“I’m going to let it fall!” he shouted, and the tailor jumped down from the branches, and pretended he had been helping all the time.
“The idea of a man your size finding a tree too heavy to carry!” laughed the little tailor.
“You are a clever little fellow, and no mistake,” replied the giant, “and if you’ll only come and spend the night in our cave, we shall be delighted to have you.”
“I shall have great pleasure in coming, my friend,” answered the little tailor, and together they set off for the giant’s home.
There were seven more giants in the cave, and each one of them was eating a roasted pig for his supper. They gave the little man some food, and then showed him a bed in which he might pass the night. It was so big that, after tossing about for half an hour in it, the tailor thought he would be more comfortable if he slept in the corner, so he crept out without being noticed.
In the middle of the night the giant stole out of bed and went up to the one where he thought the little man was fast asleep. Taking a big bar of iron, he struck such a heavy blow at it that he woke up all the other giants.
“Keep quiet, friends,” said he. “I’ve just killed the little scamp.”
The tailor made his escape as soon as possible, and he journeyed on for many miles, until he began to feel very tired, so he lay down under a tree, and was soon fast asleep. When he awoke, he found a big crowd of people standing round him. Up walked one very wise-looking old man, who was really the king’s prime minister.
“Is it true that you have killed seven at one blow?” he asked.
“It is a fact,” answered the little tailor.