage, taking care that only one of them would be seen misbehaving at any time. When Anna stole apples from a neighbor’s tree, Olga could be found sitting in the cottage, reading her lessons. When Olga threw mud at the washing that hung in the neighbor’s yard, Anna would be diligently sweeping the floor in the cobbler’s shop. And when the neighbor came to complain, and the shoemaker asked which of his daughters was guilty, the neighbor could not be certain. Then the shoemaker would ask the girls to confess which of them was the culprit, and they would only point at each other. 

“I am afraid I will punish the one who is blameless,” the old man said. “And I cannot bear to make an innocent girl suffer.”

This situation dragged on for several years. The shoemaker’s old friends fell away one by one, taking their custom elsewhere. He barely noticed, however, as he thought only of his grief and the solace he took in his pretty daughters.