The Giant and the Tailor

Once upon a time there was a tailor who was very good at boasting but not so good at doing. He decided to go out into the world for a while and see what was out there. As soon as he could, he left his workshop and set off, over hills and through valleys, sometimes this way, sometimes that, but always onward.

One day he saw in the blue distance a steep hill, and behind it a tower that reached all the way up to the clouds. It rose up out of a wild, dark forest. "Thunder and lightning!" cried the tailor. "What is that?" He was very curious, so he walked bravely toward it. But when he got closer, he opened his eyes and mouth wide. The tower had legs! It jumped over the steep hill in one bound and stood before him as a mighty giant.

"What do you want here, you tiny fly's leg?" roared the giant, and his voice sounded like thunder all around. The tailor whimpered, "I just want to look around and see if I can earn my bread in this forest." "If that's what you're after," said the giant, "you can work for me." "Well, if I must.

What wages will I get?" "You'll hear what wages you'll get. Every year three hundred and sixty-five days, and when it's a leap year, one more. Does that suit you?" "All right," said the tailor, but he thought to himself, "A man must cut his coat according to his cloth.

I'll try to get away as fast as I can."

Then the giant said to him, "Go, little ragamuffin, and fetch me a jug of water." "Hadn't I better bring the whole well and the spring too?" asked the boastful tailor, and he went with the pitcher to the water. "What! The well and the spring too?" growled the giant under his breath, because he was rather clumsy and stupid, and he began to be afraid. "That rascal is no fool. He has a wizard inside him. Be on your guard, old Hans, this is no servant for you."

When the tailor had brought the water, the giant told him to go into the forest and cut two logs of wood and bring them back. "Why not the whole forest at once with one stroke?

The whole forest, young and old, with everything in it, rough and smooth?" asked the little tailor, and he went to cut the wood. "What! The whole forest, young and old, with everything in it, rough and smooth, and the well and its spring too?" growled the gullible giant, and he was even more terrified.

"That rascal can do much more than bake apples. He has a wizard inside him. Be on your guard, old Hans, this is no servant for you!"

When the tailor had brought the wood, the giant ordered him to shoot two or three wild boars for supper. "Why not shoot a thousand with one shot and bring them all here?" asked the show-off tailor. "What!" cried the frightened giant in great terror. "Let it be for tonight, and lie down to rest."

The giant was so terribly alarmed that he couldn't sleep a wink all night, thinking about the best way to get rid of this cursed wizard of a servant. Time brings good ideas. The next morning the giant and the tailor went to a marsh surrounded by many willow trees.

Then the giant said, "Listen, tailor, sit on one of the willow branches. I really want to see if you are big enough to bend it down." At once the tailor sat on it, held his breath, and made himself so heavy that the branch bent down.

But when he had to breathe again, the branch snapped him up into the air (unfortunately he had not put his tailor's iron in his pocket), and he flew so high that he was never seen again. The giant was very glad.

If the tailor hasn't fallen down again, he must still be floating around up there.