A tailor was preparing to eat some jam. All of a sudden, some flies settled on it. The
tailor killed seven of them with one blow.
The tailor was proud of his deed. He made a belt describing the deed, ‘Seven
at one blow.’ Inspired, he set out into the world to seek his fortune.
On his way, the tailor met a giant, who assumed that ‘Seven at one blow’ referred to seven
men. The giant challenged the tailor to a test of strength.
The giant squeezed water from a boulder whereas the tailor squeezed water (or whey) from cheese.
The giant threw a rock far into the air, and it eventually landed.
The tailor countered the feat by releasing a bird that flew away. The giant believed that the small bird was a ‘rock’ which was thrown so far that it never landed.
The giant asked the tailor to help carry a tree. The tailor directed the giant to
carry the trunk, while the tailor himself would carry the branches. Instead, the
tailor climbed on, so the giant carried him as well.
The giant brought the tailor to his (giant’s) home, where other giants lived as well. During
the night, the giant attempted to kill the tailor. However, the tailor, having found the
bed too large, he slept on the ground. On seeing him still alive, the other giants fled, never to be seen again.
The tailor entered into the royal service, but the other soldiers were afraid that if the tailor would
lose his temper some day, seven of them might be killed with a blow. They told the king that either the
tailor would leave military service or they would.
The king sent the tailor to defeat two giants, offering him half of his kingdom and his daughter’s hand in marriage. The tailor provoked the giants into fighting against each other.
Thereafter, the king sent him after a unicorn, but the tailor trapped it by standing behind a
tree. When the unicorn charged, he stepped aside and the unicorn drove its horn into the trunk.
The king subsequently sent him after a wild boar, but the tailor trapped it in a chapel.
Now the king had no alternative but to give away his daughter to the tailor in marriage.
One night, his wife heard him talking in his sleep. She realized that he was merely a tailor.
The king promised his daughter to have him carried off. A squire warned the
tailor, who pretended to be asleep and called out that he had done all those deeds and
was not afraid of the men behind the door.
Terrified, they left, and the king did not try again. From that day onwards, the
tailor spent the rest of his life in happy-go-lucky fashion.