THE BRAVE TAILORLING. A little tailor chanced one day to kill at a blow seven flies that were on his bread. In amaze at his own prowess, he determined that the whole town should know of it; so he made himself a belt, and put on it in large letters, "Seven at a blow." "Tut, tut," then said he, "what is the town, the whole world shall know it!" and taking a cheese and a live bird in a bag with him, he set out on his travels. He had not gone far when he came to where a giant was sitting on the top of a mountain. "Ho, comrade!" cried he, "you are sitting up there looking abroad into the world, I am going into it, have you a mind to come with me?" The giant looked at him, and said, "You are a paltry fellow." "That may be," said the tailor; and opening his coat, and letting the giant see his belt, "There you have it in writing, what sort of a man I am." The giant, reading "Seven at a blow," thought at once that they must be men whom he had slain, so he began to feel some respect for him. He resolved, however, to make a trial of him; so taking a stone in his hand, and squeezing it till the water began to trickle from it, "Do that like me," said he to him, if you are as strong as you say." Is that all?" said the tailor; and putting his hand into his pocket, he pulled out his cheese, and squeezed it till the whey ran out of it. "Ha!" said he, "that was a taste better." 66 66 The giant did not know what to say to this feat, but he resolved to try him again; so taking up a stone, and flinging it into the air so high that it went out of sight, "There, do that, you brat!" cried he. ""T was a good cast," said the tailor, "but the stone will fall to the ground; I will fling one that will never come back." So taking out his bird, he pitched it up into the air, and the bird flew off gladly, and soon got out of sight. "Well, comrade, what think you of that?" "You can throw well," said the giant; "let us now see what you can do in the way of carrying a burden." He led him into the wood, and pointing out a huge oak-tree that had been felled, said, "Come, we will carry this out of the wood." "Do you, then, take the thick end on your shoulder," said the little man, 66 and I will carry the boughs and branches, and that is the heavier end." The giant took up the trunk; and the tailor, seating himself on one of the branches, left him the whole tree to carry, and himself into the bargain, and kept whistling away, as if carrying a tree was mere child's play to him. At last the giant got tired, and cried out, "Hallo! I must let the tree go." The tailor then jumped down, laid hold on the branches as if he was carrying, and said, "You are a pretty fellow that can't carry a tree!" They went on till they came to a cherry-tree, and the giant catching a hold of the top, where the best fruit was, pulled it down, and gave the tailor a hold of it that he might eat too. But the strength of the little man could not contend with that of the tree, and he was hoisted aloft into the air. "Hallo!" shouted the giant, 63 can you not hold down a twig?" "Bah!" said the tailor, "what is that to one who has killed seven at a blow? Don't you see the sportsmen are shooting in the underwood? and I have jumped over the tree out of the way: do you now do the same." The giant tried to leap over the tree, but all in vain; he still fell into the branches, and victory remained once more with the tailor. "Come now home to our cave," said the giant, "and spend the night with us." The tailorling consented, and followed him. The giant showed him his bed; but the cunning wight took care not to go into it, but crept into a corner; and when it was midnight, the giant came with a huge iron club, and gave the bed a blow, which went through it. "I've settled the grasshopper now," thought he; 66 we shall see no more of him." In the morning the giants went out to the wood, thinking no more of the tailor; when, to their great consternation, they saw him coming forth alive and hearty. They ran away as hard as ever they could, afraid lest he should kill them all. But this stratagem is to be found in a far more venerable monument than our nursery-tale books. Among the adventures of the prose Edda of Scandinavia is Thor's Journey to Utgard; and in it the god is illuded in a similar manner. I will relate the story at length, for the edification of my readers, as it is a portion of the mythology and theology of the ancient North. The language is my own, but I have faithfully adhered to the original tale'. I must previously inform the reader, that in the Scandinavian theology Thor is the god of the lower heaven, answering to the Jupiter Tonans of the Latins, and the Indra of India. He is married to Siff, that is, the summer-earth, clad with herbage and plants, which in the Edda are called the hair of Siff; for summer, we know, is the season of thunder. Thor drives in a chariot drawn by buckgoats; his weapon is a short-handled hammer, called Miölner (crusher), which he unceasingly employs against the frost-giants and other noxious beings. He has also a belt, which, when on him, doubles his strength; and a pair of iron gloves, which are of great use to him, as Miölner is generally red-hot.-Now to our tale. THOR'S JOURNEY TO UTGARD. Thor and Loki 3 once set out in the chariot drawn by buck-goats for Yötunheim, or Giant 1 I extract this from an article of mine on Scandinavian mythology in No. VII. of the Foreign Quarterly Review. 2 Miölner is the thunderbolt. 3 Loki was originally the fire-god: he became a sort of Eddaic Satan. |