The Valiant Little Tailor

One summer morning, a little tailor sat on his table by the window. He was in good spirits and sewed with all his might. Along the street came a peasant woman, crying, “Good jam for sale! Good jam for sale!”

This sounded sweet to the little tailor, so he stretched his delicate head out of the window and called, “Up here, dear woman, here you’ll find a customer!”

The woman climbed the three flights of stairs with her heavy basket, and the tailor made her unwrap all her pots. He examined them, lifted them, smelled them, and finally said, “The jam seems good. Weigh me out four ounces, dear woman—or I might even take a quarter pound.”

The woman, who had hoped for a much larger sale, gave him what he asked for but went away grumbling and quite annoyed.

“Now this jam shall be blessed by God,” cried the little tailor, “and give me health and strength.” He brought the bread out of the cupboard, cut himself a slice the size of the whole loaf, and spread the jam over it. “This won’t taste bitter,” he said, “but I’ll finish my jacket first before I take a bite.”

He laid the bread beside him, continued to sew, and in his joy made bigger and bigger stitches. Meanwhile, the smell of the sweet jam attracted the flies that covered the wall, and they swarmed onto the bread.

“Hello! Who invited you?” said the little tailor, shooing away the uninvited guests. But the flies, who didn’t understand German, would not be deterred and came back in ever-increasing numbers. At last, the little tailor lost his patience. He reached for a cloth, and exclaiming, “Wait, and I’ll give it to you!” he struck at them without mercy.

When he drew the cloth away and counted, there lay no fewer than seven flies before him, dead, with their legs stretched out.

“Aren’t you a fine fellow!” he said to himself, admiring his own bravery. “The whole town shall know about this!” And in great haste, he cut himself a belt, stitched it, and embroidered on it in large letters: “SEVEN AT ONE BLOW!”

“The town?” he continued. “The whole world shall hear of it!” And his heart wagged with joy like a lamb’s tail.

The tailor tied the belt around his waist and wanted to go out into the world, for his workroom seemed too small for his great deeds. Before he left, he searched the house for something to take with him, but found only an old cheese, which he put in his pocket. Outside the gate, he noticed a bird caught in some bushes, which he put in his pocket with the cheese.

Now he took to the road boldly, and being light and agile, he felt no fatigue. The road led him up a mountain, and when he reached the highest peak, there sat a powerful giant looking around at the landscape.

The little tailor went up to him cheerfully and said, “Good day, comrade. So you’re sitting there looking at the wide world? I’m just on my way there to try my luck. Would you like to come with me?”

The giant looked at the tailor contemptuously and said, “You scoundrel! You miserable creature!”

“Is that so?” answered the little tailor, unbuttoning his coat and showing the giant his belt. “Here you can read what kind of man I am!”

The giant read: “SEVEN AT ONE BLOW!” and thinking they were men the tailor had killed, he gained some respect for the little fellow. But first, he wanted to test him. He picked up a stone and squeezed it until water dripped from it.

“Do that,” said the giant, “if you have the strength.”

“Is that all?” said the little tailor. “That’s child’s play for someone like me.” He reached into his pocket, pulled out the soft cheese, and squeezed it until the whey ran out.

“That was even better, wasn’t it?” he said.

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 it could scarcely be seen.

“Now, little mite, do that!”

“Well thrown,” said the tailor, “but the stone did come back down. I’ll throw one that won’t come back.” He reached into his pocket, took out the bird, and threw it into the air. The bird, rejoicing in its freedom, flew away and did not come back.

“How do you like that trick, comrade?” asked the tailor.

“You can throw all right,” said the giant, “but now we’ll see if you can carry a proper weight.” He led the little tailor to an enormous oak tree that had been felled 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 carry the branches—that’s the heaviest part.”

The giant took the trunk on his shoulder, but the tailor sat on a branch, and the giant, who couldn’t look around, had to carry the whole tree and the tailor too. The tailor was very cheerful and merry behind there, whistling the song “Three Tailors Rode Out of the Gate,” as if carrying trees were child’s play.

The giant, after dragging the heavy load a part of the way, could go no further and cried, “Listen, I have to drop the tree!”

The tailor jumped down quickly, seized the tree with both arms as if he had been carrying it, and said to the giant, “You’re such a big fellow, and you can’t even carry a tree!”

They went on together, and as they passed a cherry tree, the giant grasped the top of it, where the ripest fruit hung, bent it down, gave it to the tailor to hold, and told him to eat. But the little tailor was much too weak to hold the tree, and when the giant let go, the tree sprang back, taking the tailor with it into the air. When he came down again without injury, the giant said, “What’s this? Haven’t you the strength to hold that twig?”

“There’s no lack of strength,” answered the little tailor. “Do you think that would be a challenge for someone who has struck down seven at one blow? I jumped over the tree because hunters are shooting down there in the thicket. You jump too, if you can.”

The giant made the attempt but could not clear the tree and remained caught in the branches. So the tailor had the advantage again.

The giant said, “If you’re such a brave fellow, come to our cave and spend the night with us.”

The little tailor was willing and followed him. When they reached the cave, other giants were sitting by the fire, each with a roasted sheep in his hand, eating it. The little tailor looked around and thought, “It’s much more spacious here than in 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 down in it but crept into a corner. At midnight, when the giant thought the little tailor would be in a deep sleep, he got up, took a great iron bar, and with a single blow, smashed the bed in two. He thought he had finished off the grasshopper.

Early in the morning, the giants went out into the forest, forgetting all about the little tailor, when suddenly he walked up to them, quite cheerful and bold. The giants were terrified, fearing he would strike them all dead, and they ran away in great haste.

The little tailor went on his way, always following his pointed nose. After he had traveled for a long time, he came to the courtyard of a royal palace. Feeling tired, he lay down in the grass and fell asleep. While he was lying there, people came, looked at him from all sides, and read on his belt: “SEVEN AT ONE BLOW!”

“Ah,” they said, “what is this great warrior doing here in the midst of peace? He must be a mighty lord.”

They went and reported this to the king, suggesting that if war should break out, this would be an important and useful man to have, who should not be allowed to depart. The king was pleased with this advice and sent one of his courtiers to the little tailor to offer him, when he awoke, a commission in the army.

The messenger remained standing by the sleeper, waited until he stretched his limbs and opened his eyes, and then delivered his message.

“That’s exactly why I came here,” answered the little tailor. “I am ready to enter the king’s service.”

So he was received with honor and given a special dwelling place.

But the soldiers were jealous of the little tailor and wished him a thousand miles away. “What will happen,” they said among themselves, “if we have a quarrel with him? When he strikes, seven will fall at one blow—none of us can stand against him.” So they came to a decision, went all together to the king, and asked for their discharge. “We cannot,” they said, “remain with a man who kills seven at one blow.”

The king was sorry to lose all his faithful servants because of one man, and he wished he had never set eyes on the tailor and would gladly have been rid of him. But he did not dare to dismiss him, fearing the tailor might kill him and all his people, and place himself on the royal throne.

The king thought long and hard, and finally found a plan. He sent a message to the little tailor, saying that because he was such a great warrior, he had an offer for him. In a forest in his kingdom lived two giants who were causing great damage through robbery, murder, and fire. No one could approach them without putting himself in danger of death. If the tailor could conquer and kill 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 accompany him and stand by to help.

“That’s something for a man like me!” thought the little tailor. “A beautiful princess and half a kingdom aren’t offered every day.”

“Oh yes,” he replied, “I’ll tame the giants, and I don’t need the hundred horsemen. He who can strike down seven at one blow has no need to be afraid of two.”

The little tailor set out, and the hundred horsemen followed him. When he came to the edge of the forest, he said to his followers, “Wait here. I’ll manage the giants by myself.”

Then he bounded into the forest and looked around, right and left. After a while, he saw the two giants lying asleep under a tree, snoring so loudly that the branches swayed up and down. The little tailor, not idle, filled his pockets with stones and climbed up the tree.

When he was halfway up, he slipped out onto a branch that hung over the sleepers, and from there dropped one stone after another onto the chest of one of the giants. For a long time, the giant didn’t feel anything, but at last he woke up, nudged his companion, and said, “Why are you hitting me?”

“You’re dreaming,” said the other. “I’m not hitting you.” They fell asleep again, and the tailor threw a stone at the second giant.

“What’s that?” cried the second. “Why are you throwing things at me?”

“I’m not throwing anything,” answered the first, grumbling.

They argued for a while, but being tired, they let it drop and closed their eyes again. The little tailor began his game once more, picked out the biggest stone, and threw it with all his might onto the chest of the first giant.

“This is too much!” he cried, and springing up like a madman, he grabbed his companion against the tree with such force that it shook. The second giant paid him back in the same coin, and they became so furious that they tore up trees and beat each other with them until they both fell down dead.

Then the little tailor jumped down. “Lucky that they didn’t tear up the tree where I was sitting, or I’d have had to spring like a squirrel onto another, but we tailors are nimble.” He drew his sword and gave each of the giants a couple of good wounds in the chest, then went out to the horsemen and said, “The work is done. I’ve given both of them their finishing stroke, but it was hard work. They were in such a rage that they tore up trees to fight each other, but what does that matter when you’re facing someone who kills seven at one blow?”

“But aren’t you wounded?” asked the horsemen.

“There’s no danger of that,” answered the tailor. “They couldn’t even touch a hair on my head.”

The horsemen wouldn’t believe him and rode into the forest, where they found the giants swimming in their blood, and the uprooted trees lying all around.

The little tailor demanded the promised reward from the king, but the king regretted his promise and again sought a way to get rid of the hero. “Before you receive my daughter and half my kingdom,” he said to him, “you must perform one more heroic deed. In the forest roams a unicorn that does great damage. You must capture it.”

“I fear a unicorn less than two giants. Seven at one blow is my kind of business.” He took a rope and an axe, went out into the forest, and again told those who were ordered to accompany him to wait outside.

He didn’t have to search long. The unicorn soon appeared and charged straight at the tailor, as if it would pierce him without ceremony. “Softly, softly,” said he. “That’s not as quick as you think.” He stood still and waited until the animal was quite close, then sprang nimbly behind a tree. The unicorn ran with all its might against the tree and stuck its horn so firmly in the trunk that it didn’t have the strength to pull it out again, and thus it was caught.

“Now I’ve got the bird,” said the tailor, coming out from behind the tree. He tied the rope around the unicorn’s neck, cut the horn out of the tree with his axe, and when all was ready, led the animal away and brought it to the king.

The king still wouldn’t give him the promised reward and made a third demand. Before the wedding, the tailor must catch a wild boar that was causing great damage in the forest. The huntsmen were to assist him.

“Gladly,” said the tailor. “That’s child’s play for me.”

He didn’t take the huntsmen into the forest, and they were well pleased, for the wild boar had already received them in such a manner that they had no desire to pursue it further. When the boar saw the tailor, it charged at him with foaming mouth and gleaming tusks, intending to throw him to the ground. But the nimble hero ran into a chapel that stood nearby, and quickly jumped out of a window on the other side. The boar ran in after him, but the tailor ran around and shut the door behind it, and the raging beast was caught, being too heavy and clumsy to jump out of the window.

The little tailor called the huntsmen so that they could see the prisoner with their own eyes, and the hero went to the king, who now, whether he liked it or not, had to keep his promise and give him his daughter and half his kingdom.

If he had known that it was no warrior but a little tailor who stood before him, it would have grieved him even more. The wedding was celebrated with great splendor and small joy, and from a tailor was made a king.

After some time, the young queen heard her husband talking in his dreams at night: “Boy, make me the doublet and patch the trousers, or I’ll give you the yardstick over your ears!”

Then she understood that the young lord had not been born in such high estate. The next morning, she complained to her father and begged him to help her get rid of a husband who was nothing more than a tailor.

The king comforted her and said, “Tonight, leave your bedroom door open. My servants shall stand outside, and when he is asleep, they shall go in, bind him, and take him on a ship that will carry him far away.”

The wife was pleased with this, but the king’s armor-bearer, who had overheard everything, was friendly with the young lord, and told him the whole plot. “I’ll put a stop to this,” said the little tailor.

That night, he went to bed with his wife as usual, and when she thought he was asleep, she got up, opened the door, and lay down again. The little tailor, who was only pretending to be asleep, began to cry out in a clear voice: “Boy, make me the doublet and patch the trousers, or I’ll give you the yardstick over your ears! I have killed seven at one blow, I have slain two giants, I have led away a unicorn, and I have caught a wild boar. Should I be afraid of those who are standing outside my room?”

When these men heard the tailor speak thus, they were seized with great fear. They ran away as if the wild huntsman were behind them, and no one would venture anything further against him. So the little tailor remained a king for the rest of his days.

Though he may have been small in stature, the valiant little tailor proved that with cleverness, quick thinking, and a bit of good fortune, even the most humble among us can achieve greatness. And while his belt may have stretched the truth about his deed with the seven flies, the courage and wit he showed in all his adventures were certainly worthy of a king.

And he lived happily ever after.