FAIRY TALES (text) - 84. THE BRAVE TAILOR

THE BRAVE TAILOR

There was a tailor who lived in a city, and he made all day pants, shirts, jackets… One day he coated a slice of bread with some jam and after he ate a little he was wondering: ‘‘I am finishing that jacket once then I’ll have the piece that’s left’’. But lots of flies came to the bread and they ate the whole jam. Then he took out his belt and began to hit them, and he killed seven flies at once. Then he made a belt and wrote: ‘‘When I hit, seven I kill.’’ Then he wore the belt, put in his pocket the piece of cheese that was left and went out of house. When he went outside he saw a bird that had stuck in a hole and couldn’t get out of it. The tailor took the bird out of the hole and put it in his pocket. He walked for a while, then he got to a great cliff and he met a boy whom he said he wanted to become friends with and travel around the world together. But the boy said he wouldn’t go around the world with small and weak people. The tailor told him that he wasn’t weak and the boy wanted to try how strong the tailor was. He took a stone and squeezed it with a hand, and a drop of water came out of the stone. While the tailor took out the piece of cheese and more drops of water came out of it. Then the boy threw a stone up in the air that went so high that they couldn’t see it. The tailor set the bird free and said:

– You see! Your stone falls I the ground while mine stands always in the air. 

Then the boy led him to a tree and said him to move it up together. Ant the tailor was thinking: ‘‘You may be stronger than me, but I am smarter than you and I will outfox you again.’’ So he told the boy to hold the tree from the trunk while he would keep it from the branches because they were numerous and heavier. So the tailor went up the branches and the boy was trying to move the tree up. Even if he wanted to look up he could see the tailor because the branches couldn’t leave him. Then they left the tree there and went to the place where the boy lived, there were five other boys that were warming themselves around the fire. When they went to sleep, the tailor didn’t like the bed because it was too big and went to another corner to sleep. The boy took an iron rod and got up at night, went to the bed where the tailor was supposed to be sleeping and hit it. When they saw the tailor alive in the morning, they ran away terrified. 

He walked for a long time till he arrived at the wall of the king’s Palace and he fell into a deep sleep right there. The soldiers of the king saw him and after they read what was written on the belt, they told the king there had come a brave man and they would maybe need him in wars. The king ordered them to take the tailor inside and after he slept himself out, he went to the king. He agreed to join the army of the king. Two or three days passed, and the soldiers began to say to each-other:

– How can we expect good things from him? He is so strong that he could kill us all!

So they went to the king and said:

– If he gets mad he could kill us all. You’d better leave us out of your army.

Even the king himself repented so much that took the tailor inside his palace and he was thinking: ‘‘that brave may really get mad, and he could kill not only my soldiers, but me too and deplume. How can I get rid of him?’’

Then he called the tailor and said:

 – There live two thieves terribly strong in the dense forest of my kingdom and they have terrified everyone. Go find them and kill them. I will give you a hundred equestrians to help. So the tailor went to the forest and when he arrived there, he saw the two thieves sleeping under the tree. They snored so loudly that the bows were shaking like it was a strong wind blowing. The tailor filled his pockets with stones and climbed the tree. Then he began to throw stones at one of them and a stone hit the thief on his nose, he woke up and caught his friend from the arm.

– What are you doing, you’re killing my nose?! –he shouted.

– What are you saying?! I was sleeping! – said the other.

They went to sleep again and the tailor began to stones to the other one. He got up and shouted to his friend:

– Are you mad? Why are you throwing punches at me?!

His friend began to hit him with a stick and so they began to argue with each-other with fists and sticks. They beat each-other to death till they fell on the ground. Then the tailor went down the tree, went to the horsemen and said:

– Come with me and see, I killed them both! They were strong but I was stronger: And when I hit, seven I kill!

The horsemen they went to the place where the thieves were and they were surprised when they saw them both dead on the ground. The tailor went back to the palace to the king, but the king was very cunning. When he heard the news, he thought: ‘‘well he could get rid of the thieves, but now I will send him somewhere here he won’t be able to come out alive.’’ So he ordered again:

– You will go to the forest to catch the unicorn monster and bring him to me!

The unicorn monster won’t be a problem to me, because when I hit, seven I kill, – said the tailor.

He took the axe and the rope and went to the forest. He searched for a while till he found the monster. He was terrifying. The corn was in the middle of his forehead looking like a mast. When he saw the tailor he went straight to him to kill him with the corn but he couldn’t. The tailor hid behind a thick trunk and the corn stuck deep in the trunk and he couldn’t get it out.

– Now you can’t escape from me! – said the tailor.

He threw the rope around his neck and cut his tail with the axe, and took him to the king. When the monster saw the king with the golden crown and the red cape, the monster began to growl. His eyes were full of rage, he was sharpened and moved the half corn like a spade. The king was scared and ran away from the palace together with his servants. He went so far that he couldn’t find the way back home. While the tailor lived for so long and he began to make pants, shirts and jackets like before. He always kept the belt with him. They never saw thieves and monsters anymore.