Array The Brothers Grimm - Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm - A New English Version

The tailor could hardly believe his ears. But he took his handkerchief, pressed it down on the grass till it was as wet as it could be, and washed out his eye sockets. Immediately what the hanged man had said came true: a healthy new eye grew at once and filled each one. The sun was about to rise, and the tailor watched with wonder as the light came over the mountains and filled the whole valley and plain in front of him. There lay a great city with magnificent gates and a hundred towers, and the sun caught the golden balls and crosses on the tops of the church spires and made them sparkle in the clear morning. He could see every leaf on the trees, every bird flying past, and even every gnat that danced in the air. But here was the greatest test: he took a needle from his needle-case, snapped off a bit of thread, and threaded it as quickly and easily as he’d ever done. His heart leaped for joy.

He threw himself to his knees and thanked God for his mercy. Then he said his morning prayer, and he didn’t forget to pray for the two poor sinners who were swinging in the breeze like pendulums. The tailor hoisted his bundle on to his back and went on his way, singing and whistling as if he’d never endured any sorrow at all.

The first thing he came to was a fine brown foal running wherever it pleased in the meadow. The tailor caught hold of its mane and tried to mount it and ride it into town. But the foal begged for his freedom, saying, ‘Look, I’m only young, and even a skinny little tailor like you is too much for me. You’d snap my spine in half if you tried to ride me. Let me grow bigger and stronger, and perhaps I’ll be able to repay you one day.’

‘Oh, go on then, off you go,’ said the tailor. ‘I can see you’re a frisky devil like me.’ He gave the foal a pat on the rump, and the young creature kicked his heels for joy and galloped away, leaping hedges and ditches and galloping off into the distance.

The little tailor hadn’t eaten anything since the meagre lump of bread the shoemaker had given him the day before. ‘The sunlight fills my eyes,’ he said, ‘but I’ve got nothing to fill my belly with. The next thing I see that’s even half edible… Ah! What’s that?’

It was a stork, and it stepped daintily over the meadow towards him. The tailor leaped on it at once and seized it by one leg.

‘I don’t know what you’ll taste like,’ he said, ‘but I’m going to find out. Now stand still while I cut your head off, and then I’ll roast you.’

‘No, please don’t do that,’ said the stork. ‘It really isn’t a good idea. You see, I’m sacred. I’m a friend to everyone, and no one harms me. If you spare my life, I’ll certainly be able to do you some good in a different way.’

‘Oh, off you go then, longlegs,’ said the tailor, and let go. The great bird rose gracefully up on his long wings, letting his legs hang down, and flew away.

‘Where’s this all going to end?’ said the tailor to himself. ‘My hunger gets bigger and bigger, and my belly emptier and emptier. Well, whatever I see next is doomed.’

At that moment he was passing a pond where a couple of young ducks were taking their morning swim. One of them came a bit too close, and the tailor seized it at once.

‘Just in time!’ he said, and he was about to wring its neck when there was a terrible squawking from across the pond, and an old mother duck flapped out from among the reeds and half swam, half flew across towards him.

‘Spare my child!’ she cried. ‘Can you imagine how your own poor mother would feel if someone wanted to eat you?’

‘Oh, calm down,’ said the good-natured tailor. ‘You can keep your child.’

And he set the duckling back on the water.

When he turned away ready to set off again, he found he was standing in front of an old hollow tree where dozens of wild bees were flying in and out.

‘Honey!’ he thought at once. ‘Thank goodness! That’s my reward for sparing the duckling.’

But he’d hardly moved a step towards the tree when the queen bee came flying out.

‘If you touch my people and destroy our nest,’ she said, ‘you’ll be sorry for it. You’ll feel ten thousand red-hot needles piercing your skin. But leave us alone and go on your way, and one day we’ll do you a favour in return.’

The tailor couldn’t win that one. ‘Three empty dishes and nothing in the fourth,’ he said to himself, ‘makes a miserable dinner.’

So he dragged himself and his ravening stomach into the town, and since all the clocks were striking twelve, there was food already cooked in the first inn he came to. He sat down and devoured an enormous meal.

When he was finally satisfied, he said to himself, ‘Well, it’s time to find some work.’

He set off around the town to find a tailor’s shop, and soon found himself a job. He was a master of his trade, so it wasn’t long before he was well known, and every fashionable person was eager to have a new coat or jacket made by the little tailor. And day by day his reputation grew.

‘I can’t get any cleverer,’ he said, ‘so all I can do is get more successful.’

The summit of his success came when the king appointed him Tailor Royal to the court.

But strange things happen in this world. On the very same day of his royal appointment, his former companion the shoemaker was appointed Cobbler Royal. When the shoemaker caught sight of the tailor and saw that he had two healthy eyes, he was astonished and alarmed, and his conscience pricked him. ‘Before he takes revenge on me,’ he thought, ‘I’ll dig a pit for him.’

But whoever digs a pit for someone else falls into it himself. One evening when it was getting dark, the shoemaker went to the king and said humbly, ‘Your majesty, I don’t like to speak ill of anyone, but that tailor fellow has been saying that he can find the golden crown that was lost all that time ago.’

‘Oh, he has, has he?’ said the king.

Next morning he had the tailor summoned.

‘I hear you’ve been boasting you can find my golden crown,’ he said. ‘Well, you’d better make good your boast, or leave the city and not come back.’

‘Oh ho,’ thought the tailor, ‘I can see the way the wind’s blowing. There’s no point in hanging about if he wants me to do the impossible; I’ll go straight away.’

He tied up his bundle and made his way to the city gate. Once he was outside, however, he couldn’t help regretting the need to leave this city where he’d been doing so well. He was walking along thinking about it when he came to the pond where he’d made the acquaintance of the ducks. At that moment, the old mother duck whose young one he’d spared was sitting on the grass preening herself, and she recognized him at once.

‘Morning,’ she said. ‘What’s the trouble? Why are you down in the dumps?’

‘Oh, duck,’ he said, ‘you won’t be surprised once I tell you all about it.’ And he told the duck everything that had happened.

‘Well, if that’s all,’ said the duck, ‘you can forget your troubles. The crown is down below at the bottom of the pond. We’ll bring it up for you. Spread your handkerchief out on the grass and enjoy the sunshine.’

She called her twelve children, and they all dived down and vanished. A couple of minutes later she came up with the crown balanced on her wings.

‘Careful now,’ she said to the ducklings. ‘Some of you this side, some of you that…’

They all swam round her supporting the heavy crown with their beaks, and in less than a minute the crown was resting on the tailor’s handkerchief. What a magnificent sight! The sun sparkled on the gold so it shone like a hundred thousand carbuncles.

The tailor thanked the ducks, tied the four corners of his handkerchief together, and carried the crown to the king. The king was so delighted that he hung a gold chain around the tailor’s neck.