only daughter to wife, and half of his kingdom as a
dowry, likewise one hundred horsemen should go with him to assist him.
'That would indeed be a fine thing for a man like me!' thought the
little tailor. 'One is not offered a beautiful princess and half a
kingdom every day of one's life!' 'Oh, yes,' he replied, 'I will soon
subdue the giants, and do not require the help of the hundred horsemen
to do it; he who can hit seven with one blow has no need to be afraid of
two.'

The little tailor went forth, and the hundred horsemen followed him.
When he came to the outskirts of the forest, he said to his followers:
'Just stay waiting here, I alone will soon finish off the giants.' Then
he bounded into the forest and looked about right and left. After a
while he perceived both giants. They lay sleeping under a tree, and
snored so that the branches waved up and down. The little tailor, not
idle, gathered two pocketsful of stones, and with these climbed up the
tree. When he was halfway up, he slipped down by a branch, until he sat
just above the sleepers, and then let one stone after another fall on
the breast of one of the giants. For a long time the giant felt nothing,
but at last he awoke, pushed his comrade, and said: 'Why are you
knocking me?' 'You must be dreaming,' said the other, 'I am not knocking
you.' They laid themselves down to sleep again, and then the tailor
threw a stone down on the second. 'What is the meaning of this?' cried
the other 'Why are you pelting me?' 'I am not pelting you,' answered
the first, growling. They disputed about it for a time, but as they were
weary they let the matter rest, and their eyes closed once more. The
little tailor began his game again, picked out the biggest stone, and
threw it with all his might on the breast of the first giant. 'That
is too bad!' cried he, and sprang up like a madman, and pushed his
companion against the tree until it shook. The other paid him back in
the same coin, and they got into such a rage that they tore up trees and
belaboured each other so long, that at last they both fell down dead on
the ground at the same time. Then the little tailor leapt down. 'It is
a lucky thing,' said he, 'that they did not tear up the tree on which
I was sitting, or I should have had to sprint on to another like a
squirrel; but we tailors are nimble.' He drew out his sword and gave
each of them a couple of thrusts in the breast, and then went out to the
horsemen and said: 'Th