Seven-league boots
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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 kilometers.) 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, Howl's Moving Castle, The Midnight Folk, The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Jenny Nimmo's Midnight for Charlie Bone
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[edit] Other variations
[edit] In fiction
- Boots of speed are 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.
- 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 Mile Boots is a new media art piece by Erich Berger, Laura Beloff and Martin Pichlmair. It consists of two boots that allow the wearer to travel through the internet. By taking a few steps, the user traverses from one chat room to the next. The user can hear people chatting through the speakers that are built into the tips of the shoes.
- 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 let you take very large jumps to travel quickly, at the cost of drained fatigue.
- Seven League Boots are used by Princess Addie in The Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine.
[edit] Non fictional
- Seven League Boots is a 1935 travelogue by American adventurer Richard Halliburton
- Jumping stilts, a device for jumping and running
- Rocket boots
