who
could not look round, had to carry away the whole tree, and the little
tailor into the bargain: he behind, was quite merry and happy, and
whistled the song: 'Three tailors rode forth from the gate,' as if
carrying the tree were child's play. The giant, after he had dragged the
heavy burden part of the way, could go no further, and cried: 'Hark
you, I shall have to let the tree fall!' The tailor sprang nimbly down,
seized the tree with both arms as if he had been carrying it, and said
to the giant: 'You are such a great fellow, and yet cannot even carry
the tree!'
They went on together, and as they passed a cherry-tree, the giant laid
hold of the top of the tree where the ripest fruit was hanging, bent it
down, gave it into the tailor's hand, and bade him eat. But the little
tailor was much too weak to hold the tree, and when the giant let it go,
it sprang back again, and the tailor was tossed into the air with it.
When he had fallen down again without injury, the giant said: 'What is
this? Have you not strength enough to hold the weak twig?' 'There is no
lack of strength,' answered the little tailor. 'Do you think that could
be anything to a man who has struck down seven at one blow? I leapt over
the tree because the huntsmen are shooting down there in the thicket.
Jump as I did, if you can do it.' The giant made the attempt but he
could not get over the tree, and remained hanging in the branches, so
that in this also the tailor kept the upper hand.
The giant said: 'If you are such a valiant fellow, come with me into our
cavern and spend the night with us.' The little tailor was willing, and
followed him. When they went into the cave, other giants were sitting
there by the fire, and each of them had a roasted sheep in his hand and
was eating it. The little tailor looked round and thought: 'It is much
more spacious here than in my workshop.' The giant showed him a bed, and
said he was to lie down in it and sleep. The bed, however, was too
big for the little tailor; he did not lie down in it, but crept into
a corner. When it was midnight, and the giant thought that the little
tailor was lying in a sound sleep, he got up, took a great iron bar,
cut through the bed with one blow, and thought he had finished off the
grasshopper for good. With the earliest dawn the giants went into the
forest, and had quite forgotten the little tailor, when all at once he
walked up to them quite merrily and boldly. The giants were terr
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