Once upon a time that never was and seven times seven lands away there lived a king. And this king had two gardens in which grew silken grass and nothing else. One day the king decided to mow down his grass so that his horses could eat silken hay. He brought together an army of men with scythes and ordered them to go into his garden and mow down his grass.
The bravest of the mowers stepped forward and said to the king, “Beg pardon Your Majesty, you can stick our heads on spikes, but we won’t mow down your silky grass, ‘cause there’s three giants a-living the one garden and three bears in t’other, and not even Your Majesty’s army could handle them, let alone us. We’d be dead as dodos before our scythes so much as stroked the grass.” Just at that moment a journeyman tailor lad wandered into the curt. Hearing what the mowers were saying, he immediately offered his services to the King.
“Your Majesty, just leave it to me; I’ll get rid of those giants for you, and the bears too.”
“Your Majesty, just leave it to me; I’ll get rid of those giants for you, and the bears too.”
Of went the tailor lad and arrived at the gates of Hell. There he set a swishing and a cracking of his whip. In the trice the Devil himself arrived in a rave and a rant and asked:
“Hey, boy, what’s all that din you’re making? What are doing here at all?”
“I’ve come for the King’s mother-in-law to take her home.”
“Not a chance! spluttered the Devil.
“Hey, boy, what’s all that din you’re making? What are doing here at all?”
“I’ve come for the King’s mother-in-law to take her home.”
“Not a chance! spluttered the Devil.
And so it was that the valiant tailor lad took home the King’s mother-in-law. The King had been feeling very jolly at the thought of the tailor perishing in Hell and not having to share his kingdom. But all his jollity disappeared when he espied his mother-in-law.
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