The following night, the couple saw the little men delighted as they tried the beautiful little clothes and shoes; they danced out of the house and never returned, but the shoemaker prospered in his business.

Then a band of little elves suddenly appeared, brought the rightful child, set it on the hearth, and took the changeling away.

Wicht is cognate with wight in English and vættr in Old Norse, all stemming from Proto-Germanic *wihtiz or *wehtiz ('thing, creature').

[3][4][5] Friz Freleng created a musical adaption of the story for his 1946 Merrie Melodies cartoon Holiday for Shoestrings.

Four years later, Tex Avery adapted the story for his 1950 MGM cartoon short The Peachy Cobbler.

[6] The 1956 Looney Tunes cartoon short Yankee Dood It is based on this fairy tale, with Elmer Fudd as the king of industrial elves.

150 years after this fairy tale took place, he visits the shoemaker to retrieve the elves he has employed, while also imparting the virtues of mass production capitalism to him.

Ray Vecchio vaguely recollects this story when talking with Constable Benton Fraser about a poor cobbler.

Muppet Classic Theater had a version where a shoemaker (played by Kermit the Frog) faces ruin until his livelihood is saved by a group of philanthropic entertainers, The Elvises, who, naturally, make only blue suede shoes.

In a Barney & Friends episode called If the Shoe Fits..., the kids are rehearsing for their play about this story.

In the Harry Potter series of books, "house elves" are enslaved creatures who take care of the needs of human wizards, and are free of their obligation once given clothes.

In the TV show Supernatural, the season 6 episode Clap Your Hands If You Believe has a variation of the tale, of a watchmaker and some fairies.

Jim La Marche retold and illustrated his version of the story in 2003, published by Chronicle Books.