Woman’s Wit.
_=When man’s strength fails, woman’s wit prevails.=_
In the days when the great and wise King Solomon lived and ruled,evil spirits and demons were as plentiful in the world as wasps insummer.
So King Solomon, who was so wise and knew so many potent spellsthat he had power over evil such as no man has had before or since,set himself to work to put those enemies of mankind out of theway. Some he conjured into bottles, and sank into the depths of thesea; some he buried in the earth; some he destroyed altogether, asone burns hair in a candle-flame.
Now, one pleasant day when King Solomon was walking in his gardenwith his hands behind his back, and his thoughts busy as bees withthis or that, he came face to face with a Demon, who was a princeof his kind. “Ho, little man!” cried the evil spirit, in a loudvoice, “art not thou the wise King Solomon who conjures my brethreninto brass chests and glass bottles? Come, try a fall at wrestlingwith me, and whoever conquers shall be master over the other forall time. What do you say to such an offer as that?”
“I say aye!” said King Solomon, and, without another word, hestripped off his royal robes and stood bare breasted, man to manwith the other.
The world never saw the like of that wrestling-match betwixt theking and the Demon, for they struggled and strove together fromthe seventh hour in the morning to the sunset in the evening, andduring that time the sky was clouded over as black as night, andthe lightning forked and shot, and the thunder roared and bellowed,and the earth shook and quaked.
But at last the king gave the enemy an under twist, and flung himdown on the earth so hard that the apples fell from the trees; andthen, panting and straining, he held the evil one down, knee onneck. Thereupon the sky presently cleared again, and all was aspleasant as a spring day.
King Solomon bound the Demon with spells, and made him serve himfor seven years. First, he had him build a splendid palace, thelike of which was not to be seen within the bounds of the sevenrivers; then he made him set around the palace a garden, such as Ifor one wish I may see some time or other. Then, when the Demon haddone all that the king wished, the king conjured him into a bottle,corked it tightly, and set the royal seal on the stopper. Then hetook the bottle a thousand miles away into the wilderness, and,when no man was looking, buried it in the ground, and this is theway the story begins.
* * * * *
Well, the years came and the years went, and the world grew olderand older, and kept changing (as all things do but two), so thatby-and-by the wilderness where King Solomon had hid the bottlebecame a great town, with people coming and going, and all as busyas bees about their own business and other folks’ affairs.
Among these towns-people was a little Tailor, who made clothes formany a worse man to wear, and who lived all alone in a little housewith no one to darn his stockings for him, and no one to meddlewith his coming and going, for he was a bachelor.
The little Tailor was a thrifty soul, and by hook and crook hadlaid by enough money to fill a small pot, and then he had tobethink himself of some safe place to hide it. So one night he tooka spade and a lamp and went out in the garden to bury his money.He drove his spade into the ground--and click! He struck somethinghard that rang under his foot with a sound as of iron. “Hello!”said he, “what have we here?” and if he had known as much as youand I do, he would have filled in the earth, and tramped it down,and have left that plate of broth for somebody else to burn hismouth with.
As it was, he scraped away the soil, and then he found a box ofadamant, with a ring in the lid to lift it by. The Tailor clutchedthe ring and bent his back, and up came the box with the dampearth sticking to it. He cleaned the mould away, and there he saw,written in red letters, these words:
“_Open not._”
You may be sure that after he had read these words he was not longin breaking open the lid of the box with his spade.
Inside the first box he found a second, and upon it the same words:
“_Open not._”
Within the second box was another, and within that still another,until there were seven in all, and on each was written the samewords:
“_Open not._”
Inside the seventh box was a roll of linen, and inside that abottle filled with nothing but blue smoke; and I wish that bottlehad burned the Tailor’s fingers when he touched it.
“And is this all?” said the little Tailor, turning the bottleupside down and shaking it, and peeping at it by the light of thelamp. “Well, since I have gone so far I might as well open it, as Ihave already opened the seven boxes.” Thereupon he broke the sealthat stoppered it.
Pop! Out flew the cork, and--Puff! Out came the smoke; not all atonce, but in a long thread that rose up as high as the stars, andthen spread until it hid their light.
The Tailor stared and goggled and gaped to see so much smoke comeout of such a little bottle, and, as he goggled and stared, thesmoke began to gather together again, thicker and thicker, anddarker and darker, until it was as black as ink. Then out from itthere stepped one with eyes that shone like sparks of fire, and whohad a countenance so terrible that the Tailor’s skin quivered andshrivelled, and his tongue clove to the roof of his mouth at thesight of it.
“Who art thou?” said the terrible being, in a voice that made thevery marrow of the poor Tailor’s bones turn soft from terror.
“If you please, sir,” said he, “I am only a little tailor.”
The evil being lifted up both hands and eyes. “How wonderful,” hecried, “that one little tailor can undo in a moment that which tookthe wise Solomon a whole day to accomplish, and in the doing ofwhich he wellnigh broke the sinews of his heart!” Then, turning tothe Tailor, who stood trembling like a rabbit, “Hark thee!” saidhe. “For two thousand years I lay there in that bottle, and no onecame nigh to aid me. Thou hast liberated me, and thou shalt not gounrewarded. Every morning at the seventh hour I will come to thee,and I will perform for thee whatever task thou mayest command me.But there is one condition attached to the agreement, and woe be tothee if that condition is broken. If any morning I should come tothee, and thou hast no task for me to do, I shall wring thy neck asthou mightest wring the neck of a sparrow.” Thereupon he was gonein an instant, leaving the little Tailor half dead with terror.
Now it happened that the prime-minister of that country had left anorder with the Tailor for a suit of clothes, so the next morning,when the Demon came, the little man set him to work on the bench,with his legs tucked up like a journeyman tailor. “I want,” saidhe, “such and such a suit of clothes.”
“You shall have them,” said the Demon; and thereupon he begansnipping in the air, and cutting most wonderful patterns of silksand satins out of nothing at all, and the little Tailor sat andgaped and stared. Then the Demon began to drive the needle like aspark of fire--the like was never seen in all the seven kingdoms,for the clothes seemed to make themselves.
At last, at the end of a little while, the Demon stood up andbrushed his hands. “They are done,” said he, and thereupon heinstantly vanished. But the Tailor cared little for that, for uponthe bench there lay such a suit of clothes of silk and satinstuff, sewed with threads of gold and silver and set with jewels,as the eyes of man never saw before; and the Tailor packed them upand marched off with them himself to the prime-minister.
The prime-minister wore the clothes to court that very day, andbefore evening they were the talk of the town. All the world ran tothe Tailor and ordered clothes of him, and his fortune was made.Every day the Demon created new suits of clothes out of nothing atall, so that the Tailor grew as rich as a Jew, and held his head upin the world.
As time went along he laid heavier and heavier tasks upon theDemon’s back, and demanded of him more and more; but all the whilethe Demon kept his own counsel, and said never a word.
One morning, as the Tailor sat in his shop window taking the worldeasy--for he had little or nothing to do now--he heard a greathubbub in the street below, and when he lo
oked down he saw thatit was the king’s daughter passing by. It was the first time thatthe Tailor had seen her, and when he saw her his heart stood stillwithin him, and then began fluttering like a little bird, for oneso beautiful was not to be met with in the four corners of theworld. Then she was gone.
All that day the little Tailor could do nothing but sit and thinkof the princess, and the next morning when the Demon came he wasthinking of her still.
“What hast thou for me to do to-day?” said the Demon, as he alwayssaid of a morning.
The little Tailor was waiting for the question.
“I would like you,” said he, “to send to the king’s palace, and toask him to let me have his daughter for my wife.”
“Thou shalt have thy desire,” said the Demon. Thereupon he smotehis hands together like a clap of thunder, and instantly the wallsof the room clove asunder, and there came out four-and-twentyhandsome youths, clad in cloth of gold and silver. After thesefour-and-twenty there came another one who was the chief of themall, and before whom, splendid as they were, the four-and-twentypaled like stars in daylight. “Go to the king’s palace,” saidthe Demon to that one, “and deliver this message: The Tailor ofTailors, the Master of Masters, and One Greater than a King asksfor his daughter to wife.”
“To hear is to obey,” said the other, and bowed his forehead to theearth.
Never was there such a hubbub in the town as when thosefive-and-twenty, in their clothes of silver and gold, rode throughthe streets to the king’s palace. As they came near, the gates ofthe palace flew open before them, and the king himself came out tomeet them. The leader of the five-and-twenty leaped from his horse,and, kissing the ground before the king, delivered his message:“The Tailor of Tailors, the Master of Masters, and One Greater thana King asks for thy daughter to wife.”
When the king heard what the messenger said, he thought andpondered a long time. At last he said, “If he who sent you is theMaster of Masters, and greater than a king, let him send me anasking gift such as no king could send.”
“It shall be as you desire,” said the messenger, and thereupon thefive-and-twenty rode away as they had come, followed by crowds ofpeople.
The next morning when the Demon came the tailor was ready andwaiting for him. “What hast thou for me to do to-day?” said theEvil One.
“I want,” said the tailor, “a gift to send to the king such as noother king could send him.”
“Thou shalt have thy desire,” said the Demon. Thereupon he smotehis hands together, and summoned, not five-and-twenty young men,but fifty youths, all clad in clothes more splendid than the others.
All of the fifty sat upon coal-black horses, with saddles ofsilver and housings of silk and velvet embroidered with gold. Inthe midst of all the five-and-seventy there rode a youth in clothof silver embroidered in pearls. In his hand he bore somethingwrapped in a white napkin, and that was the present for the kingsuch as no other king could give. So said the Demon: “Take it tothe royal palace, and tell his majesty that it is from the Tailorof Tailors, the Master of Masters, and One Greater than a King.”
“To hear is to obey,” said the young man, and then they all rodeaway.
When they came to the palace the gates flew open before them, andthe king came out to meet them. The young man who bore the presentdismounted and prostrated himself in the dust, and, when the kingbade him arise, he unwrapped the napkin, and gave to the king agoblet made of one single ruby, and filled to the brim with piecesof gold. Moreover, the cup was of such a kind that whenever it wasemptied of its money it instantly became full again. “The Tailor ofTailors, and Master of Masters, and One Greater than a King sendsyour majesty this goblet, and bids me, his ambassador, to ask foryour daughter,” said the young man.
When the king saw what had been sent him he was filled withamazement. “Surely,” said he to himself, “there can be no end tothe power of one who can give such a gift as this.” Then to themessenger, “Tell your master that he shall have my daughter for hiswife if he will build over yonder a palace such as no man ever sawor no king ever lived in before.”
“It shall be done,” said the young man, and then they all wentaway, as the others had done the day before.
The next morning when the Demon appeared the Tailor was ready forhim. “Build me,” said he, “such and such a palace in such and sucha place.”
And the Demon said, “It shall be done.” He smote his handstogether, and instantly there came a cloud of mist that covered andhid the spot where the palace was to be built. Out from the cloudthere came such a banging and hammering and clapping and clatteringas the people of that town never heard before. Then when eveninghad come the cloud arose, and there, where the king had pointedout, stood a splendid palace as white as snow, with roofs and domesof gold and silver. As the king stood looking and wondering at thissight, there came five hundred young men riding, and one in themidst of all who wore a golden crown on his head, and upon his bodya long robe stiff with diamonds and pearls. “We come,” said he,“from the Tailor of Tailors, and Master of Masters, and One Greaterthan a King, to ask you to let him have your daughter for his wife.”
“Tell him to come!” cried the king, in admiration, “for theprincess is his.”
The next morning when the Demon came he found the Tailor dancingand shouting for joy. “The princess is mine!” he cried, “so make meready for her.”
“It shall be done,” said the Demon, and thereupon he began to makethe Tailor ready for his wedding. He brought him to a marble bathof water, in which he washed away all that was coarse and ugly,and from which the little man came forth as beautiful as the sun.Then the Demon clad him in the finest linen, and covered him withclothes such as even the emperor of India never wore. Then he smotehis hands together, and the wall of the tailor-shop opened as ithad done twice before, and there came forth forty slaves clad incrimson, and bearing bowls full of money in their hands. After themcame two leading a horse as white as snow, with a saddle of goldstudded with diamonds and rubies and emeralds and sapphires. Aftercame a bodyguard of twenty warriors clad in gold armor. Then theTailor mounted his horse and rode away to the king’s palace, andas he rode the slaves scattered the money amongst the crowd, whoscrambled for it and cheered the Tailor to the skies.
* * * * *
That night the princess and the Tailor were married, and all thetown was lit with bonfires and fireworks. The two rode away in themidst of a great crowd of nobles and courtiers to the palace whichthe Demon had built for the Tailor; and, as the princess gazed uponhim, she thought that she had never beheld so noble and handsome aman as her husband. So she and the Tailor were the happiest couplein the world.
But the next morning the Demon appeared as he had appeared eversince the Tailor had let him out of the bottle, only now he grinnedtill his teeth shone and his face turned black. “What hast thoufor me to do?” said he, and at the words the Tailor’s heart beganto quake, for he remembered what was to happen to him when hecould find the Demon no more work to do--that his neck was to bewrung--and now he began to see that he had all that he could askfor in the world. Yes; what was there to ask for now?
“I have nothing more for you to do,” said he to the Demon; “youhave done all that man could ask--you may go now.”
“Go!” cried the Demon, “I shall not go until I have done all thatI have to do. Give me work, or I shall wring your neck.” And hisfingers began to twitch.
Then the Tailor began to see into what a net he had fallen. Hebegan to tremble like one in an ague. He turned his eyes up anddown, for he did not know where to look for aid. Suddenly, as helooked out of the window, a thought struck him. “Maybe,” thoughthe, “I can give, the Demon such a task that even he cannot do it.”“Yes, yes!” he cried, “I have thought of something for you to do.Make me out yonder in front of my palace a lake of water a milelong and a mile wide, and let it be lined throughout with whitemarble, and filled with water as clear as crystal.”
“It shall be done,” said
the Demon. As he spoke he spat in the air,and instantly a thick fog arose from the earth and hid everythingfrom sight. Then presently from the midst of the fog there came agreat noise of chipping and hammering, of digging and delving, ofrushing and gurgling. All day the noise and the fog continued, andthen at sunset the one ceased and the other cleared away. The poorTailor looked out the window, and when he saw what he saw his teethchattered in his head, for there was a lake a mile long and a milebroad, lined within with white marble, and filled with water asclear as crystal, and he knew that the Demon would come the nextmorning for another task to do.
That night he slept little or none, and when the seventh hour ofthe morning came the castle began to rock and tremble, and therestood the Demon, and his hair bristled and his eyes shone likesparks of fire. “What hast thou for me to do?” said he, and thepoor Tailor could do nothing but look at him with a face as whiteas dough.
“What hast thou for me to do?” said the Demon again, and then atlast the Tailor found his wits and his tongue from sheer terror.“Look!” said he, “at the great mountain over yonder; remove it,and make in its place a level plain with fields and orchards andgardens.” And he thought to himself when he had spoken, “Surely,even the Demon cannot do that.”
“It shall be done,” said the Demon, and, so saying, he stamped hisheel upon the ground. Instantly the earth began to tremble andquake, and there came a great rumbling like the sound of thunder.A cloud of darkness gathered in the sky, until at last all wasas black as the blackest midnight. Then came a roaring and acracking and a crashing, such as man never heard before. All day itcontinued, until the time of the setting of the sun, when suddenlythe uproar ceased, and the darkness cleared away; and when theTailor looked out of the window the mountain was gone, and in itsplace were fields and orchards and gardens.
It was very beautiful to see, but when the Tailor beheld it hisknees began to smite together, and the sweat ran down his face instreams. All that night he walked up and down and up and down, buthe could not think of one other task for the Demon to do.
When the next morning came the Demon appeared like a whirlwind. Hisface was as black as ink and smoke, and sparks of fire flew fromhis nostrils.
“What have you for me to do?” cried he.
“I have nothing for you to do!” piped the poor Tailor.
“Nothing?” cried the Demon.
“Nothing.”
“Then prepare to die.”
“Stop!” said the Tailor, falling on his knees, “let me first see mywife.”
“So be it,” said the Demon, and if he had been wiser he would havesaid “No.”
When the Tailor came to the princess, he flung himself on his face,and began to weep and wail. The princess asked him what was thematter, and at last, by dint of question, got the story from him,piece by piece. When she had it all she began laughing. “Why didyou not come to me before?” said she, “instead of making all thistrouble and uproar for nothing at all? I will give the Monstera task to do.” She plucked a single curling hair from her head.“Here,” said she, “let him take this hair and make it straight.”
The Tailor was full of doubt; nevertheless, as there was nothingbetter to do, he took it to the Demon.
“Hast thou found me a task to do?” cried the Demon.
“Yes,” said the Tailor. “It is only a little thing. Here is a hairfrom my wife’s head; take it and make it straight.”
When the Demon heard what was the task that the Tailor had set himto do he laughed aloud; but that was because he did not know. Hetook the hair and stroked it between his thumb and finger, and,when he had done, it curled more than ever. Then he looked serious,and slapped it between his palms, and that did not better matters,for it curled as much as ever. Then he frowned, and, began beatingthe hair with his palm upon his knees, and that only made it worse.All that day he labored and strove at his task trying to make thatone little hair straight, and, when the sun set, there was thehair just as crooked as ever. Then, as the great round sun sankred behind the trees, the Demon knew that he was beaten. “I amconquered! I am conquered!” he howled, and flew away, bellowing sodreadfully that all the world trembled.
* * * * *
So ends the story, with only this to say:
_Where man’s strength fails, woman’s wit prevails._
For, to my mind, the princess--not to speak of her husband thelittle Tailor--did more with a single little hair and her motherwit than King Solomon with all his wisdom.
* * * * *
_“Whose turn is it next to tell us a story?” said Sindbad theSailor._
_“’Twas my turn,” said St. George; “but here be two ladies present,and neither hath so much as spoken a word of a story for all thistime. If you, madam,” said he to Cinderella, “will tell us a tale,I will gladly give up my turn to you.”_
_The Soldier who cheated the Devil took the pipe out of his mouthand puffed away a cloud of smoke. “Aye,” said he, “always rememberthe ladies, say I. That is a soldier’s trade.”_
_“Very well, then; if it is your pleasure,” said Cinderella, “Iwill tell you a story, and it shall be of a friend of mine and ofhow she looked after her husband’s luck. She was,” said Cinderella,“a princess, and her father was a king.”_
_“And what is your story about?” said Sindbad the Sailor._
_“It is,” said Cinderella, “about--”_