OCR
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. i i= + fo ij a 1 —— 1