The Brave Little Tailor
A little tailor, a boastful belt, and a world that believed every word of it
Page 1
In a snug little shop in a cheerful town there lived a little tailor who was as merry as the day was long. One fine morning, as he sat sewing by his open window with a slice of sweet jam, a whole swarm of flies came buzzing in to feast on it. The little tailor, annoyed, took up a strip of cloth and gave one great swat — and when he counted, he found he had struck down no fewer than seven flies at a single blow! He was so proud of this feat that he cut out a fine belt and embroidered upon it the boast 'SEVEN AT ONE BLOW', buckled it on, and decided that the whole wide world simply must be told of his greatness. So he popped a bit of cheese and a bird in his pocket and set off to seek his fortune.
Page 2
The little tailor had not walked far into the wide world before he came upon an enormous giant resting on a hilltop. Bold as brass, the tailor marched right up and bid him good day. The giant, seeing the belt that read 'Seven at One Blow', supposed the little fellow must have struck down seven mighty men with a single stroke, and grew wary of him. To test the stranger's strength, the giant picked up a stone and squeezed it so hard that water seemed to trickle out. 'Easy,' said the tailor — and he took the bit of soft cheese from his pocket and squeezed THAT until the whey ran out, as though he were wringing water from solid rock. The giant was most impressed, and a little alarmed.
Page 3
Not to be outdone, the giant snatched up another stone and hurled it so high and so far that it almost vanished from sight before it fell. 'Not bad,' said the little tailor, 'but your stone came down again. Watch one that doesn't come back at all!' And so saying, he took the little bird from his pocket and tossed it into the air — and of course the bird, delighted to be free, simply flew away over the hills and never came down. The giant, who could not throw a stone that flew away, was quite astounded, and began to think this small stranger with the famous belt must be a truly formidable fellow indeed. Deciding to make a friend of him rather than an enemy, he invited the tailor home to his cave.
Page 4
The giant took the little tailor home to a great cave in the mountains, where several more giants sat about a huge fire roasting whole sheep for supper. They gave the tailor a giant-sized bed to sleep in, but he found it far too big and lay down in a cosy corner instead. In the middle of the night, the giants — secretly meaning to be rid of the alarming little stranger — crept up and gave a great smash to the big bed where they thought he slept. In the morning they set off into the forest, chuckling, quite sure they had seen the last of him. Imagine their astonishment when the little tailor came strolling cheerfully after them, whistling, entirely unharmed — for he had been safe in his corner all along! The terrified giants ran off and were never seen again.
Page 5
The fame of the little tailor and his belt spread far and wide, until at last word reached the king himself. Hearing of a hero who could strike down seven at a single blow, the king offered him a place in his royal guard. But the king's soldiers were terrified to serve beside such a mighty warrior, and begged to be released. The king, not wishing to offend the famous hero outright, hit upon a plan: he would set the little tailor a series of impossible and dangerous tasks, promising him the hand of the princess and half the kingdom if he succeeded — secretly expecting that each deadly task would be the end of him. The little tailor, bold and cheerful as ever, accepted every challenge without the slightest hesitation.
Page 6
For his first task, the little tailor went into the forest where the two fierce giants slept beneath a great tree. Climbing nimbly up into the branches above them, he waited until they were snoring, then dropped a stone squarely onto the chest of the first giant. The giant woke with a roar, sure the second had struck him, and gave him a mighty shove. The tailor promptly dropped a stone on the second giant too, who woke just as angry — and in no time the two enormous, dim-witted giants were bellowing and wrestling and pelting each other, until at last they knocked each other clean out and lay snoring in a heap. Down climbed the little tailor, as pleased as could be, to report that the giants would trouble the forest no more.
Page 7
The king, astonished that the tailor had survived the giants, set him a second task: to catch the fierce wild unicorn that was damaging the forest. The little tailor went out with a rope and an axe, and when the great unicorn came charging at him with its sharp horn lowered, he simply waited until the last moment and then nipped nimbly to one side behind a sturdy tree. The unicorn, unable to stop in time, drove its horn so deep into the trunk that it was stuck fast and could not pull free! The tailor strolled out, looped his rope around the trapped creature's neck, gently worked the horn loose, and led the tamed unicorn back to the amazed king, as calm as if he caught unicorns every day of the week.
Page 8
For his third and last task, the king sent the little tailor to capture a huge and dangerous wild boar that terrorized the woods. The tailor led the great beast on a merry chase until they came to an old, empty stone chapel at the forest's edge. In he darted, with the snorting boar thundering close behind — and the moment the boar charged through the door after him, the quick little tailor leapt straight out through a low window on the far side, nipped around, and slammed the heavy chapel door shut, trapping the furious boar safely inside! With all three impossible tasks now accomplished by nothing but his nimble wits, there was nothing the astonished king could do but keep his royal word.
Page 9
And so the little tailor was married to the princess and given half the kingdom, just as the king had promised. For a while all was well — but the princess soon began to suspect that her new husband was no mighty warrior at all, for she overheard him talking in his sleep about sleeves and stitches and thread, as tailors do. She went to her father in dismay, and the king hatched a plan to be rid of the little fellow quietly in the night. But a loyal servant warned the tailor of the plot; so that very night, the clever little tailor only pretended to be asleep, and called out loudly about all his mighty deeds — the seven at one blow, the giants, the unicorn, the boar — until the would-be plotters outside his door took fright and fled, and never dared to trouble the famous hero again.
Page 10
After that, no one ever again dared to question the little tailor or his famous belt. In time he became king of the whole land, ruling cheerfully and wisely beside his clever princess, who came to be rather fond of her quick-witted little husband after all. And so the merry little tailor, who had set out into the world with nothing but a bit of cheese, a bird, and a belt that boasted 'Seven at One Blow', won giants, a unicorn, a boar, a princess and a kingdom — all without ever striking a single real blow in his life, and all by the power of his cheerful, clever wits. And a tailor he remained at heart, to the end of his long and happy days.
About this story
- Audience: kids (ages 6–12)
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