Andrew Lang_Fairy Book 01 (41 page)

Now when they drew near the land it came to pass
just as the ravens had predicted, and a splendid chestnut
horse bounded forward. "Capital!" said the King; "this
animal shall carry me to my palace," and was about to
mount, but Trusty John was too sharp for him, and,
springing up quickly, seized the pistol out of the holster
and shot the horse dead. Then the other servants of
the King, who at no time looked favorably on Trusty
John, cried out: "What a sin to kill the beautiful beast
that was to bear the King to his palace!" But the King
spake: "Silence! let him alone; he is ever my most trusty
John. Who knows for what good end he may have done
this thing?" So they went on their way and entered the
palace, and there in the hall stood a cupboard in which
lay the ready-made bridal shirt, looking for all the world
as though it were made of gold and silver. The young
King went toward it and was about to take hold of it,
but Trusty John, pushing him aside, seized it with his
gloved hands, threw it hastily into the fire, and let it
burn The other servants commenced grumbling again,
and said: "See, he's actually burning the King's bridal
shirt." But the young King spoke: "Who knows for
what good purpose he does it? Let him alone, he is my
most trusty John." Then the wedding was celebrated,
the dance began, and the bride joined in, but Trusty John
watched her countenance carefully. Of a sudden she
grew deadly white, and fell to the ground as if she were
dead. He at once sprang hastily toward her, lifted her
up, and bore her to a room, where he laid her down, and
kneeling beside her he drew three drops of blood from her
right side, and spat them out. She soon breathed again
and came to herself; but the young King had watched
the proceeding, and not knowing why Trusty John had
acted as he did, he flew into a passion, and cried: "Throw
him into prison." On the following morning sentence
was passed on Trusty John, and he was condemned to
be hanged. As he stood on the gallows he said: "Every
one doomed to death has the right to speak once before he
dies; and I too have that privilege?" "Yes," said the
King, "it shall be granted to you." So Trusty John
spoke: "I am unjustly condemned, for I have always
been faithful to you"; and he proceeded to relate how he
had heard the ravens' conversation on the sea, and how he
had to do all he did in order to save his master. Then
the King cried: "Oh! my most trusty John, pardon!
pardon! Take him down." But as he uttered the last
word Trusty John had fallen lifeless to the ground, and
was a stone.

The King and Queen were in despair, and the King
spake: "Ah! how ill have I rewarded such great fidelity!"
and made them lift up the stone image and place it in
his bedroom near his bed. As often as he looked at it
he wept and said: "Oh! if I could only restore you to
life, my most trusty John!" After a time the Queen
gave birth to twins, two small sons, who throve and grew,
and were a constant joy to her. One day when the
Queen was at church, and the two children sat and played
with their father, he gazed again full of grief on the stone
statue, and sighing, wailed: "Oh, if I could only restore
you to life, my most trusty John!" Suddenly the stone
began to speak, and said: "Yes, you can restore me to
life again if you are prepared to sacrifice what you hold
most dear." And the King cried out: "All I have in the
world will I give up for your sake." The stone
continued: "If you cut off with your own hand the heads of
your two children, and smear me with their blood, I shall
come back to life." The King was aghast when he
heard that he had himself to put his children to death;
but when he thought of Trusty John's fidelity, and how
he had even died for him, he drew his sword, and with
his own hand cut the heads off his children. And when
he had smeared the stone with their blood, life came back,
and Trusty John stood once more safe and sound before
him. He spake to the King: "Your loyalty shall be
rewarded," and taking up the heads of the children, he
placed them on their bodies, smeared the wounds with
their blood, and in a minute they were all right again
and jumping about as if nothing had happened. Then
the King was full of joy, and when he saw the Queen
coming, he hid Trusty John and the two children in a
big cupboard. As she entered he said to her: "Did you
pray in church?" "Yes," she answered, "but my
thoughts dwelt constantly on Trusty John, and of what
he has suffered for us." Then he spake: "Dear wife, we
can restore him to life, but the price asked is our two
little sons; we must sacrifice them." The Queen grew
white and her heart sank, but she replied: "We owe it
to him on account of his great fidelity." Then he
rejoiced that she was of the same mind as he had been, and
going forward he opened the cupboard, and fetched the
two children and Trusty John out, saying: "God be
praised! Trusty John is free once more, and we have our
two small sons again." Then he related to her all that
had passed, and they lived together happily ever
afterward.
[27]

One summer's day a little tailor sat on his table by the
window in the best of spirits, and sewed for dear life. As
he was sitting thus a peasant woman came down the
street, calling out: "Good jam to sell, good jam to sell."
This sounded sweetly in the tailor's ears; he put his frail
little head out of the window, and shouted: "up here,
my good woman, and you'll find a willing customer." The
woman climbed up the three flights of stairs with her
heavy basket to the tailor's room, and he made her spread
out all the pots in a row before him. He examined them
all, lifted them up and smelled them, and said at last:
"This jam seems good, weigh me four ounces of it, my
good woman; and even if it's a quarter of a pound I won't
stick at it." The woman, who had hoped to find a good
market, gave him what he wanted, but went away
grumbling wrathfully. "Now heaven shall bless this jam
for my use," cried the little tailor, "and it shall sustain and
strengthen me." He fetched some bread out of a cupboard,
cut a round off the loaf, and spread the jam on it.
"That won't taste amiss," he said; "but I'll finish that
waistcoat first before I take a bite." He placed the bread
beside him, went on sewing, and out of the lightness of his
heart kept on making his stitches bigger and bigger. In
the meantime the smell of the sweet jam rose to the ceiling,
where heaps of flies were sitting, and attracted them
to such an extent that they swarmed on to it in masses.
"Ha! who invited you?" said the tailor, and chased the
unwelcome guests away. But the flies, who didn't understand
English, refused to let themselves be warned off,
and returned again in even greater numbers. At last the
little tailor, losing all patience, reached out of his chimney
corner for a duster, and exclaiming: "Wait, and I'll give
it to you," he beat them mercilessly with it. When he left
off he counted the slain, and no fewer than seven lay dead
before him with outstretched legs. "What a desperate
fellow I am!" said he, and was filled with admiration at
his own courage. "The whole town must know about
this"; and in great haste the little tailor cut out a girdle,
hemmed it, and embroidered on it in big letters, "Seven
at a blow." "What did I say, the town? no, the whole
world shall hear of it," he said; and his heart beat for joy
as a lamb wags his tail.

The tailor strapped the girdle round his waist and set
out into the wide world, for he considered his workroom
too small a field for his prowess. Before he set forth he
looked round about him, to see if there was anything in
the house he could take with him on his journey; but he
found nothing except an old cheese, which he took possession
of. In front of the house he observed a bird that had
been caught in some bushes, and this he put into his
wallet beside the cheese. Then he went on his way merrily,
and being light and agile he never felt tired. His way
led up a hill, on the top of which sat a powerful giant, who
was calmly surveying the landscape. The little tailor
went up to him, and greeting him cheerfully said: "Good-day,
friend; there you sit at your ease viewing the whole
wide world. I'm just on my way there. What do you say
to accompanying me?" The giant looked contemptuously
at the tailor, and said: "What a poor wretched little
creature you are!" "That's a good joke," answered the
little tailor, and unbuttoning his coat he showed the giant
the girdle. "There now, you can read what sort of a fellow
I am." The giant read: "Seven at a blow"; and thinking
they were human beings the tailor had slain, he conceived
a certain respect for the little man. But first he thought
he'd test him, so taking up a stone in his hand, he squeezed
it till some drops of water ran out. "Now you do the
same," said the giant, "if you really wish to be thought
strong." "Is that all?" said the little tailor; "that's child's
play to me," so he dived into his wallet, brought out the
cheese, and pressed it till the whey ran out. "My squeeze
was in sooth better than yours," said he. The giant
didn't know what to say, for he couldn't have believed it
of the little fellow. To prove him again, the giant lifted
a stone and threw it so high that the eye could hardly
follow it. "Now, my little pigmy, let me see you do that."
"Well thrown," said the tailor; "but, after all, your stone
fell to the ground; I'll throw one that won't come down
at all." He dived into his wallet again, and grasping the
bird in his hand, he threw it up into the air. The bird,
enchanted to be free, soared up into the sky, and flew
away never to return. "Well, what do you think of that
little piece of business, friend?" asked the tailor. "You
can certainly throw," said the giant; "but now let's see if
you can carry a proper weight." With these words he led
the tailor to a huge oak tree which had been felled to the
ground, and said: "If you are strong enough, help me to
carry the tree out of the wood." "Most certainly," said
the little tailor: "just you take the trunk on your shoulder;
I'll bear the top and branches, which is certainly the
heaviest part." The giant laid the trunk on his shoulder,
but the tailor sat at his ease among the branches; and the
giant, who couldn't see what was going on behind him,
had to carry the whole tree, and the little tailor into the
bargain. There he sat behind in the best of spirits, lustily
whistling a tune, as if carrying the tree were mere sport.
The giant, after dragging the heavy weight for some time,
could get on no further, and shouted out: "Hi! I must let
the tree fall." The tailor sprang nimbly down, seized the
tree with both hands as if he had carried it the whole way
and said to the giant: "Fancy a big lout like you not being
able to carry a tree!"

They continued to go on their way together, and as
they passed by a cherry tree the giant grasped the top of
it, where the ripest fruit hung, gave the branches into the
tailor's hand, and bade him eat. But the little tailor was
far too weak to hold the tree down, and when the giant
let go the tree swung back into the air, bearing the little
tailor with it. When he had fallen to the ground again
without hurting himself, the giant said: "What! do you
mean to tell me you haven't the strength to hold down a
feeble twig?" "It wasn't strength that was wanting,"
replied the tailor; "do you think that would have been
anything for a man who has killed seven at a blow? I
jumped over the tree because the huntsmen are shooting
among the branches near us. Do you do the like if you
dare." The giant made an attempt, but couldn't get over
the tree, and stuck fast in the branches, so that here too
the little tailor had the better of him.

"Well, you're a fine fellow, after all," said the giant;
"come and spend the night with us in our cave." The
little tailor willingly consented to do this, and following
his friend they went on till they reached a cave where
several other giants were sitting round a fire, each holding
a roast sheep in his hand, of which he was eating. The
little tailor looked about him, and thought: "Yes, there's
certainly more room to turn round in here than in my
workshop." The giant showed him a bed and bade him
lie down and have a good sleep. But the bed was too big
for the little tailor, so he didn't get into it, but crept away
into the corner. At midnight, when the giant thought the
little tailor was fast asleep, he rose up, and taking his big
iron walking-stick, he broke the bed in two with a blow,
and thought he had made an end of the little grasshopper.
At early dawn the giants went off to the wood, and quite
forgot about the little tailor, till all of a sudden they met
him trudging along in the most cheerful manner. The
giants were terrified at the apparition, and, fearful lest he
should slay them, they all took to their heels as fast as
they could.

The little tailor continued to follow his nose, and after
he had wandered about for a long time he came to the
courtyard of a royal palace, and feeling tired he lay down
on the grass and fell asleep. While he lay there the people
came, and looking him all over read on his girdle: "Seven
at a blow." "Oh!" they said, "what can this great hero
of a hundred fights want in our peaceful land? He must
indeed be a mighty man of valor." They went and told
the King about him, and said what a weighty and useful
man he'd be in time of war, and that it would be well to
secure him at any price. This counsel pleased the King,
and he sent one of his courtiers down to the little tailor,
to offer him, when he awoke, a commission in their army.
The messenger remained standing by the sleeper, and
waited till he stretched his limbs and opened his eyes,
when he tendered his proposal. "That's the very thing
I came here for," he answered; "I am quite ready to enter
the King's service." So he was received with all honor,
and given a special house of his own to live in.