The Clever Little Tailor
Encyclopedia
The Clever Little Tailor is a German fairy tale
collected by the Brothers Grimm
as tale 114. It is Aarne-Thompson type 850, The Princess's Birthmarks. Andrew Lang
included it in The Green Fairy Book.
The princess demanded that he spend the night with a bear as well. In his stall, the tailor began to crack nuts. He offered the bear not nuts but pebbles, and the bear could not crack them. The tailor took one away, substituted a nut, and cracked it. The tailor began to fiddle, and the bear danced. The tailor offered to teach it, but first he had to cut its nails. He trapped it in a vise and left it there.
The princess agreed to marry him. The other two tailors freed the bear. It came after the carriage. The tailor stuck his legs out the window and threatened the bear with the claim that they were a vise. It ran off.
Fairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...
collected by the Brothers Grimm
Brothers Grimm
The Brothers Grimm , Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm , were German academics, linguists, cultural researchers, and authors who collected folklore and published several collections of it as Grimm's Fairy Tales, which became very popular...
as tale 114. It is Aarne-Thompson type 850, The Princess's Birthmarks. Andrew Lang
Andrew Lang
Andrew Lang was a Scots poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales. The Andrew Lang lectures at the University of St Andrews are named after him.- Biography :Lang was born in Selkirk...
included it in The Green Fairy Book.
Synopsis
A proud princess set a riddle to her wooers and sent them away when they could not answer. Three tailors came. Two were known for their cleverness and skill, and the third for his uselessness. The princess asked them what two colors were her hairs. The first said black and white; the second brown and red; the third gold and silver, and he was right.The princess demanded that he spend the night with a bear as well. In his stall, the tailor began to crack nuts. He offered the bear not nuts but pebbles, and the bear could not crack them. The tailor took one away, substituted a nut, and cracked it. The tailor began to fiddle, and the bear danced. The tailor offered to teach it, but first he had to cut its nails. He trapped it in a vise and left it there.
The princess agreed to marry him. The other two tailors freed the bear. It came after the carriage. The tailor stuck his legs out the window and threatened the bear with the claim that they were a vise. It ran off.