Seven-league boots


Seven-league boots are an element in European folklore. The boot allows the person wearing them to take strides of seven leagues per 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.
Mention of the legendary boots are found in:
From the context of English language, 'Seven-league boots' originally arose as a translation from the French 'bottes de sept lieues', popularised by Charles Perrault's fairy tales. A league was considered to represent the distance walked in an hour by an average man. If a man were to walk 7 hours per day, he would then walk 7 leagues, or about. In the 17th century, post-boys' boots were called 'seven-league boots'. While some suggest that the '7 leagues' references the distance between post houses, this is inaccurate: the distance between coach inns was fixed at no more than 5 leagues.

Other variations

In fiction

Folklore