The bed, however, was
too big for the little tailor; he did not lie down in it, but crept
into a corner. When it was midnight, and the giant thought that the
little tailor was lying in a sound sleep, he got up, took a great iron
bar, cut through the bed with one blow, and thought he had given the
grasshopper his finishing stroke. With the earliest dawn the giants
went into the forest, and had quite forgotten the little tailor, when
all at once he walked up to them quite merrily and boldly. The giants
were terrified, they were afraid that he would strike them all dead,
and ran away in a great hurry. The little tailor went onwards, always following his own pointed nose. After he had walked for a long time, he came to the courtyard of a
royal palace, and as he felt weary, he lay down on the grass and fell
asleep. Whilst he lay there, the people came and inspected him on all
sides, and read on his girdle, “Seven at one stroke.” “Ah,” said they,
“What does the great warrior here in the midst of peace? He must be a
mighty lord.” They went and announced him to the King, and gave it as
their opinion that if war should break out, this would be a weighty and
useful man who ought on no account to be allowed to depart. The counsel
pleased the King, and he sent one of his courtiers to the little tailor
to offer him military service when he awoke. The ambassador remained
standing by the sleeper, waited until he stretched his limbs and opened
his eyes, and then conveyed to him this proposal. “For this very reason
have I come here,” the tailor replied, “I am ready to enter the King’s
service.” He was therefore honorably received and a special dwelling
was assigned him. The soldiers, however, were set against the little tailor, and wished
him a thousand miles away. “What is to be the end of this?” they said
amongst themselves. “If we quarrel with him, and he strikes about him,
seven of us will fall at every blow; not one of us can stand against
him.” They came therefore to a decision, betook themselves in a body to
the King, and begged for their dismissal. “We are not prepared,” said
they, “to stay with a man who kills seven at one stroke.” The King was
sorry that for the sake of one he should lose all his faithful
servants, wished that he had never set eyes on the tailor, and would
willingly have been rid of him again. But he did not venture to give
him his dismissal, for he dreaded lest he should strike him and all his
people dead, and place himself on the royal throne. He thought about it
for a long time, and at last found good counsel. He sent to the little
tailor and caused him to be informed that as he was such a great
warrior, he had one request to make to him. In a forest of his country
lived two giants who caused great mischief with their robbing,
murdering, ravaging, and burning, and no one could approach them
without putting himself in danger of death. If the tailor conquered and
killed these two giants, he would give him his only daughter to wife,
and half of his kingdom as a dowry, likewise one hundred horsemen
should go with him to assist him. “That would indeed be a fine thing
for a man like me!” thought the little tailor. “One is not offered a
beautiful princess and half a kingdom every day of one’s life!” “Oh,
yes,” he replied, “I will soon subdue the giants, and do not require
the help of the hundred horsemen to do it; he who can hit seven with
one blow has no need to be afraid of two.”

The little tailor went forth, and the hundred horsemen followed him. When he came to the outskirts of the forest, he said to his followers,
“Just stay waiting here, I alone will soon finish off the giants.” Then
he bounded into the forest and looked about right and left. After a
while he perceived both giants. They lay sleeping under a tree, and
snored so that the branches waved up and down. The little tailor, not
idle, gathered two pocketsful of stones, and with these climbed up the
tree. When he was half-way up, he slipped down by a branch, until he
sat just above the sleepers, and then let one stone after another fall
on the breast of one of the giants. For a long time the giant felt
nothing, but at last he awoke, pushed his comrade, and said, “Why art
thou knocking me?” “Thou must be dreaming,” said the other, “I am not
knocking thee.” They laid themselves down to sleep again, and then the
tailor threw a stone down on the second. “What is the meaning of this?”
cried the other. “Why art thou pelting me?” “I am not pelting thee,”
answered the first, growling. They disputed about it for a time, but as
they were weary they let the matter rest, and their eyes closed once
more. The little tailor began his game again, picked out the biggest
stone, and threw it with all his might on the breast of the first
giant. “That is too bad!” cried he, and sprang up like a madman, and
pushed his companion against the tree until it shook. The other paid
him back in the same coin, and they got into such a rage that they tore
up trees and belabored each other so long, that at last they both fell
down dead on the ground at the same time. Then the little tailor leapt
down. “It is a lucky thing,” said he, “that they did not tear up the
tree on which I was sitting, or I should have had to spring on to
another like a squirrel; but we tailors are nimble.” He drew out his
sword and gave each of them a couple of thrusts in the breast, and then
went out to the horsemen and said, “The work is done; I have given both
of them their finishing stroke, but it was hard work! They tore up
trees in their sore need, and defended themselves with them, but all
that is to no purpose when a man like myself comes, who can kill seven
at one blow.” “But are you not wounded?” asked the horsemen. “You need
not concern yourself about that,” answered the tailor, “They have not
bent one hair of mine.” The horsemen would not believe him, and rode
into the forest; there they found the giants swimming in their blood,
and all round about lay the torn-up trees. The little tailor demanded of the King the promised reward; he,
however, repented of his promise, and again bethought himself how he
could get rid of the hero. “Before thou receivest my daughter, and the
half of my kingdom,” said he to him, “thou must perform one more heroic
deed. In the forest roams a unicorn which does great harm, and thou
must catch it first.” “I fear one unicorn still less than two giants. Seven at one blow, is my kind of affair.” He took a rope and an axe
with him, went forth into the forest, and again bade those who were
sent with him to wait outside. He had to seek long. The unicorn soon
came towards him, and rushed directly on the tailor, as if it would
spit him on his horn without more ceremony. “Softly, softly; it can’t
be done as quickly as that,” said he, and stood still and waited until
the animal was quite close, and then sprang nimbly behind the tree.