Everyone knows who Doby the House Elf is. But did you know that the idea of helpful sprites who are set free by a gift of clothing wasn’t a Harry Potter original? In fact, it is very likely that J.K. Rowling might have been influenced by this old fairy tale. 
Once upon a long time ago, there was a shoemaker who, despite being good of heart, had fallen upon hard times until, at last, all he had in the world was his beloved wife and just enough leather to make a pair of shoes. That night, he cut the leather and laid out all the work on his bench, meaning to rise early the following morning to finish up what he thought would be the last pair of shoes he would ever make.
Imagine his surprise when he woke up the next morning and saw on his workbench a pair of finished shoes, made from the materials he had laid out the night before. In wonderment, he examined the shoes and saw that they were perfectly made in every way. They were, in fact, made much better than he could have made them himself!
The shoemaker put the finished pair in his window and, almost immediately, a man came in and willingly paid a handsome price for the shoes. The shoemaker was overjoyed for he now had enough money to buy leather for two pairs of shoes, and a little something besides for his wife.
That night, the shoemaker again cut the leather and laid out the work to be completed tomorrow. He woke up early the next day and found, as before, that the work had been done for him. Two pairs of perfectly finished shoes now stood on his workbench. Soon buyers came, and bought both pairs so that by the end of the day, the shoemaker had money to buy enough leather for four pairs.
He cut the leather again and laid out overnight, only to wake in the morning to find all the work done. And as always, the shoes were of the highest quality and fetched the best prices. This went on for some time, until the shoemaker and his wife were once again living is some modest comfort.
One night, around Christmas time, the shoemaker and his wife were discussing their good fortune and together decided to stay up that night and see how the shoes were being made. So they hid behind some curtains in the shoemaker’s workshop and waited.
At the stroke of midnight, two little naked elves appeared from out of nowhere and sat themselves at the shoemaker’s bench. There, they started stitching and hammering and stitching some more, until – with hours to go before daybreak – the finished shoes stood on the bench, ready for the following day’s customers.
The following morning, after all the customers had gone home, the wife told her shoemaker husband, “these elves have gotten us back on our feet and given us a better start than we had before, and yet the poor dears are naked and probably shivering from the cold!”
The shoemaker agreed and listened as his wife continued. “To show our gratitude to them, I shall make them little clothes so that they can cover up!” And so it was that that night, along with all the leather, the shoemaker and his wife laid out elf-sized pants, shirts, and waist-coats, and – from the shoemaker – two pairs of tiny elf shoes.
The couple hid, as before, and settled in to wait for their benefactors. At the stroke of midnight, the elves came and set to work. But before a single stitch could be stitched, the elves noticed the clothes and laughed in delight.
They quickly donned the clothes and danced around the room laughing and singing with tiny voices that resembled the tinkling of tiny bells. Around and around they danced until finally, they danced their way right out of the shoemaker’s home,
The shoemaker and his wife never saw them again, but everything went well with them for the rest of their days.