On a warm summer morning, a little tailor sat, stitching a jacket. He heard a woman selling jam along the road and thought it would be good to buy some. She was hoping for a large sale, but after sniffing all the jars, he bought one jar of jam. She went off grumbling and the satisfied tailor applied the jam on a large slice of bread.
However, he decided to finish the jacket before eating it. So, he went on with his work. Many flies swarmed around in the warm sunshine, drawn to the food by the fragrant jam. The tailor had a tough time shooing them away. Finally, he took a piece of thick cloth and began swatting them. When they flew away, he found he had killed seven flies.
“I must tell everyone about this,” thought the proud little tailor. So, on a sash across his chest he embroidered the words: SEVEN AT ONE BLOW. Then he decided to walk around the country showing it off. “Everyone will think I’ve slain seven men at a blow! Who may know about the flies?” he thought.
Putting a piece of fresh cheese in his pocket, he set off. He found a little bird caught among the bushes on his way, so he put that too in his pocket and walked along.
He came across a giant sitting on a large boulder by the wayside and wished him. “Sir, I am going into the world to try my luck. Why don’t you come along with me?” he asked the giant.
The giant looked contemptuously at the little tailor and said, “You! What can a little caterpillar like you do? Can you squeeze a stone?” And he picked up a large stone and squeezed it till the water ran out of it.
“Pooh!” said the tailor, “That’s a child’s play!” And pulling the cheese out of his pocket, he squeezed it till the liquid ran out.
The giant sat up. “I’ll throw a stone and let’s see how far you can throw a stone.”
And he flung a stone so far that the tailor could barely see it. He remembered the bird in his pocket and pulled it out. “My good friend,” he told the giant, “When I fling a stone, it never falls to the ground!” He flung the bird into the air and it was so happy to be free that it flew right away. The giant was impressed, but he made one more effort.
He uprooted a huge tree and said he had to carry it to his cave. The clever little tailor immediately agreed, saying, “You pick up the trunk; I’ll carry all the branches.” The giant picked up the trunk and couldn’t look back to see that the tailor had climbed on to a branch and was being carried by the giant along with the tree!
The giant reached the cave and the tailor skipped down as if he had been carrying the branches all the way too. He was introduced to all the giants in the cave, and ate a hearty dinner before being given one of the giant beds to sleep in. He found it huge, so he jumped off and slept on a cushion in a corner of the cave.
At night, the giant hit the bed with a huge rod, and thought he had killed the little fellow who was so strong. In the morning, the giants left for the forest. They were frightened when the tailor came out of the cave whistling happily. They ran out of the forest, never to return!
The little fellow walked till he reached a town where, exhausted, he fell asleep in a courtyard. People came and looked at him and saw the sash with ‘Seven at one Blow’ written on it. Soon word reached the King about a brave man being in the town. The King thought it would be good to have such a brave man in his service, so the tailor was summoned to the palace when he awoke.
The tailor was honoured and given a large mansion to live in and joined the King’s service. The soldiers were jealous of the cocky little tailor and at the same time they were frightened of him too. The King was also getting worried that some day this strong fellow would kill him and take over his kingdom.
One day, the King called him and sent him on a mission to kill two giants who had been troubling his kingdom for some time, robbing and killing people and burning their houses down. He sent a hundred soldiers too with him. The king promised his daughter’s hand in marriage if the giants were killed.
When they reached the forest, they found the two giants sleeping under a tree. The tailor asked the soldiers to await him outside. “I can deal with these fellows alone,” he said airily as he went in.
The tailor filled his pockets with stones and quietly climbed up the tree under which the giants slept. Hidden among the branches and the leaves, he flung a stone at one giant. It hit him on the chest and he awoke, startled.
“Hey,” he yelled, shaking the other giant, “What are you hitting me for?”
Groggy with sleep, the giant woke up, “Huh! What? I didn’t hit you! I was sleeping.”
They fell asleep again. In a while, the next stone hit the second giant on the chest. He jumped up, roaring, “Why are you throwing things at me?” he asked, thumping the sleeping giant.
The fellow woke up roaring, “Are you crazy? First you hit me and now you accuse me!”
Each time they awoke they got more and more angry with each other. The argument went on till it turned into a nasty fight. They punched and kicked each other, till they uprooted trees and hit each other so hard that they lay dead!
The tailor skipped down from the tree and merrily told the soldiers that he had killed the two giants. They couldn’t believe it till they saw the giants lying dead.
They returned with the triumphant little tailor to give the good news to the King. The King had to keep his promise as the tailor waited for his reward! The princess married the tailor who became the King later…. simply by swatting seven flies!
