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

When the shoemaker saw that his first plan had failed, he thought of another. He went to the king and said, ‘Your majesty, I’m sorry to say that the tailor’s boasting again. His latest claim is that he can make a wax model of the royal palace, every room and every detail, furniture and all, inside and out.’

The king sent for the tailor and ordered him to make a model like that, every detail, furniture and all.

‘And if you fail to include so much as a single nail on a wall, I’ll have you imprisoned underground for the rest of your life,’ said the king.

The tailor thought, ‘This gets worse and worse. Who could put up with this sort of thing?’

He slung his knapsack over his back and set off again. He got as far as the hollow tree, and he was so depressed that he just slumped down and hung his head. The bees flying in and out must have told the queen he was there, because very soon she came out and sat on a twig beside him.

‘Got a stiff neck?’ she said.

‘Oh, hello. No, I’m just hanging my head in despair.’

And he told her what the king had ordered him to do. The queen bee flew up and had a buzzing conversation with several others, and then she came back down again.

‘Just go back to the city now,’ she said, ‘but come back here tomorrow morning and bring a large cloth with you. Don’t worry. It’ll all come right in the end.’

So he turned back and kept out of the way. Meanwhile, the bees flew to the palace and in through the windows, and buzzed around looking at every single detail. Then they all flew out again and went back to their hive, where they started modelling the palace in wax. They worked so quickly that anyone watching would have sworn it was just growing by itself. By the evening it was all ready. When the tailor came back the next morning, he could hardly believe what he saw. The whole building was there, from the tiles on the roof to the cobbles in the courtyard, and not one single detail was missing, not even a single nail on a wall. What’s more, it was as white and delicate as a snowflake, and it smelled like honey.

‘Oh, bees, I don’t know how to thank you!’ said the tailor.

He placed it in the large cloth, wrapped it as carefully as he possibly could, and carried it all the way to the throne room, taking the greatest care in the world not to drop it or fall over. He got there safely, and unfolded the cloth and showed it to the king, who walked all round staring in at the windows, peering at the sentry-boxes, admiring the details of the ironwork on the balconies.

He couldn’t admire it enough. He had it set up in the largest hall, and rewarded the tailor with a handsome stone house.

The shoemaker was beaten once more, but he didn’t give up. He went to the king and said, ‘I’m truly sorry to tell you this, your majesty, but that tailor has been boasting again. He’s heard that there’s no water under the castle courtyard, but he says that’s nothing to a man like him. If he wanted to he could cause a fountain to spring up there as tall as a man, flowing with crystal-clear water.’

The king sent for the tailor.

‘I’ve heard this claim of yours about making a fountain spring up in the courtyard. If you don’t do it I shall look like a fool, and I won’t have that. So you put a fountain of crystal-clear water there as you’ve promised, or else there’ll be a fountain of your blood when the Executioner Royal cuts your head off.’

The poor tailor hurried out of the city gate as fast as he could. This time his life was at stake, and he couldn’t stop the tears rolling down his face.

He wandered out into the country, with no idea how he could possibly fulfil this latest command. As he passed a wide green meadow, the foal he’d given his liberty to some time before came galloping up. He had now become a beautiful chestnut horse.

‘The time has come,’ he said to the tailor, ‘for me to repay your kindness. No need to tell me what you want — I know already, and I can make it happen. Just climb on my back. I’m strong enough now to take a brace of tailors.’

The tailor’s courage came back all at once. With one bound he leaped on the horse’s back, and clung on to his mane as the horse galloped at full speed towards the city. Pedestrians scattered as he charged through the gate and made straight for the castle. Ignoring the sentries, they galloped right up the steps and into the courtyard, where the horse raced round and round faster and faster, the tailor clinging on with all his might, and then crash! The horse fell down right in the middle. At the same moment there was an almighty clap of thunder, a great clump of earth and cobblestones flew straight up into the air and way over the castle roof, and then a spring of water shot into the air as high as a man on horseback. The water was so clear that the sunbeams sparkled on it, making rainbows.

The king was standing in the doorway, watching in amazement. As the horse got to his feet again and the tailor staggered up, shaking and trembling, the king ran to him and embraced him in the sight of all the court.

So the tailor was in the king’s good books again, but it didn’t last long. This time the wicked shoemaker took a calculating look at the royal family. The king had plenty of daughters, each one more beautiful than all the others, but no son, and it was known that his majesty was eager for a prince to succeed him on the throne. The shoemaker went to him and said, ‘Your majesty, I’m afraid you won’t like what I’m going to tell you now, but it can’t be hidden. That insolent tailor has boasted that if he wanted to, he could have a son brought to your majesty through the air.’

That was too much for the king. He summoned the tailor again.

‘I hear you’ve been making claims about the succession. I hear that you’ve said you could bring me a son. Well, you’ve got nine days. Bring me a son in that time, and you can marry the eldest princess.’

The tailor thought, ‘She’d be a prize worth winning. I’d do a lot to marry her, but those cherries are growing too high for me. If I tried to climb that high, the branch would break. What am I going to do now?’

He went to his workshop, sat himself cross-legged on the bench, and wondered what on earth he could do. Finally he gave up.

‘It’s no good!’ he cried. ‘It can’t be done, and I’m going to have to go away for good this time. I can’t live here in peace.’

He tied up his bundle and set off once again. When he got to the meadow he saw his friend the stork walking slowly up and down, looking just like a philosopher. Every so often he’d stop, look closely at a frog, then pick it up and swallow it.

Seeing the tailor, the stork strolled over to greet him.

‘I see you’re carrying your possessions with you. Are you leaving the city, then?’

The tailor told him what the trouble was. ‘He keeps asking me to do these impossible things, and with the help of some good friends I’ve managed the other tasks, but this one’s completely beyond me,’ he said.

‘Well, don’t let it turn your hair grey,’ said the stork. ‘We storks have a certain expertise in this field. It won’t take me long to fish a little prince out of the well where they grow. Go home, my dear tailor, and put your feet up. Nine days, was it? Go to the palace in nine days’ time, and I’ll meet you there.’

The little tailor went home feeling much more cheerful, and on the appointed day he went to the palace. Just as he arrived, there was a tapping at the window, and there was the stork. The tailor opened the window and the stork came in, carrying a bundle in his beak. He walked very carefully over the smooth marble floor, and laid the bundle in the lap of the queen, who opened it to find the most beautiful baby boy reaching up his arms for her. She picked him up and caressed him and kissed him, transported with delight.