The Valiant Little Tailor · page 21 2101Before you receive my daughter and the half of my kingdom," said he to him, "you must execute another brave deed.102In the forest there lives a unicorn that commits great damage, you must first catch him."103"I fear a unicorn less than I did two Giants!104Seven at one blow is my motto," said the Tailor.105So he carried with him a rope and an axe and went off to the forest, ordering those, who were told to accompany him, to wait on the outskirts.106He had not to hunt long, for soon the unicorn approached, and prepared to rush at him as if it would pierce him on the spot. "107Steady! steady!" he exclaimed, "that is not done so easily"; and, waiting till the animal was close upon him, he sprang nimbly behind a tree.108The unicorn, rushing with all its force against the tree, stuck its horn so fast in the trunk that it could not pull it out again, and so it remained prisoner.109"Now I have got him," said the Tailor; and coming from behind the tree, he first bound the rope around its neck, and then cutting the horn out of the tree with his axe, he arranged everything, and, leading the unicorn, brought it before the King.110The King, however, would not yet deliver over the promised reward, and made a third demand, that, before the marriage, the Tailor should capture a wild boar which did much damage, and he should have the huntsmen to help him. "111With pleasure," was the reply; "it is a mere nothing."112The huntsmen, however, he left behind, to their great joy, for this wild boar had already so often hunted them, that they saw no fun in now hunting it.113As soon as the boar perceived the Tailor, it ran at him with gaping mouth and glistening teeth, and tried to throw him down on the ground; but our flying hero sprang into a little chapel which stood near, and out again at a window, on the other side, in a moment.114The boar ran after him, but he, skipping around, closed the door behind it, and there the furious beast was caught, for it was much too unwieldy and heavy to jump out of the window.115The Tailor now ordered the huntsmen up, that they might see his prisoner with their own eyes; but our hero presented himself before the King, who was obliged at last, whether he would or no, to keep his word, and surrender his daughter and the half of his kingdom.116If he had known that it was no warrior, but only a Tailor, who stood before him, it would have grieved him still more.117So the wedding was celebrated with great magnificence, though with little rejoicing, and out of a Tailor there was made a King.118A short time afterwards the young Queen heard her husband talking in his sleep, saying, "Boy, make me a coat, and then stitch up these trowsers, or I will lay the yard-measure over your shoulders!"119Then she understood of what condition her husband was, and complained in the morning to her father, and begged he would free her from her husband, who was nothing more than a tailor.120The King comforted her by saying, "This night leave your chamber-door open: my servants shall stand outside, and when he is asleep they shall come in, bind him, and carry him away to a ship, which shall take him out into the wide world."121The wife was pleased with the proposal; but the King's armor-bearer, who had overheard all, went to the young King and revealed the whole plot. "122I will soon put an end to this affair," said the valiant little Tailor.123In the evening at their usual time they went to bed, and when his wife thought he slept she got up, opened the door, and laid herself down again.124The Tailor, however, only pretended to be asleep, and began to call out in a loud voice, "Boy, make me a coat, and then stitch up these trowsers, or I will lay the yard-measure about your shoulders.125Seven have I slain with one blow, two Giants have I killed, a unicorn have I led captive, and a wild boar have I caught, and shall I be afraid of those who stand outside my room?"126When the men heard these words spoken by the Tailor, a great fear came over them, and they ran away as if wild huntsmen were following them; neither afterwards dared any man venture to oppose him.127Thus the Tailor became a King, and so he lived for the rest of his life.1 2← previousCatherine and Fredericknext →Little Red Cap↑ back to Grimm's Fairy StoriesThis page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11027/13/page/2/