The Brave Little Tailor

One summer morning, a little tailor sat at his table by the window, sewing away with all his might, feeling rather pleased with the world. Down in the street came a woman calling, "Good jam for sale! Good jam for sale!" That was a sweet sound to the tailor's ears, and he leaned out and called, "Up here, dear woman — I'll take some off your hands."

Up she climbed with her heavy basket, and had to unpack every single pot for him to sniff and inspect. At last he said, "This will do. Weigh me out four ounces — or even a quarter pound, I won't quibble." The woman, who had hoped for a bigger sale, gave him what he asked and went off grumbling.

"Now," said the tailor, "may this jam do me good, and give me strength." He cut a great slice off the loaf and spread the jam thick, but set it aside, meaning to finish his stitching first. As he sewed, his happy heart made his stitches bigger and bigger.

The sweet smell drifted up to the wall, where flies were resting, and soon they came down on the bread in swarms. "Who invited you?" said the tailor, shooing them off. But the flies paid him no mind and came back thicker than before. At last, out of patience, he snatched up a scrap of cloth and struck at them. When he lifted it away, he counted seven flies lying there, quite still. "Well now," he said, admiring himself, "what a fellow I am! The whole town must hear of this!" And he was so delighted that he cut himself a belt on the spot and stitched onto it, in big proud letters: SEVEN AT ONE STROKE. "The town? Bah," he said. "The whole world shall hear of it!" And his heart wagged with joy like a lamb's tail.

So he buckled on his belt and set off to seek his fortune, for his little workshop suddenly felt much too small for a man of his courage. Before he left, he searched the house for provisions and found only an old piece of cheese, which he tucked into his pocket. At the gate, he found a bird caught in a thicket, and that went into his pocket too. Then off he went, light and nimble, never feeling tired at all.

The road climbed a mountain, and at the very top sat a giant, looking out over the whole wide world. The little tailor walked right up and said, "Good day, friend! Surveying the world, are you? I'm off to see it myself. Care to come along?" The giant looked down at him with scorn. "You scrap of a man! You little nothing!"

"Is that so?" said the tailor, and unbuttoned his coat to show his belt. The giant read SEVEN AT ONE STROKE and, thinking it meant seven men, felt a flicker of respect — though he wanted proof. He picked up a stone and squeezed it until water dripped out. "Do that," he said, "if you've the strength."

"Is that all?" said the tailor. He took out his soft cheese and squeezed it until the whey ran between his fingers. "There — a little better, wouldn't you say?"

The giant, astonished, threw a stone so high it nearly vanished from sight. "Now match that, little fellow." "Well thrown," said the tailor, "but it had to come down again, didn't it? Watch — I'll throw one that never comes back." He took out the bird and tossed it into the air. Overjoyed at its freedom, it flew off and did not return. "How's that for a trick, friend?"

"You can throw," admitted the giant, "but let's see if you can carry." He led the tailor to a great felled oak and said, "Help me haul this out of the forest." "Gladly," said the tailor. "You take the trunk on your shoulder — I'll manage the branches and twigs, which is the heaviest part anyway." So the giant hoisted the trunk, while the little tailor perched himself among the branches, and the giant, unable to see behind him, ended up carrying the whole tree — and the tailor besides, who whistled a merry tune the whole way as if it were nothing at all. When the giant finally had to set the tree down, worn out, the tailor sprang off and said, "A big fellow like you, and you couldn't even carry a tree!"

They walked on, and passing a cherry tree, the giant bent the topmost branch down and put it into the tailor's hands to eat from — but when he let go, the branch sprang up and flung the tiny tailor into the air with it. He landed safely, and the giant said, "What, not strong enough to hold a branch?" "Strength's not the trouble," said the tailor. "That's nothing for a man who's struck seven at one stroke. I jumped clear because I heard hunters shooting in the thicket below. Try it yourself, if you can." The giant tried and got himself tangled in the branches instead — so the little tailor came out ahead once more.

That evening the giant brought him home to a cave, where other giants sat roasting sheep over the fire. The bed they gave him was far too large, so instead of lying in it, the tailor curled up in a corner to sleep. At midnight, the giant, thinking his guest lay in the bed, took an iron bar and struck it through with one great blow, certain he had finished off the little grasshopper for good. But at dawn, out strolled the tailor, cheerful and unharmed, and the giants, thoroughly frightened, ran off into the woods and never came near him again.

The tailor journeyed on, following his own bold nose, until he came to a royal courtyard, where, feeling tired, he lay down in the grass and slept. People gathered to look him over, read his belt, and whispered, "What a mighty warrior — he must be someone important." They told the king, who sent a messenger to offer the stranger a place among his soldiers. When the tailor woke, he agreed at once, and was given honor and a house of his own.

But the king's soldiers were uneasy. "If we ever quarrel with him," they said, "seven of us will fall at a single blow — none of us can stand against that." So they went to the king and asked to be released from service rather than stay near such a man. The king, dismayed at losing his loyal soldiers, wished he had never laid eyes on the tailor — but he did not dare dismiss him outright, fearing what such a fighter might do. So instead, he thought of a clever plan.

He sent word to the tailor: in his kingdom's forest lived two giants who did great harm with their plundering, and whoever could defeat them would win the princess's hand and half the kingdom. "Now that," thought the tailor, "is worth having." He set off with a hundred horsemen, but at the forest's edge told them to wait while he went in alone.

He soon found the two giants asleep beneath a tree, snoring so hard the branches shook. Filling his pockets with stones, he climbed up and settled on a branch just above them, then let a stone fall on the first giant's chest. The giant woke and nudged his companion. "Why did you hit me?" "I didn't touch you," said the other, and they went back to sleep. Then the tailor dropped a stone on the second giant, who woke and accused the first. They grumbled a while, then dozed off again. The tailor let fall his biggest stone yet, right on the first giant's chest. "That's enough!" he roared, and shoved the other so hard the tree shook. They quarreled, then fought in earnest, tearing up trees to swing at each other, until at last both fell to the ground and did not rise again. The little tailor climbed down, glad his own tree had been spared, and went out to tell the horsemen the deed was done. They rode in and found the giants lying still among the uprooted trees, just as he'd said.

The tailor asked for his reward, but the king, regretting his promise once more, set a new task. "First you must catch the unicorn that troubles my forest." "One unicorn is nothing to a man who's felled two giants," said the tailor, and went in with only a rope and an axe. The unicorn charged straight at him, meaning to catch him on its horn, but the tailor waited until the last moment and slipped behind a tree. The unicorn's horn drove deep into the trunk, and it could not pull free. "Now I have my bird," said the tailor, calmly roping its neck and freeing the horn with his axe before leading the beast back to the king.

Still the king delayed, setting a third task: to catch a wild boar that was terrorizing the forest. The tailor went in alone, and when the boar came charging at him with gnashing tusks, he darted into a small chapel nearby and straight out through a window. The boar followed him in through the door — and the tailor, quick as anything, ran round and slammed the door shut behind it, trapping the beast inside, too heavy and clumsy to escape through the window. He called the huntsmen to see for themselves, then went to the king, who now had no choice but to keep his word. So the tailor was given the princess and half the kingdom, and the wedding was celebrated with great splendor — though the king's heart was heavier than his smile, for he knew now what sort of man had won his daughter.

Some time after, the young queen woke in the night to hear her husband talking in his sleep: "Boy, finish that doublet and mend those breeches, or I'll box your ears with the yardstick!" And so she understood, at last, what kind of man she had married. In the morning she went to her father in tears and begged him to help her be rid of a husband who was nothing but a tailor. The king comforted her and said, "Leave your door unbolted tonight. My men will come in while he sleeps, bind him, and carry him off on a ship, far away." She agreed gladly.

But the king's armor-bearer, who had grown fond of the young lord, overheard the whole plan and warned him. "I'll see to that," said the tailor.

That night he went to bed as usual, and when his wife thought he was asleep, she rose and quietly unbolted the door, then lay back down. But the tailor, who had only been pretending, suddenly called out loud and clear: "Boy, finish that doublet and mend those breeches, or I'll box your ears with the yardstick! I have struck seven at one stroke, slain two giants, caught a unicorn, and trapped a wild boar — am I to be afraid of anyone waiting outside my own door?"

The men outside, hearing this, were so frightened that they fled as though the whole army of the night were chasing them, and never dared trouble him again. And so the little tailor remained a king to the end of his days.