The Valiant Little Tailor

One summer morning a little tailor was sitting at his table by the window. He was in a good mood and sewed with all his might. Then a peasant woman came down the street crying, "Good jam, cheap! Good jam, cheap!" This sounded pleasant in the tailor's ears.

He stretched his little head out of the window and called, "Come up here, dear woman. You'll sell your goods here." The woman came up the three steps to the tailor with her heavy basket, and he made her unpack all the pots for him.

He inspected each one, lifted them up, put his nose to them, and finally said, "The jam seems good to me. Weigh me out four ounces, dear woman, and if it's a quarter of a pound, that doesn't matter." The woman, who had hoped for a better sale, gave him what he wanted and went away quite angry and grumbling.

"Now, may God bless the jam for my use," cried the little tailor, "and give me health and strength!" So he brought the bread out of the cupboard, cut himself a piece across the loaf, and spread the jam over it.

"This won't taste bitter," he said, "but I'll finish the jacket before I take a bite." He laid the bread beside him, sewed on, and in his joy made bigger and bigger stitches. Meanwhile the smell of the sweet jam rose to the wall, where many flies were sitting.

They were attracted and came down on it in crowds. "Hey! Who invited you?" said the little tailor, and chased away the uninvited guests. But the flies didn't understand German and wouldn't be sent away; they came back in even greater numbers. At last the tailor lost his patience.

He grabbed a piece of cloth from under his worktable and said, "Wait, I'll give it to you!" and struck them mercilessly. When he lifted the cloth and counted, there lay before him no fewer than seven dead flies with their legs stretched out.

"Are you a fellow like that?" he said, and couldn't help admiring his own bravery. "The whole town shall know about this!" So the little tailor quickly cut himself a belt, stitched it, and embroidered on it in large letters: SEVEN AT ONE STROKE! "What, the town?" he continued.

"The whole world shall hear of it!" And his heart wagged with joy like a lamb's tail. The tailor put on the belt and decided to go out into the world, because he thought his workshop was too small for his courage.

Before he left, he looked around the house to see if there was anything he could take with him. He found nothing but an old cheese, which he put in his pocket. At the door he saw a bird that had gotten caught in a bush.

It had to go into his pocket along with the cheese. Then he boldly took to the road. Because he was light and nimble, he felt no fatigue. The road led him up a mountain. When he reached the top, there sat a powerful giant, looking around quite comfortably.

The little tailor went bravely up to him and said, "Good day, comrade. So you're sitting here looking at the wide world? I'm on my way there and want to try my luck. Do you feel like coming with me?" The giant looked down at the tailor with contempt and said, "You ragamuffin!

You miserable little creature!" "Oh, really?" answered the little tailor, and unbuttoned his coat to show the giant his belt. "Read there what kind of man I am!" The giant read, "Seven at one stroke," and thought it was men the tailor had killed.

So he began to feel a little respect for the tiny fellow. Still, he wanted to test him first. He took a stone in his hand and squeezed it until water dripped out. "Do that too," said the giant, "if you have the strength." "Is that all?" said the tailor.

"That's child's play for us!" He put his hand in his pocket, brought out the soft cheese, and squeezed it until liquid ran out. "There!" he said. "That was a bit better, wasn't it?" The giant didn't know what to say and couldn't believe it of the little man.

Then the giant picked up a stone and threw it so high that the eye could barely follow it. "Now, little mite, do that too." "Well thrown," said the tailor, "but the stone came back down to earth.

I'll throw one that will never come back at all." He put his hand in his pocket, took out the bird, and threw it into the air. The bird, delighted to be free, rose, flew away, and did not come back. "How do you like that shot, comrade?" asked the tailor.

"You can certainly throw," said the giant, "but now let's see if you can carry anything properly." He led the little tailor to a mighty oak tree that had been cut down and lay on the ground.

"If you're strong enough, help me carry this tree out of the forest." "Gladly," answered the little man. "You take the trunk on your shoulder, and I'll lift the branches and twigs—they're the heaviest after all." The giant put the trunk on his shoulder, but the tailor sat on a branch.

The giant couldn't look around, so he had to carry the whole tree, and the little tailor too. The tailor, sitting behind, was quite merry and happy and whistled the song "Three Tailors Rode Forth from the Gate" as if carrying the tree were child's play.

The giant dragged the heavy burden part of the way but could go no further. He cried, "Listen, I'll have to let the tree fall!" The tailor sprang nimbly down, grabbed the tree with both arms as if he had been carrying it, and said to the giant, "You're such a big fellow and can't even carry this tree!" They went on together.

As they passed a cherry tree, the giant grabbed the top where the ripest fruit hung, bent it down, and put it into the tailor's hand, telling him to eat. But the little tailor was much too weak to hold the tree.

When the giant let go, the tree sprang back, and the tailor was flung into the air with it. He fell down again without injury. The giant said, "What's this? Don't you have enough strength to hold that weak twig?" "No lack of strength," answered the little tailor.

"Do you think that's anything for a man who struck down seven at one blow? I jumped over the tree because there are hunters shooting down in the thicket. Jump like I did, if you can." The giant tried but couldn't get over the tree; he got stuck in the branches, so the tailor kept the upper hand again.

The giant said, "If you're such a brave fellow, come with me to our cave and spend the night with us." The little tailor agreed and followed him. When they entered the cave, other giants were sitting around a fire, each eating a roasted sheep.

The little tailor looked around and thought, "This is much roomier than my workshop." The giant showed him a bed and told him to lie down and sleep. But the bed was too big for the little tailor. He didn't lie in it but crept into a corner.

At midnight, when the giant thought the tailor was sound asleep, he got up, took a great iron bar, and chopped the bed in two with one blow. He thought he had finished off the grasshopper. At dawn the giants went into the forest, having quite forgotten the little tailor.

Suddenly he walked up to them, cheerful and bold. The giants were terrified. They were afraid he would strike them all dead and ran away in great haste. The little tailor went on, following his nose. After walking a long time, he came to the courtyard of a royal palace.

He felt tired, so he lay down on the grass and fell asleep. While he lay there, people came and looked at him from all sides. They read on his belt, "Seven at one stroke." "Ah," they said, "what is this great warrior doing here in peacetime?

He must be a mighty lord." They went and announced him to the king. They said that if war broke out, this would be an important and useful man, and he should not be allowed to leave.

The king liked this advice and sent one of his courtiers to the little tailor to offer him a job in the army when he woke up. The ambassador stood by the sleeper and waited until he stretched his limbs and opened his eyes. Then he made the offer.

"That's exactly why I came here," the tailor replied. "I'm ready to enter the king's service." So he was honorably received and given a special dwelling. But the soldiers didn't like the little tailor. They wished him a thousand miles away. "What will happen?" they said among themselves.

"If we quarrel with him and he strikes out, seven of us will fall with every blow. None of us can stand against him." So they decided to go together to the king and ask for their dismissal.

"We are not prepared," they said, "to stay with a man who kills seven at one stroke." The king was sorry to lose all his faithful servants because of one man. He wished he had never set eyes on the tailor and would gladly have gotten rid of him.

But he didn't dare dismiss him, for fear the tailor would strike him and all his people dead and put himself on the royal throne. He thought about it for a long time and finally had an idea.

He sent for the little tailor and told him that since he was such a great warrior, he had a request. In a forest in his country lived two giants who caused great trouble by robbing, killing, ravaging, and burning. No one could approach them without risking death.

If the tailor defeated and killed these two giants, the king would give him his only daughter in marriage and half of his kingdom as a dowry. A hundred horsemen would go with him to help. "That would be a fine thing for a man like me!" thought the little tailor.

"You don't get offered a beautiful princess and half a kingdom every day!" "Oh, yes," he replied, "I'll soon defeat the giants, and I don't need the help of a hundred horsemen. Someone who can hit seven at one blow isn't afraid of two." The little tailor set off, and the hundred horsemen followed him.

When he reached the edge of the forest, he told the horsemen, "Just wait here. I'll soon finish off the giants alone." Then he bounded into the forest and looked left and right. After a while he spotted both giants.

They were sleeping under a tree, snoring so loudly that the branches waved up and down. The little tailor, not idle, gathered two pockets full of stones and climbed up the tree. Halfway up, he slid along a branch until he sat directly above the sleepers.

Then he let one stone after another fall on the chest of one giant. For a long time the giant felt nothing, but finally he woke up, nudged his comrade, and said, "Why are you hitting me?" "You must be dreaming," said the other.

"I'm not hitting you." They lay down again, and the tailor threw a stone at the second giant. "What's the meaning of this?" cried the other. "Why are you pelting me?" "I'm not pelting you," answered the first, growling.

They argued for a while, but since they were tired, they let it go and closed their eyes again. The little tailor started the game again. He picked out the biggest stone and threw it with all his might at the first giant's chest.

"That's too much!" cried the giant, and he sprang up like a madman. He pushed his companion against the tree until it shook. The other paid him back, and they became so angry that they tore up trees and beat each other for so long that at last they both fell dead to the ground at the same time.

Then the little tailor jumped down. "It's lucky," he said, "that they didn't tear up the tree I was sitting on, or I'd have had to jump to another like a squirrel. But we tailors are nimble." He drew his sword and gave each a couple of thrusts in the chest.

Then he went out to the horsemen and said, "The work is done. I've given both their finishing blow. But it was hard work! They tore up trees in their need and defended themselves, but that's no use when someone like me comes—someone who can kill seven at one blow." "But aren't you wounded?" asked the horsemen.

"Don't worry about that," answered the tailor. "They didn't bend a single hair of mine." The horsemen didn't believe him and rode into the forest. There they found the giants lying in a pool of blood, with torn-up trees all around. The little tailor demanded the promised reward from the king.

But the king regretted his promise and thought again about how to get rid of the hero. "Before you receive my daughter and half the kingdom," he said, "you must do one more heroic deed. In the forest roams a unicorn that causes great harm.

You must catch it first." "I fear one unicorn even less than two giants. Seven at one blow is my kind of thing." He took a rope and an ax with him, went into the forest, and again told those sent with him to wait outside.

He had to search a long time. Soon the unicorn came toward him. It rushed directly at the tailor, as if it would skewer him on its horn without further ado. "Easy, easy. It can't be done that fast," said the tailor.

He stood still and waited until the animal was very close. Then he nimbly sprang behind a tree. The unicorn ran into the tree with all its strength and thrust its horn so deep into the trunk that it couldn't pull it out again. So it was caught.

"Now I've got the bird," said the tailor. He came out from behind the tree, put the rope around the unicorn's neck, and with his ax hewed the horn out of the tree. When all was ready, he led the beast away and took it to the king.

Still the king wouldn't give him the promised reward. He made a third demand. Before the wedding, the tailor had to catch a wild boar that was causing havoc in the forest. The huntsmen were to help him. "Gladly," said the tailor.

"That's child's play!" He didn't take the huntsmen into the forest, and they were pleased about that, because the boar had often received them in such a way that they had no desire to lie in wait for it.

When the boar saw the tailor, it ran at him with a foaming mouth and sharp tusks, ready to throw him to the ground. But the active hero sprang into a nearby chapel and up to the window in one bound, then jumped back out.

The boar ran into the chapel after him, but the tailor ran around and shut the door from outside. The raging beast was too heavy and clumsy to leap out the window, so it was caught. The little tailor called the huntsmen to see the prisoner with their own eyes.

Then the hero went to the king. Now the king had to keep his promise, whether he liked it or not. He gave the tailor his daughter and half the kingdom. If he had known that it was no great warrior but a little tailor standing before him, it would have pained him even more.

The wedding was held with great magnificence but little joy. Out of a tailor, a king was made. After some time, the young queen heard her husband say in his dreams at night, "Boy, make me the doublet and patch the pantaloons, or I'll rap the yardstick over your ears!" Then she discovered the state of life the young lord had been born into.

The next morning she complained to her father and begged him to help her get rid of her husband, who was nothing but a tailor. The king comforted her and said, "Leave your bedroom door open tonight. My servants will stand outside.

When he falls asleep, they'll go in, bind him, and take him on a ship that will carry him into the wide world." The woman was satisfied. But the king's armor-bearer, who had heard everything, was friendly with the young lord and told him the whole plot.

"I'll put a stop to that," said the little tailor. That night he went to bed with his wife at the usual time. When she thought he was asleep, she got up, opened the door, and lay down again.

The little tailor, who was only pretending to sleep, began to call out in a clear voice, "Boy, make me the doublet and patch the pantaloons, or I'll rap the yardstick over your ears! I struck down seven at one blow.

I killed two giants, brought away a unicorn, and caught a wild boar. And should I fear those standing outside the room?" When the men heard the tailor speaking like this, they were overcome with great dread.

They ran as if the wild huntsman were after them, and none of them dared try anything against him anymore. And so the little tailor remained a king for the rest of his life.