Story 82: The Clever Little Tailor Brothers' Grimm (1812)

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The Clever Little Tailor

There was once a princess who was very proud. When a suitor presented himself, she asked him a riddle and if he couldn't answer it, she scoffed and sent him away. She had made it known that anyone who answered her riddle would become her husband, regardless of who he might be, and one day three tailors set out to court the princess. Because of all the difficult jobs they had already managed to sew up, the two oldest were confident of sucess in this undertaking as well. The third was a useless young scamp, who didn't even know his trade properly, but he thought to himself: "This thing is sure bring me luck. Where else would I find any?" The other to said him: "Better stay home. You'll never get anywhere with that bird brain of yours." But the little tailor refused to be discouraged. "Ive set my heart on it," he said. "Don't worry, I'lI know how to take care of myself." And he walked along as gaily as if the whole world belonged to him.
All three appeared before the princess and bade her ask her riddle.
"We're just the men for this kind of thing," they said. "Why, our wit is so fine you could thread a needle with it." The princess said. "I have two kinds of hair on my head. What colors are they?" "Nothing to it," said the first. "They must be black and white like the cloth called pepper-and-salt." "Wrong,' , said the princess. "Let the second answer." "If it's not black and white," said the second. "it's brown and red like my father's frock coat." "Wrong," said the princes.
"Let the third answer. I can see by the look on his face that he knows?" The little tailor stepped boldly forward and said: "The princess has silver and golden hair on her head. Those are the two colors." When the princess heard that, she turned pale and almost fainted, for the little tailor had given the right answer, and she had been certain that no one in all the world would hit on it. When She recovered from her shock, she said. "You haven't won me yet. You must do one more thing. Downstairs in the stable there's a bear. You must spend the night with him. If you're still alive when I get up in the morning, I'll marry you." "That will get rid of the little tailor," she thought, for no one the bear had got his paws on had ever lived to tell the tale. But the little tailor wasn't the least bit frightened. He smiled happily and said: "Faint heart never won fair lady."
At nightfall our little tailor was taken down to the bear. The bear was all set to welcome the little fellow with a good, big hug, but the tailor said: "Easy does it! Look, I've got something that will calm you down." And as nonchalantly as if he hadn't a care in the world he fook some walnuts out of his pocket, cracked them with his teeth, and ate the kernels. When the bear saw that, he suddenly felt hungry for nuts. The tailor reached into his pocket and gave him a handful, only what he gave him wasn't nuts, it was pebbles. The bear put them in his mouth, but hard as he tried he couldn't crack them. "My goodness," he thought, "what a blockhead I am! I can't even crack 1 hut!" And to the tailor he said: "Crack them for me, will you?"
"You see what a stupid brute you are," said the tailor. "Such a big mouth and you can't even crack a tiny nut!" Thereupon he took the stones, deftly put a nut in his mouth instead, and one-two-three it was cracked. "I'll have to try that again,'
" said the bear. "When I see
you do it, it looks so easy." Again the little tailor gave him pebbles.
The bear set to work and bit with all his might, but you don't suppose he cracked them, do you? When he'd given up trying, the little tailor took a fiddle from under his coat and played a tune. When the bear heard the music, he couldn't help it, he began to dance, and after he'd danced awhile, he was so pleased that he said to the tailor: "Tell me, is it hard to play the fiddle?" "Easy as pie. Watch me. I put the fingers of my left hand up here and with my right hand I move the bow over the strings, merrily merrily, nothing to it." "I do wish I could play like you," said the bear. "Then I'd be able to dance whenever I felt like it. What do you say? Would you teach me?" "Gladly," said the little tailor, "if you've got the talent for it. But let's see those paws of yours. They're awfully long. I'll have to cut your nails down a little." A vise was brought in, and the bear put his paws into it. The little tailor tightened the vise and said: "Now wait till I get the scissors." Whereupon he let the bear growl to this heart's content, lay down on a bundle of straw in the corner and fell asleep.

That evening when the princess heard the bear growling. de thought he had done the tailr in and was growling for joy. Whe the fot up in the morning, she was perfectly easy in her mind, be when she looked out toward the stable, there stood the tailor in per wot health, as spry as a fish in water. After that there wasn't another thing she could say, because she'd given her promise in the presencs of the whole court. The king sent for a carriage, and she and the bi or set out for the church to be married. The moment they left, the two other tailors, who were false-hearted and begrudged him his hap pines, went to the stable and let the bear lose, and he ran after the carriage in a terrible rage. The princess heard him puffing and growling and cried out in terror: "Oh, the bear is behind us! He's come to get you!" The tailor knew just what to do. He stood on his head, stuck his legs out the window, and shouted: "See the vise? Run along home or I'll put you right back in." At that the bear turned around and ran away, and our little tailor rode calmly to church. He married the princess and lived with her as happily as a woodlark. If you don't believe me, it will cost you a taler.

The end. One more version is coming but I have chores to keep up with and haven't eaten dinner yet, so the next version will wait till after that––Lumna10. Hopefully you'll see more available for tomorrow, Skylights, see ya later, enjoy!

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