The Silver Shoes are magical items from the Land of Oz that carry a powerful spell, which allows the wearer to travel anywhere in three steps. This is accomplished by knocking the heels together three times and commanding the shoes to carry you there.

HistoryEdit

The Silver Shoes were once owned by the Wicked Witch of the East. When Dorothy Gale's house fell on her and killed her, the Good Witch of the North gave them to the girl. Later, the Wicked Witch of the West tried to steal them, but Dorothy threw a bucket of water on her and destroyed her as well. Unaware of the magic power of the shoes, Dorothy went to Glinda, the Good Witch of the South, hoping to find a way home. Glinda explained the spell to her, and Dorothy used the shoes to return home to Kansas. The shoes, however, fell off on the way and are lost forever in the Deadly Desert. (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz)

Ruby slippersEdit

Screenwriter Noel Langley famously changed L. Frank Baum's silver shoes to Ruby Slippers in the 1939 MGM film The Wizard of Oz.

Modern worksEdit

In Alexander Melentyevich Volkov's The Wizard of the Emerald City, the shoes are the source of Elly's (his version of Dorothy) protection instead of the good Witch's kiss. She is therefore attacked once by an Ogre when removing them, and afterward wears them even when she sleeps. They are not taken from the Witch's body, but rather brought by Toto from her dwelling (a dark cave). This was possibly done to avert the problem of a person wearing the shoes to be impossible to harm, since in that book the hurricane was created by the Wicked Witch to destroy mankind, and redirected upon her by the Good Witch of the North, who suffered no ill effects for harming her. It is said the Witch only wore the shoes on very special occasions. They are lost just like in Baum's book.