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too THE BRA VE LITTLE TAILOR. |
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So the wedding was performed with great pomp, but very little rejoicing, and thus was a tailor made into a king.
Some little time after, the young queen heard her husband talking in his sleep, and saying, "Work away, youngster; I expect you to finish that waistcoat very quickly, for you have the seams of the trousers to sew. If you sit there idling, I will lay the yard measure about your ears."
This sort of talk occurred several times, and the young queen discovered by it that her husband was of low birth, and only a tailor.
When she told her father of her trouble, and asked him to send away a husband who was only a tailor, the king tried to comfort her by saying, "This evening, when night comes, leave your chamber-door unlocked, and as soon as your husband is fast asleep, my servants shall enter and bind him hand and foot, and carry him away to a ship, in which he shall sail to distant lands.
The young wife was overjoyed at hearing of this scheme, and readily consented to the arrangement. But the king's equerry had overheard the conversation, and as he had a regard for this young man, he discovered to him the whole of the plot
11 I'll soon settle that," was the little tailor's reply; " there shall be a bolt to the door they don't expect."
When night came, every one retired to rest at the usual hour; and as soon as the queen thought her husband slept, she rose quietly and opened the door. But the tailor, who had only pretended to sleep, exclaimed in a loud voice, "Be quick, youngster, and finish that waistcoat, and stitch the seams' of these trousers, or you will soon have the yard measure about your ears. I have killed seven at a blow; I have destroyed two giants; I have hunted a unicorn, and taken a wild boar captive, and shall I be afraid of those who stand outside my chamber door !"
As soon as the conspirators heard this, they were in a great fright, and fled as if a wild host were at their heels ; and from that time no one in the kingdom could be prevailed upon to take part against him, and so the tailor remained a king for the rest of his life- |
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