Page 152 [152]
116 GRIMM’S FAIRY TALES.
The King did not yet wish to give him the promised .
had done a great deal of damage in the wood.
The huntsmen were to accompany him.
“ All right,” said the tailor, "this is child’s play.”
when he got inside the door shut after him, and there he was
imprisoned, for the creature was too big and unwieldy to jump
out of the window too. ‘Then the little tailor called the
huntsmen that they might see the prisoner with their own
eyes; and then he betook himself to the king, who now,
whether he liked it or not, was obliged to fulfil his promise,
and give him his daughter and the half of his kingdom. But
if he had known that the great warrior was only a little tailor
he would have taken it still more to heart. So the wedding
was celebrated with great splendour and little joy, and the
tailor was made into a king.
One night the young queen heard her husband talking in
his sleep and saying,
‘“Now boy, make me that waistcoat and patch me those
breeches, or I will lay my yard measure about your shoulders !”
And so, as she perceived of what low birth her husband
was, she went to her father the next morning and told him all,
and begged him to set her free from a man who was nothing
better than a tailor. The king bade her be comforted,
saying,
“To-night leave your bedroom door open, my guard
shall stand outside, and when he is asleep they shall come in
and bind him and carry him off to a ship, and he shall be sent
to the other side of the world.”
So the wife felt consoled, but the king’s water-bearer, who
had been listening all the while, went to the little tailor and
disclosed to him the whole plan.
f x.
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