• The Little Tailor
• Sepple with the Golden Hair
• The Three Wondrous Fishes

The Little Tailor

Once there was a poor day-labourer who, with his wife and three children, found it hard to make both ends meet. When the eldest son was fourteen years old, he was apprenticed to a locksmith; and the next in like manner. But when the turn came to the youngest, Hans, he was much too weak to learn a trade, and was therefore made to take care of his father's geese.

One day there came an old wife to the labourer's cottage. She was a witch or sorceress; and knowing this, the mother asked her what they were to do with little Hansel. The old woman said, "Why, let him be a tailor; that's a trade which has a gold mine in it. And do you know what? There's a little thimble for you; give it to Hans. Very well; and now, God bless you!"

Saying this, she gave the mother a little thimble, and the mother handed this over to Hans who was just returning from his geese-keeping. He thanked the old wife heartily, and she, pleased with his great gratitude, gave him a pair of scissors into the bargain, and bade him never work with another thimble or pair of scissors than her own.

Next week Hans went to a tailor in the village. Having the enchanted thimble, he could soon sew better than any tailor had ever been able to sew before. Then he had to learn to cut out; and he succeeded equally well with his magic scissors, and so his apprenticeship was soon declared to be finished.

He now went to the next town, but there no one would take him because he was so small; for he looked like a boy of only six years old. At last he found work with a tailor's widow. For his cleverness she soon made him foreman over her ten workmen. They were almost ready to burst with envy, for they were much older and had already been a long time in the widow's service. So they said to one another, "We must play this yellow beak (young bird) a trick; we can't put up with it that the little chap should be our foreman."

They had noticed that Hans never used any scissors but his own, and they resolved therefore to take his scissors from him and use them themselves. No sooner said than done. One of the journeymen took his scissors one day and cut out a coat with them. He soon saw the scissors went on and on, cutting of themselves, and how his hand followed after. But when he unfolded the coat, it was cut out for a hunchback, and one of the arms was half a meter longer than the other. Swearing and cursing, he flung the scissors away and consulted with his mates about accusing Hans of witchcraft.

But Hans got an inkling of it, and ran away.

When he had travelled for two days, he came to a town where all the people were clothed in meal sacks. He entered the gate of the town and was seized by a couple of men clothed in red flour-sacks and pushed into a house where there was a number of men clothed in black flour-sacks. One of them struck the table with his fist till it cracked, and cried out, "In what clothing did you come to this town, and who are you?" Hans replied, "I am a tailor; and as for my clothing, it is after the latest fashion."

"Ha! Unlucky one," cried the judge, for that the man was, "Don't you know that everyone who enters this town must put on a sack, and that for transgressing this law you must receive a hundred stripes? And don't you know that every tailor who enters this town must fight with a giant for the king's daughter?"

"No, how should I know?" said Hans, quite stupefied. "Ignorance is no excuse," answered the judge; "you must fight with the giant, but the flogging shall be remitted, for you will certainly come to an end in the battle with the giant."

"Good," thought Hans, "I am spared something." He was now led by two soldiers into a prison where he was to remain till the next day. The jailer felt grief for the poor little tailor, and stayed up with him the whole night chatting with him.

"I say," said Hans, "tell me, now, why do you go about in sacks, and why do you hate tailors so much? I can't understand why it is a crime to carry on the honourable trade of tailor."

"Now, said the jailer, "I'll tell you the whole story. Our queen was very vain, and this vanity went so far that she wore seven new dresses every day. Although this cost a fearful lot of money, it would not have mattered so much had not the luxurious habit passed on to the queen's daughter. But she carried it much further than her mother, for she did nothing all day but put her dresses off and on.

"At last the king's patience was at an end; he turned the queen out, shut up his daughter in a tower, and had her watched by a giant. Then he proclaimed it to be law that all the dwellers in the city should wear sacks, and drove the tailors, as the cause of his misfortune, out of his kingdom, and forbade them ever to return."

Next morning early, Hans went to the forest. He was accompanied by soldiers and police. When they came near enough to hear the giant snoring, the policemen left Hans and told him he was now to go straight forward. Suddenly the old wife who had given him the thimble stood before him, and said, "Here is a hedgehog and a bird, take care of both; you will find good use for them both." So saying, she disappeared.

Hans went on, till suddenly he heard the giant's voice, and saw his dreadful form appearing from behind a tree. "You wretched little manikin, will you measure yourself with me? See, now, which can send the bowl furthest, I or you; here is a bowling-green."

He took a bowl from the sack and sent it a long, long way. But Hans made his hedgehog run, and the hedgehog never stopped till he was ahead of the giant's bowl. Angrily the giant cried, "Very well, this time you won; but now come here. Do you see that this tower has fifteen floors? Now I will strike the last." He then threw his stone into the twelfth floor, telling, "Now, try your cast!"

Hans made his bird fly up, and it flew far away above the tower.

"You have won again; now we shall try who can leap highest," said the giant, and jumped over an oak.

"Good," said Hans; "now be so good as to bend down this poplar for me, that I may measure it."

The giant bent it, and Hans held fast to the top of it. "You can let go," he cried to the giant; "I know how long it is."

The giant let go, and Hans flew from the poplar over some trees which were higher than the oak that the giant had leapt over.

Then the giant cried, "You have saved your life and won the king's daughter besides!" Then he lifted Hans up, so that on the third floor he could see the princess through a window. Soon Hans entered there through the window.

Then Hans and the princess went to the king and told him that the giant had been conquered. The king abdicated in favour of Hans, and Hans lived with his queen many long years.

But what did the new king do with the magic things? With the scissors he cut good men out of bad, and with the thimble he sewed on his soldiers' chopped-off heads, arms, and feet, and all were then as fresh and well as before. And if you don't believe it, you don't have to.

~ೞ⬯ೞ~

Sepple with the Golden Hair

Once there was a poor peasant and his wife who had a son named Sepple. In course of time they became better off, and Sepple went to the town to buy a horse. When he came to the horse-market he found a rich lord there bought up all the finest horses, so that there were none left for Sepple. But the rich lord wanted a servant, and so he hired Sepple, who was a fine stout fellow.

Joyfully Sepple rode home with his master. Soon they came into a forest, so wild and gloomy that Sepple began to wish they might soon get out of it. The further they went, the darker it became. After two days' riding, suddenly they were at the end of the forest, and it was like a weight fallen from Sepple's neck when he saw their destination before them. In the middle of a beautiful pasture stood a splendid castle, and he had never set eyes on the like of it. When they went in, he was no longer surprised at the fine rooms and the fine things in them. Having looked at them all, he was led by his master into the stable and shown a fine white horse.

"Sepple," said the lord, "you have nothing to do but feed this horse every day. You shall have meat and drink and want nothing."

Sepple was well pleased, thinking nothing could suit him better. When the lord was gone, the white horse told Sepple to go into the court. There he would find a spring, and bring back a glass of water. Sepple went and brought back the water, and the horse took it and poured a little on Sepple's head. Suddenly his hair turned to gold.

Then Sepple leaped on the horse's back and rode away for home like the wind. When he got there, the white horse said he must not go to his father and mother, he must give him some of the water to sip. Sepple did so, and suddenly a beautify princess with long golden hair stood before him.

Sepple wedded her, and became a great king.

His father and mother, who had been in great fear about Sepple, he took to his castle, and the wicked wizard, who had bewitched the princess, was burned. Sepple prospered, and there was no better king than him.

~ೞ⬯ೞ~

The Three Wondrous Fishes

A fisherman had caught nothing for many days. Once more he went to the lake to cast his nets. Little hope had he, but he was bound to make the trial, for wife and children were crying for bread.

The fisherman threw the net into the water, and when he pulled it up a stone lay in it. The second time the fisherman drew out a drowned pig. Casting his net a third time, he drew out of the net a small casket

The fisherman opened the casket, but to his horror a giant came out it and said to the fisherman, "For bringing me to the light of day receive your reward. I command you to get yourself into the casket; if not, you are a dead man."

The fisherman whimpered, and said, "But how shall I find room in this little casket?"

The giant was going to show the fisherman that there was room enough inside, and got again into the casket. No sooner was he inside than the fisherman quickly shut the casket, and was going to cast it into the lake. The giant begged him not to do this before he had entrusted to him a secret. The fisherman granted his request, and the giant said,

"I am the spirit of the son of your king. My father cast me into this lake because I had been a great sinner. I had always done evil to men, and had even murdered many honest men. I can only hope to find rest, said my father, if I show myself kindly disposed to the one who finds me, and this will I do. Listen: not far from this place you will find a pond. Cast your net there, and every day you will catch a fish. Take it to the royal court, and you will get a ducat for every such fish."

All came to pass as the spirit said. The fisherman found the pond, cast his net into the water, and took a splendid fish. This he carried to the king's castle. When the king's cook looked at the splendid fish, it pleased her greatly, and she gave the fisherman the ducat he asked for it, and thought that today she should have something quite out of the ordinary to set before the king.

The cook put the fish in the pan and was going to fry it, but scarce was it on the fire than it spoke, and said, "As long as you do good, so long you will fare well, but as soon as you do evil, it will go ill with you." Next he flew up the chimney.

When on the second day the fisherman came with an equally fine fish, the cook bought it, but the same thing happened as with the first fish. The matter came to the ears of the king, and on the third day he himself was present at the cooking, and the same thing happened. The king had the fisherman brought before him, and when he came there, he told all from beginning to end.

The king greatly rejoiced that his son had become a changed character, and he took the fisherman into his castle with his whole family, and let them want for nothing.