The epithets of pretty and piquant are appropriate enough to some of the shoes in the European collection; but for pure elegance we must go to Hindoo and Mohammedan lands. In the small case of Indian shoes at Cluny there is more than one pair of shoes that will tell us why the story of the Glass Slipper took such a hold on the Oriental imagination. The exquisite form of one (32) suggests Cinderella; the pure and beautiful lines of another (33) render it worthy of the foot of that noblest among the types of female character, brave Seventee Bai. The first has a linen upper, embroidered with silver thread and spangles; the second is embroidered with gold, except the curious little tongue on the instep, which is minutely ornamented with gold and silver, mingling with the glittering shards of insects. A boat-like slipper (34) from Northern Africa is also extremely elegant and delicate, and looks light as an eggshell, which it nearly resembles in colour. This appearance of lightness is enhanced by an ornamentation of puffs in white and rose-coloured silks. Boots are little used in India; even the native soldiery wear shoes. In Mohammedan countries, however, boots are women’s wear. Thus at Cluny there is a pair of women’s half-boots of yellow leather finely cut, and so arranged that the toe-piece and sole look like an over-shoe. This recalls the description in “Eothen” of those “coffin-shaped” bundles which stand for a Mohammedan lady taking a walk with her servants. “Painfully struggling against the obstacles to progression interposed by the many folds of her clumsy drapery, by her _big mud boots_, and especially by her two pair of slippers, she works her way full awkwardly enough, closely followed by her women-slaves.” The use of the boot marks a conquering race. In mediæval Germany it was forbidden to the serfs; and this explains why, when they rose for justice after ages of oppression, they chose for their cognisance and standard of defiance a great peasant’s shoe, whence their Confederation was known as the Bundschuh.