The Sprightly Tailor

from the Jacobs Collection
 
 

'Twas about two hundred years ago in the great castle of Saddell the cheif of the Clan MacDonald ordered an old sprightly tailor to sew him a pair of trews which were to be worn for celebrations. Trews were pants and a vest sewn together with fancy decorations.

Now Lord MacDonald was a betting man and he dared the old tailor that if he was to sew the trews in the ruins of the old church nearby in the dark of night that he would be paid double the normal fee.Now this was thought to be madness for all knew the old church to be a haunted place full of ghosts and monsters however undaunted and with a desire for gold the old  tailor took the dare.

The sprightly tailor went to the old church around midnight and with a candle for his only light sat himself upon an old gravestone and began to sew. Some time had passed until the old tailor heard a sound of rocks scraping together and up from the floor of the church a headstone popped up to reveal a frightening sight a monster with black hair for skin, large red eyes and ears like a bat.The creature had a large mouth which displayed row upon row of sharp teeth and from this mouth the monster bellowed in a deep voice. "Do you not see this great big head of mine?". To which the old man said "Aye aye, I see that but i'm a sewin' this.".

The monster surprised that the old man before him wasn't shaking in fear or even showing a sign of it rose himself up higher to his neck and he called out to the tailor. "Do you not see this great big neck of mine?". Still the tailor looked unimpressed and said "Aye aye, I see that but i'm a sewin' this.". Now the monster began to grow a bit upset and rose himself further up to his chest and what a chest it was strong and lean covered with black hair and proudly the beast bellowed. "Do you not see this great big chest of mine?". To which the old tailor replied as before "Aye aye, i see that but i'm a sewin' this.".

The creature was really getting angry now and took it's arms out of the pit in the floor and the arms seemed as long as the monster was tall and the fingernails were black talons and still the monster yelled "Do you not see these great big arms of mine?" and the tailor shrugged and said "Aye aye i see that but i'm a sewin' this.". Now the monster had had enough and took his legs out of the pit and his legs were long and his feet were wide and the toenails like daggers and the monster screamed "Do you not see these great big legs of mine?" but the tailor had just finished and held the trews under his arms and the candle in hand and with a small puff blew out the candle and ran.

The tailor had the head start and ran across the moonlight glen as fast as he could and the monster gave chase until at last the tailor reached the castle gate slamming it shut behind him. The monster enraged at losing his prize slammed his hand on the stone above the gate and if you visit Saddell Castle you can see the hand print to this day.

Now as for the tailor he got his reward and the Lord MacDonald never found out that some of the stitches were a bit longer than others.
 

END



 
 
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