Selected Tales of the Brothers Grimm(19)

“Gladly,” replied the little man. “You take the trunk on your shoulders, and I’ll carry the branches and all the leaves, that’s the most cumbersome part.”

The giant lifted the trunk onto his shoulders, but the tailor sat himself on a branch, and being unable to turn around, the giant had to carry the entire tree and the tailor on top of it. Meanwhile, in cheerful spirits, the tailor made merry in back, whistling the ditty “Three tailors rode out through the gate . . .” as if carrying the tree were a matter of child’s play. After hauling the heavy load for a while, the giant was beat and called out, “Listen, I’ve got to let the tree drop.” The tailor leapt nimbly to the ground, grabbed hold of the branches with both his hands, as though he’d been carrying it, and said to the giant, “You’re such a big fellow and can’t even hold up your own end.”

They continued on their way together, and when they passed a cherry tree, the giant gripped the top of the tree where the ripest cherries hung, bent it down, and beckoned the tailor to grab hold and eat of them. But the little tailor was much too weak to hold down the tree, and when the giant let go, the tree flew back up and catapulted the tailor head over heels into the air. As soon as he dropped down again without a scratch, the giant said, “Where’s you muscle, man? Have you not strength enough to hold down that little riding crop?”

“It’s not for lack of strength,” replied the little tailor. “Do you really think a man who felled seven with one blow couldn’t attend to such a trifle? I leapt over the tree because the hunters down there in the bushes are shooting. Do as I did, if you dare.”

The giant gave it a try, but unable to clear the top of the tree, he got caught in the branches, so that in this, too, the tailor had the upper hand.

Then the giant said, “If you’re such a brave buck, come with me to our cave and spend the night with us.” The little tailor agreed and followed him. When they reached the cave they found other giants seated by the fire, and each had a roast sheep in hand and ate of it. The little tailor looked around and thought, It’s a lot roomier here than in my workshop. The giant pointed to a bed and said the little tailor could rest his weary bones in it, but the bed was too big for the little tailor, so he didn’t lay himself down in it but crept into a corner. Come midnight, the giant thought the little tailor must be fast asleep, so he got up, took a big iron bar, and struck the bed with such a heavy blow he thought for sure he had flattened that grasshopper. At the crack of dawn the giants went into the forest and completely forgot about the tailor, but all of a sudden the little man came cheerfully and defiantly walking up to them. The giants trembled, afraid he would kill them all, and ran for their lives.

The tailor continued on his way, following the tip of his nose. After walking a long while he came to the courtyard of a royal palace, and because he was tired he lay himself down in the grass and fell asleep. As he slept, people came by, looked him over from every angle, and read the slogan on his belt: “Seven with one blow.”

“Forsooth,” they said, “what does such a great warrior want among us here in peacetime? He must be a mighty fighter.” So they went and reported his presence to the king, thinking that if war should break out he would surely be an important and valuable ally to be retained at any price. The king approved of such advice, and sent one of his courtiers to the little tailor to wait for him to wake up and propose that he serve the king’s force. The emissary stood by the sleeper, waited until he stretched his limbs and batted his eyes open, whereupon he made his offer.

“That is precisely why I came,” the tailor replied. “I am ready and willing to serve the king.” So he was received with great honors and assigned a splendid apartment.

The gentlemen of the army, however, were wary of the little tailor and wished him a thousand miles away. “What will come of it?” they grumbled among themselves. “If we get into a spat with him and he lashes out, seven of us will fall with one blow. We mere mortals won’t survive it.” So they came to a decision. They all went to see the king and asked him to release them from service. “We just haven’t got it in us,” they said, “to measure up against a man who can fell seven with one blow.”

The king regretted forfeiting all his faithful fighters on account of one warrior. He wished he’d never set his eyes upon him and wanted to be rid of him again. But he did not dare give him his walking papers, as he feared the fellow might slaughter him along with all his people and set himself on the throne. After pondering long and hard, he finally had an idea. He sent word to the little tailor and told him that, because he was such a great war hero, he wanted to make him an offer. In his realm there lived two giants who wreaked havoc with looting, murder, arson, and such; no one dared face them at the risk of his life. If he could prevail and lay them low, he would be given the king’s only daughter as a bride and half the kingdom as a dowry, and he would have a hundred cavalrymen as reinforcements.