Let no one ever say that a poor tailor cannot do great thingsand win high honors; all that is needed is that he should go tothe right smithy, and what is of most consequence, that heshould have good luck. A civil, adroit¹ tailor's apprenticeonce went out travelling, and came into a great forest, and,as he did not know the way, he lost himself. Night fell, andnothing was left for him to do, but to seek a bed in this painfulsolitude. He might certainly have found a good bed on the softmoss, but the fear of wild beasts let him have no rest there, andat last he was forced to make up his mind to spend the night ina tree. He sought out a high oak, climbed up to the top of it,and thanked God that he had his goose with him, for otherwisethe wind which blew over the top of the tree would have carriedhim away.

After he had spent some hours in the darkness, not without fearand trembling, he saw at a very short distance the glimmer² of alight, and as he thought that a human habitation might be there,where he would be better off than on the branches of a tree, hegot carefully down and went towards the light. It guided himto a small hut that was woven together of reeds and rushes. Heknocked boldly, the door opened, and by the light which came forthhe saw a little hoary⁴ old man who wore a coat made of bits of coloredstuff sewn together. "Who are you, and what do you want?" askedthe man in a grumbling⁵ voice. "I am a poor tailor," he answered,"whom night has surprised here in the wilderness⁶, and I earnestlybeg you to take me into your hut until morning." "Go your way,"replied the old man in a surly voice, "I will have nothing to do withrunagates; seek for yourself a shelter elsewhere." After these wordshe was about to slip into his hut again, but the tailor held him so tightlyby the corner of his coat, and pleaded so piteously, that the old man,who was not so ill-natured as he wished to appear, was at last softened,and took him into the hut with him where he gave him something to eat,and then pointed⁷ out to him a very good bed in a corner.

The weary tailor needed no rocking; but slept sweetly till morning,but even then would not have thought of getting up, if he had notbeen aroused by a great noise. A violent sound of screaming androaring forced its way through the thin walls of the hut. The tailor,full of unwonted courage, jumped up, put his clothes on in haste,and hurried out. Then close by the hut, he saw a great black bulland a beautiful stag, which were just preparing for a violent struggle.

They rushed at each other with such extreme rage that the groundshook with their trampling⁸, and the air resounded⁹ with their cries.

For a long time it was uncertain which of the two would gain thevictory; at length the stag thrust his horns into his adversary's body,whereupon the bull fell to the earth with a terrific roar, and wasthoroughly despatched by a few strokes from the stag.

The tailor, who had watched the fight with astonishment¹⁰, was stillstanding there motionless, when the stag in full career bounded upto him, and before he could escape, caught him up on his great horns.

He had not much time to collect his thoughts, for it went in a swiftrace over stock and stone, mountain and valley, wood and meadow.

He held with both hands to the tops of the horns, and resigned himselfto his fate. It seemed, however, to him just as if he were flying away.

At length the stag stopped in front of a wall of rock, and gently let thetailor down. The tailor, more dead than alive, required a longer timethan that to come to himself. When he had in some degree recovered,the stag, which had remained standing¹¹ by him, pushed its horns with suchforce against a door which was in the rock, that it sprang open. Flamesof fire shot forth³, after which followed a great smoke, which hid the stagfrom his sight. The tailor did not know what to do, or whither to turn, inorder to get out of this desert and back to human beings again. Whilst hewas standing thus undecided, a voice sounded out of the rock, which criedto him, "Enter without fear, no evil shall befall you thee." He hesitated,but driven by a mysterious force, he obeyed the voice and went throughthe iron-door into a large spacious¹² hall, whose ceiling, walls and floor weremade of shining polished square stones, on each of which were cut letterswhich were unknown to him. He looked at everything full of admiration¹³,and was on the point of going out again, when he once more heard the voicewhich said to him, "Step on the stone which lies in the middle of the hall, andgreat good fortune awaits thee."His courage had already grown so great that he obeyed the order.

The stone began to give way under his feet, and sank slowly downinto the depths. When it was once more firm, and the tailor lookedround, he found himself in a hall which in size resembled the former.

Here, however, there was more to look at and to admire. Hollowplaces were cut in the walls, in which stood vases of transparent¹⁴ glasswhich were filled with colored spirit or with a bluish vapour. On the floorof the hall two great glass chests stood opposite to each other, which atonce excited his curiosity. When he went to one of them he saw inside ita handsome structure like a castle surrounded by farm-buildings, stablesand barns, and a quantity of other good things. Everything was small, butexceedingly carefully and delicately made, and seemed to be cut out by adexterous hand with the greatest exactitude.

He might not have turned away his eyes from the considerationof this rarity for some time, if the voice had not once more madeitself heard. It ordered him to turn round and look at the glasschest which was standing opposite. How his admiration increasedwhen he saw therein a maiden¹⁵ of the greatest beauty! She lay as ifasleep, and was wrapped in her long fair hair as in a precious mantle¹⁶.

Her eyes were closely shut, but the brightness of her complexion¹⁷ anda ribbon which her breathing moved to and fro, left no doubt that shewas alive. The tailor was looking at the beauty with beating heart,when she suddenly opened her eyes, and started up at the sight ofhim in joyful¹⁸ terror. "Just Heaven!" cried she, "my deliverance is athand! Quick, quick, help me out of my prison; if thou pushest backthe bolt of this glass coffin¹⁹, then I shall be free." The tailor obeyedwithout delay, and she immediately raised up the glass lid, came outand hastened into the corner of the hall, where she covered herselfwith a large cloak. Then she seated herself on a stone, ordered theyoung man to come to her, and after she had imprinted²⁰ a friendlykiss on his lips, she said, "My long-desired deliverer, kind Heavenhas guided thee to me, and put an end to my sorrows. On the self-same day when they end, shall thy happiness begin. Thou art thehusband chosen for me by Heaven, and shalt pass thy life in unbrokenjoy, loved by me, and rich to overflowing²¹ in every earthly possession.

Seat thyself, and listen to the story of my life:

"I am the daughter of a rich count. My parents died when I wasstill in my tender youth, and recommended me in their last will tomy elder brother, by whom I was brought up. We loved each otherso tenderly, and were so alike in our way of thinking and our inclinations,that we both embraced the resolution never to marry, but to stay togetherto the end of our lives. In our house there was no lack of company;neighbors and friends visited us often, and we showed the greatesthospitality to every one. So it came to pass one evening that a strangercame riding to our castle, and, under pretext²² of not being able to get onto the next place, begged for shelter for the night. We granted his requestwith ready courtesy, and he entertained us in the most agreeable mannerduring supper by conversation intermingled with stories. My brother likedthe stranger so much that he begged him to spend a couple of days with us,to which, after some hesitation²³, he consented. We did not rise from tableuntil late in the night, the stranger was shown to room, and I hastened, as Iwas tired, to lay my limbs in my soft bed. Hardly had I slept for a short time,when the sound of faint and delightful²⁴ music awoke me. As I could notconceive from whence it came, I wanted to summon my waiting-maid whoslept in the next room, but to my astonishment I found that speech was takenaway from me by an unknown force. I felt as if a mountain were weighingdown my breast, and was unable to make the very slightest sound. In themeantime, by the light of my night-lamp, I saw the stranger entermy room through two doors which were fast bolted. He came tome and said, that by magic arts which were at his command, he hadcaused the lovely music to sound in order to awaken²⁵ me, and that henow forced his way through all fastenings with the intention of offeringme his hand and heart. My repugnance²⁶ to his magic arts was, however,so great, that I vouchsafed²⁷ him no answer. He remained for a time standingwithout moving, apparently²⁸ with the idea of waiting for a favorable decision,but as I continued to keep silence, he angrily declared he would revengehimself and find means to punish my pride, and left the room. I passed thenight in the greatest disquietude, and only fell asleep towards morning.

When I awoke, I hurried to my brother, but did not find him in his room,and the attendants told me that he had ridden forth with the stranger to thechase by daybreak.

"I at once suspected nothing good. I dressed myself quickly,ordered my palfrey to be saddled, and accompanied only by oneservant, rode full gallop²⁹ to the forest. The servant fell with hishorse, and could not follow me, for the horse had broken its foot.

I pursued my way without halting, and in a few minutes I saw thestranger coming towards me with a beautiful stag which he led bya cord. I asked him where he had left my brother, and how he hadcome by this stag, out of whose great eyes I saw tears flowing.

Instead of answering me, he began to laugh loudly. I fell into agreat rage at this, pulled out a pistol and discharged it at the monster;but the ball rebounded³⁰ from his breast and went into my horse's head.

I fell to the ground, and the stranger muttered some words whichdeprived me of consciousness.

"When I came to my senses again I found myself in this undergroundcave in a glass coffin. The magician appeared once again, and said hehad changed my brother into a stag, my castle with all that belongedto it, diminished in size by his arts, he had shut up in the other glasschest, and my people, who were all turned into smoke, he had confinedin glass bottles. He told me that if I would now comply with his wish,it was an easy thing for him to put everything back in its former state,as he had nothing to do but open the vessels³¹, and everything wouldreturn once more to its natural form. I answered him as little as I haddone the first time. He vanished and left me in my prison, in which adeep sleep came on me. Amongst the visions which passed before myeyes, that was the most comforting in which a young man came and setme free, and when I opened my eyes to-day I saw thee, and beheld³² mydream fulfilled. Help me to accomplish the other things which happenedin those visions. The first is that we lift the glass chest in which my castleis enclosed, on to that broad stone."As soon as the stone was laden³³, it began to rise up on high withthe maiden and the young man, and mounted through the openingof the ceiling into the upper hall, from whence they then couldeasily reach the open air. Here the maiden opened the lid, andit was marvellous to behold³⁴ how the castle, the houses, and thefarm buildings which were enclosed, stretched themselves outand grew to their natural size with the greatest rapidity. Afterthis, the maiden and the tailor returned to the cave beneath theearth, and had the vessels which were filled with smoke carriedup by the stone. The maiden had scarcely opened the bottleswhen the blue smoke rushed out and changed itself into livingmen, in whom she recognized her servants and her people.

Her joy was still more increased when her brother, who hadkilled the magician in the form of the bull, came out of theforest towards them in his human form, and on the self-sameday the maiden, in accordance with her promise, gave her handat the altar to the lucky tailor.

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