Good jams,
cheap!” This rang pleasantly in the tailor’s ears; he stretched his
delicate head out of the window, and called, “Come up here, dear woman;
here you will get rid of your goods.” The woman came up the three steps
to the tailor with her heavy basket, and he made her unpack the whole
of the pots for him. He inspected all of them, lifted them up, put his
nose to them, and at length said, “The jam seems to me to be good, so
weigh me out four ounces, dear woman, and if it is a quarter of a pound
that is of no consequence.” The woman who had hoped to find a good
sale, gave him what he desired, but went away quite angry and
grumbling. “Now, God bless the jam to my use,” cried the little tailor,
“and give me health and strength;” so he brought the bread out of the
cupboard, cut himself a piece right across the loaf and spread the jam
over it. “This won’t taste bitter,” said he, “but I will just finish
the jacket before I take a bite.” He laid the bread near him, sewed on,
and in his joy, made bigger and bigger stitches. In the meantime the
smell of the sweet jam ascended so to the wall, where the flies were
sitting in great numbers, that they were attracted and descended on it
in hosts. “Hola! who invited you?” said the little tailor, and drove
the unbidden guests away. The flies, however, who understood no German,
would not be turned away, but came back again in ever-increasing
companies. The little tailor at last lost all patience, and got a bit
of cloth from the hole under his work-table, and saying, “Wait, and I
will give it to you,” struck it mercilessly on them. When he drew it
away and counted, there lay before him no fewer than seven, dead and
with legs stretched out. “Art thou a fellow of that sort?” said he, and
could not help admiring his own bravery. “The whole town shall know of
this!” And the little tailor hastened to cut himself a girdle, stitched
it, and embroidered on it in large letters, “Seven at one stroke!”
“What, the town!” he continued, “The whole world shall hear of it!” and
his heart wagged with joy like a lamb’s tail. The tailor put on the
girdle, and resolved to go forth into the world, because he thought his
workshop was too small for his valour. Before he went away, he sought
about in the house to see if there was anything which he could take
with him; however, he found nothing but an old cheese, and that he put
in his pocket. In front of the door he observed a bird which had caught
itself in the thicket. It had to go into his pocket with the cheese. Now he took to the road boldly, and as he was light and nimble, he felt
no fatigue. The road led him up a mountain, and when he had reached the
highest point of it, there sat a powerful giant looking about him quite
comfortably. The little tailor went bravely up, spoke to him, and said,
“Good day, comrade, so thou art sitting there overlooking the
wide-spread world! I am just on my way thither, and want to try my
luck. Hast thou any inclination to go with me?” The giant looked
contemptuously at the tailor, and said, “Thou ragamuffin! Thou
miserable creature!”

“Oh, indeed?” answered the little tailor, and unbuttoned his coat, and
showed the giant the girdle, “There mayst thou read what kind of a man
I am!” The giant read, “Seven at one stroke,” and thought that they had
been men whom the tailor had killed, and began to feel a little respect
for the tiny fellow. Nevertheless, he wished to try him first, and took
a stone in his hand and squeezed it together so that water dropped out
of it. “Do that likewise,” said the giant, “if thou hast strength?” “Is
that all?” said the tailor, “that is child’s play with us!” and put his
hand into his pocket, brought out the soft cheese, and pressed it until
the liquid ran out of it. “Faith,” said he, “that was a little better,
wasn’t it?” The giant did not know what to say, and could not believe
it of the little man. Then the giant picked up a stone and threw it so
high that the eye could scarcely follow it. “Now, little mite of a man,
do that likewise.” “Well thrown,” said the tailor, “but after all the
stone came down to earth again; I will throw you one which shall never
come back at all.” And he put his hand into his pocket, took out the
bird, and threw it into the air. The bird, delighted with its liberty,
rose, flew away and did not come back. “How does that shot please you,
comrade?” asked the tailor. “Thou canst certainly throw,” said the
giant, “but now we will see if thou art able to carry anything
properly.” He took the little tailor to a mighty oak tree which lay
there felled on the ground, and said, “If thou art strong enough, help
me to carry the tree out of the forest.” “Readily,” answered the little
man; “take thou the trunk on thy shoulders, and I will raise up the
branches and twigs; after all, they are the heaviest.” The giant took
the trunk on his shoulder, but the tailor seated himself on a branch,
and the giant who could not look round, had to carry away the whole
tree, and the little tailor into the bargain: he behind, was quite
merry and happy, and whistled the song, “Three tailors rode forth from
the gate,” as if carrying the tree were child’s play. The giant, after
he had dragged the heavy burden part of the way, could go no further,
and cried, “Hark you, I shall have to let the tree fall!” The tailor
sprang nimbly down, seized the tree with both arms as if he had been
carrying it, and said to the giant, “Thou art such a great fellow, and
yet canst not even carry the tree!”

They went on together, and as they passed a cherry-tree, the giant laid
hold of the top of the tree where the ripest fruit was hanging, bent it
down, gave it into the tailor’s hand, and bade him eat. But the little
tailor was much too weak to hold the tree, and when the giant let it
go, it sprang back again, and the tailor was hurried into the air with
it. When he had fallen down again without injury, the giant said, “What
is this? Hast thou not strength enough to hold the weak twig?” “There
is no lack of strength,” answered the little tailor. “Dost thou think
that could be anything to a man who has struck down seven at one blow? I leapt over the tree because the huntsmen are shooting down there in
the thicket. Jump as I did, if thou canst do it.” The giant made the
attempt, but could not get over the tree, and remained hanging in the
branches, so that in this also the tailor kept the upper hand. The giant said, “If thou art such a valiant fellow, come with me into
our cavern and spend the night with us.” The little tailor was willing,
and followed him. When they went into the cave, other giants were
sitting there by the fire, and each of them had a roasted sheep in his
hand and was eating it. The little tailor looked round and thought, “It
is much more spacious here than in my workshop.” The giant showed him a
bed, and said he was to lie down in it and sleep.