Snip, the Tailor (An English Folk-Tale)

4.9

In a small town there once lived a little tailor.

Some people in the town called him Snip. The little tailor did not like the name Snip. He did not like those people who called him Snip.

One day he said to himself, “I’m going to set out to see the world. Some day I’ll come back and show those who laugh at me a thing or two.”

So he put on his coat, and his cap, and an old pair of shoes. That was all he had. He looked for some food to take with him. The only thing he could see was a cheese. He put the cheese into a bag and went out. Then he saw his old hen, and he put her into the bag, too.

On his way he met a great Giant.

“Good morning, Mr. Giant,” said Snip. “I am going to try my luck. Let’s go with me.”

“Ho, ho!” said the giant. “What help can you be to me? You cannot even grow a beard.”

“That may be,” said Snip, “but we shall see who is the better man.”

“We’ll find it out in a moment,” said the giant. “Can you squeeze water from a stone?”

The giant took a stone in his hand and began to squeeze it. Soon water ran out of his hand.

“That is nothing,” said Snip. “Just look at this.”

And Snip took the cheese out of his bag and began to squeeze it. More water ran from the cheese than from the giant’s stone.

“What do you say now, Mr. Giant?” said Snip.

The giant did not see that Snip had only a cheese. So he did not know what to say. But he looked around and picked up another stone.

“Well,” he said, “now let me see how far you can throw.”

Then the giant threw the stone into the sky so high that it was a long time before it came down again.

“Not bad,” said Snip, “but I shall throw my stone so far that it will not come back at all. Now, what do you think of that?”

“Why do you say such a foolish thing?” said the giant. “You cannot do that. Why do you say you can?”

Snip said nothing, but took the old hen from his bag and threw it into the sky. The old hen did not like it, and she flew away as fast as she could. She flew so fast that they could not see her when she came down again.

“Now,” said Snip, “what do you say to that?”

“Well,” said the giant, “now let me see how you can work.”

The giant took Snip into the forest where a great tree lay on the ground.

“Now,” said the giant, “help me to take this tree out of the forest.”

“Very well,” said Snip. “You will take the bottom, and I shall carry the top. Everybody knows that the top is bigger. So I shall take it.”

So the giant took the bottom of the tree, put it on his back, and started out of the forest.

“Faster, faster,” shouted Snip.

You see, Snip did not carry anything. He got into the branches of the tree, and so the giant carried the tree and him, too.

As they went, Snip talked and laughed and sang a song.

Soon the giant got very tired and could not carry the tree. He dropped the tree on the ground. Snip jumped out of the tree at once and said,

“It is too bad that a big giant like you cannot carry a little tree like this.”

Now the giant did not know what to say. He said nothing and they started off.

Soon the giant stopped near an apple-tree. He bent the apple-tree and began to eat the apples.

“Help yourself,” said the giant. “But you will help me to bend the tree down.”

So Snip held to the tree and began to eat one of the apples. Just then the giant let go the tree. And do you know what happened to Snip? Up went the apple-tree, and up went Snip. He went over the tree and came down on the other side.

“Ho, ho, ho!” laughed the giant. “What kind of man are you that you cannot bend a little apple-tree?”

“What!” said Snip. “Did you not see the big stone that came down from the hill? I jumped over the tree to get out of the way of the stone.”

The giant turned to look, and Snip ran around the tree and threw a stone just behind the giant.

“Jump! Jump!” cried Snip. “You will be killed!” The giant jumped up into the apple-tree, and there he stuck fast.

“Eat the big apples,” laughed Snip.

At last the giant came down from the tree. He was very angry with Snip, but he did not say it.

“Well,” said the giant, “you are a good man, after all. Come home with me. A friend and I have a house not far away. You can stay with us tonight, and in the morning we shall all go out into the world together to try our luck.”

Snip went with the giant and found that his friend was a great giant too. The two giants gave Snip a good supper and a good bed.

Snip lay down on the bed, but he did not sleep. He knew that the giants did not like him. So when it was dark, he got up and went out of the house and made his bed under a tree.

Soon he heard a great noise in the house. Then the giants came out and went away.

In the morning, Snip went into the house and saw what had happened.

“Well,” said Snip, “it’s a good thing that I slept under the tree.”

The giants had taken a great stick and had broken Snip’s bed to pieces. They thought that they had killed Snip. But Snip was not dead, as the giants soon found out.

Snip left the house and started off into the forest as happy as could be. Soon he saw the giants. Snip hid behind a tree and did not make any noise.

“We have killed that little fellow,” said one of the giants.

He will never make fun of us again,” said the other.

Snip did not let the giants see him, but shouted,

“I’ll still make fun of you. I’ll make fun of you until you are dead. You cannot kill me.”

Then Snip jumped out from behind the tree. The two giants were so frightened that they ran away as fast as they could.

Snip laughed when he saw how afraid the giants were.

“Well,” he said, “now I shall go to see the king.” Before night, Snip was near the king’s palace. He began to tell all the people how he had made fun of a giant and how two big giants had run away from him.

The people thought that Snip talked too much. They did not believe anything he said.

Then Snip went to the king and told him his story. The king did not believe anything Snip said, but to get him out of the way, the king made him a soldier.

“Now,” said the king. “I want you to kill the giants. They take away my cows and sheep in the night. I’ll let you have a hundred soldiers, and we’ll see what you can do. If you kill the two giants, you will have half of my kingdom.”

“Keep your soldiers at home,” said Snip. “I can kill the giants alone.”

The next day Snip put some food into his bag and started off to find the giants. When the sun was high in the sky, he came to a big tree. There he found the giants. They were asleep, but what a noise they made!

Snip looked at the giants and laughed to himself. “Well,” he said, “I’ll soon put an end to them.” He put some stones into his pockets and climbed up into the tree. Then he began to throw stones down on one of the giants. He threw one stone after another until the giant opened his eyes and roared at the other giant.

“Why did you strike me?”

“You are foolish,” said the other giant. “I did not strike you.”

They lay down to sleep again. Then Snip threw stones down on the second giant, and soon he roared, “Why did you strike me?” “You are foolish,” said the first giant. “I did not strike you. You know I didn’t.”

They roared at each other for some time, then they went to sleep again. Now Snip took the biggest stones that he had and threw them down on both the giants.

At once one of the giants gave the other a hard thump. The other gave the first one a hard thump. In a moment the two giants were fighting. It was a very severe fight. In the end the two of them lay dead.

When Snip came back to the palace, the soldiers did not believe that he had killed the giants. Snip had to take them to the place where the giants lay.

“Now,” said Snip, “what do you say to that? They are dead, but they haven’t touched a hair on my head.”

They all went back to the king, and Snip told him that the two giants were dead.

“What a story!” said the king. “I do not believe you.”

You see, the king did not want to give Snip half of his kingdom.

“Before I give you half of my kingdom,” said the king, “you must stay all night with the great bear. If you are here in the morning, you will have half of my kingdom.”

“Very well,” said Snip. “I am a good friend of the bears. They like it when I play the violin. Give me a violin and I’ll stay with your bear.”

“All right,” said the king. “We shall give you a violin.”

When evening came, the soldiers put Snip in one room with the big bear. Then they went away. The bear growled. But when Snip began to play the violin, the bear stood up and danced.

Snip went on playing all the night, and the bear went on dancing all the night.

In the morning the soldiers came.

“Good morning,” said Snip. “If you let me go out, I shall have breakfast with the king.”

They let him go out, and he really had breakfast with the king, who had to give Snip half of his kingdom.

So Snip had half of the kingdom.

Soon Snip went back home to tell the people of his town how he had killed the giants and how the king had had to give him half of his kingdom. But the people of the town did not believe Snip.

“Go to the king and ask him,” said Snip. “He will tell you that what I say is true.”

“We shall believe you, when we see you in your palace,” laughed the people of the town.

“Very well,” said Snip. “I shall build a big palace in my half of the kingdom.”

Snip went away, and he built a big palace in his half of the kingdom. Then he asked the people of his town to come to see him, and they came.

And you may be sure that nobody ever laughed at Snip after that.