<h3><SPAN name="chap183"></SPAN>183 The Giant and the Tailor</h3>
<p>A certain tailor who was great at boasting but ill at doing, took it into his
head to go abroad for a while, and look about the world. As soon as he could
manage it, he left his workshop, and wandered on his way, over hill and dale,
sometimes hither, sometimes thither, but ever on and on. Once when he was out
he perceived in the blue distance a steep hill, and behind it a tower reaching
to the clouds, which rose up out of a wild dark forest. “Thunder and
lightning,” cried the tailor, “what is that?” and as he was
strongly goaded by curiosity, he went boldly towards it. But what made the
tailor open his eyes and mouth when he came near it, was to see that the tower
had legs, and leapt in one bound over the steep hill, and was now standing as
an all powerful giant before him. “What dost thou want here, thou tiny
fly’s leg?” cried the giant, with a voice as if it were thundering
on every side. The tailor whimpered, “I want just to look about and see
if I can earn a bit of bread for myself, in this forest.” “If that
is what thou art after,” said the giant, “thou mayst have a place
with me.” “If it must be, why not? What wages shall I
receive?” “Thou shalt hear what wages thou shalt have. Every year
three hundred and sixty-five days, and when it is leap-year, one more into the
bargain. Does that suit thee?” “All right,” replied the
tailor, and thought, in his own mind, “a man must cut his coat according
to his cloth; I will try to get away as fast as I can.” On this the giant
said to him, “Go, little ragamuffin, and fetch me a jug of water.”
“Had I not better bring the well itself at once, and the spring
too?” asked the boaster, and went with the pitcher to the water.
“What! the well and the spring too,” growled the giant in his
beard, for he was rather clownish and stupid, and began to be afraid.
“That knave is not a fool, he has a wizard in his body. Be on thy guard,
old Hans, this is no serving-man for thee.” When the tailor had brought
the water, the giant bade him go into the forest, and cut a couple of blocks of
wood and bring them back. “Why not the whole forest, at once, with one
stroke. The whole forest, young and old, with all that is there, both rough and
smooth?” asked the little tailor, and went to cut the wood. “What!
the whole forest, young and old, with all that is there, both rough and smooth,
and the well and its spring too,” growled the credulous giant in his
beard, and was still more terrified. “The knave can do much more than
bake apples, and has a wizard in his body. Be on thy guard, old Hans, this is
no serving-man for thee!” When the tailor had brought the wood, the giant
commanded him to shoot two or three wild boars for supper. “Why not
rather a thousand at one shot, and bring them all here?” inquired the
ostentatious tailor. “What!” cried the timid giant in great terror;
“Let well alone to-night, and lie down to rest.”</p>
<p>The giant was so terribly alarmed that he could not close an eye all night long
for thinking what would be the best way to get rid of this accursed sorcerer of
a servant. Time brings counsel. Next morning the giant and the tailor went to a
marsh, round which stood a number of willow-trees. Then said the giant,
“Hark thee, tailor, seat thyself on one of the willow-branches, I long of
all things to see if thou art big enough to bend it down.” All at once
the tailor was sitting on it, holding his breath, and making himself so heavy
that the bough bent down. When, however, he was compelled to draw breath, it
hurried him (for unfortunately he had not put his goose in his pocket) so high
into the air that he never was seen again, and this to the great delight of the
giant. If the tailor has not fallen down again, he must be hovering about in
the air.</p>
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