Terror seized the little man, and he told the King what the wolf had threatened.
"Wait, tailor," answered the King; "it is now high time that we should catch this wretch, even if it costs me my only daughter. He has not even respect for the court tailor; so what will such conduct lead to? And besides, he is eating up all my subjects, which I can not allow; for if I have no subjects, I can no longer be a king."
He spoke, and caused it to be proclaimed through the whole land that he who brought the wolf alive should be his son-in-law.
The tailor had not dared to leave the castle for days, for fear of the monster; but at length he could sit still no longer, and went into the garden one bright summer's day. Suddenly the wolf sprang from behind a tree, caught the poor fellow by the tail of his coat, and dragged him far into the wood, in spite of all his wriggling and screaming.
"Rascal of a tailor!" said he; "you have brought me into misery, therefore you must die."
Then, in his dire need, a cunning, artful idea occurred to the tailor, and he exclaimed, "Look! there come the huntsmen!" and as the wolf turned round in alarm, the tailor leaped on to his back, and held his hands tightly over the creature's eyes.
Then the wolf ran as he had never run in his life before, so that each moment he thought his hated rider must fall to the ground.
And as the creature could not see, the tailor guided him toward the castle, to an open stable door; there got down, pushed him into one of the stalls, and then bolted the door on the outside.
The King was highly delighted that the tailor was such a cunning fellow, and consented that the betrothal to his daughter should take place at once.
The wolf was hanged, and his skin, which the tailor received among his wedding gifts, has been preserved to the present day, and just now lies under the table, belonging to the author of this little tale.