Seven-league boots

Hop o' My Thumb stealing the Seven-league boots from the Ogre, by Gustave Doré

Seven-league boots are an element in European folklore. The boots allow the wearer to take great strides—seven leagues each step—resulting in great speed. The boots are often presented by a magical character to the protagonist to aid in the completion of a significant task. (A league is three miles, so seven leagues is 21 miles or just under 35 kilometres.) 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 - Sweetheart Roland, Adelbert von Chamisso's Peter Schlemiel, Goethe's Faust (Mephistopheles uses them at the start of Part Two, Act Four), Wilhelm Hauff's "Der Kleine Muck"
• France - Charles Perrault's - Hop o' My Thumb
• Norway - Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe - Soria Moria Castle
• England - Jack the Giant Killer, The Midnight Folk, The Light Fantastic, The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Jenny Nimmo's Midnight for Charlie Bone, C.S. Lewis's The Pilgrim's Regress, Diana Wynne Jones' Howl's Moving Castle
• United States - Zane Grey's The Last of the Plainsmen

Other variations

In fiction

• Boots of speed is a frequent item in role-playing games and roguelikes. In the Dungeons & Dragons 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.
• One League Boots are used by Kay Harker in The Midnight Folk. He takes them from the witch Mrs. Pouncer's cupboard, where there are many other magical items.
• 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 each boot who could operate on a theoretical eighth plane. Because of this, normal rules of time and space do not apply to them.
• Seven League Boots are a library artifact used several times in The Grimm Legacy, authored by Polly Shulman.
• Ten-league boots is a common variant.[1]
• Seven-league-boots are used in Terry Pratchett's Discworld 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 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 (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. 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 which allow the wearer to run at extremely high speeds, but blind the user during use.
• Ten Pace Boots also found in Morrowind, these boots increase the player's running speed and let the player fall from great heights without taking damage.
• Seven League Boots are used by Princess Addie in The Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine.
• Seven League Boots are used by the protagionist Giannine Bellisario, in the fantasy novel, Heir Apparent (novel). They are used to travel to a dragon's lair that would have originally taken days, but was managed in a few hours.
• Seven League Boots are used by Savant in the Wildstorm comic WildCATS.
• Seven League Boots were used in an episode of Fox's Peter Pan and the Pirates in which Captain Hook steals magical boots from a fairy that allow him to leap great distances and fly in order to make it easier for him to hunt down Peter Pan.
• Seven League Boots were used in the book Howl's Moving Castle by Sophie in order to travel a great distance to Lettie's house.

Non fictional

• Seven League Boots is a 1935 travelogue by American adventurer Richard Halliburton
• Jumping stilts, a device for jumping and running
• Rocket boots
• Song "Seven league Boots" by Rick and Michael Curtis.

See also

• League (unit)
• Fairy tale
• European folklore

External links

• The Seven Mile Boots media art piece