The Sprightly Tailor

The great Macdonald hired a sprightly tailor to come to his castle at Saddell and make him a pair of trews, the kind of clothes people wore in olden times. The source describes these trews as a waistcoat and breeches joined together in one piece and trimmed with fringes, and they were very comfortable for walking or dancing.

Macdonald told the tailor that if he would sew the trews at night in the church, he would get a handsome reward. People believed the old ruined church was haunted and that fearsome things could be seen there after dark. The tailor knew this very well, but he was a lively, cheerful fellow, and when the laird dared him to do it, he was not a bit put off. He agreed to try for the prize.

So when night came, he walked up the glen about half a mile from the castle until he reached the old church. He picked a nice gravestone to sit on, lit his candle, put on his thimble and got to work on the trews, plying his needle quickly and thinking about the money the laird would have to pay him.

For a while all went well. Then he felt the floor tremble under his feet. He looked around, keeping his fingers busy, and saw what looked like a huge human head rising up through the stone floor of the church. When the head was clear of the floor, a great, great voice came out of it.

“Do you see this great head of mine?”

“I see that, but I’ll sew this!” said the sprightly tailor, and he went on stitching the trews.

The head rose higher until its neck appeared, and the thundering voice came a second time. “Do you see this great neck of mine?”

“I see that, but I’ll sew this!” said the tailor, and he stitched away.

Higher still it rose, until its great shoulders and chest were above the ground, and the mighty voice boomed, “Do you see this great chest of mine?”

“I see that, but I’ll sew this!” said the tailor, still stitching.

Up and up it kept coming through the floor, until it shook a great pair of arms in the tailor’s face. “Do you see these great arms of mine?”

“I see those, but I’ll sew this!” said the tailor, and he stitched hard, for he knew he had no time to lose.

He was taking long stitches now, and he watched it rise and rise through the floor until it pulled out one great leg and stamped it on the stones. “Do you see this great leg of mine?” it roared.

“Aye, aye, I see that, but I’ll sew this!” cried the tailor. His fingers flew, and his stitches were so long that he was just reaching the end of the trews as it began to lift its other leg. Before it could pull that leg out of the floor, the tailor had finished. He blew out his candle, jumped off his gravestone, bundled up his things and ran out of the church with the trews under his arm.

The fearsome thing gave a loud roar, stamped both feet on the floor and came out of the church after him. Down the glen they ran, faster than a stream in flood. But the tailor had a head start and a nimble pair of legs, and he was not going to lose the laird’s reward. The thing roared at him to stop, but the sprightly tailor was not the man to be ordered about by a monster. He held his trews tight and did not let the grass grow under his feet until he reached Saddell Castle.

He had only just got inside the gate and shut it when the creature reached it. Furious at losing its prize, it struck the wall above the gate and left the print of its five great fingers there. The storyteller points to those marks as the lasting sign of the encounter.

But the sprightly tailor got his reward, for Macdonald paid him handsomely for the trews and never noticed that a few of the stitches were rather long.

About this tale

Joseph Jacobs took “The Sprightly Tailor” for Celtic Fairy Tales from Notes and Queries for 21 December 1861, where it was sent in by “Cuthbert Bede,” the author of Verdant Green, who had collected it in Kintyre (Jacobs spells it Cantyre). He mentions that a version from Sutherland was also known, and that Chambers’s “Strange Visitor” is a variant.

Jacobs adds a story about the Macdonald of Saddell Castle, who was a very great man indeed. When an apology was made to him at dinner for seating him far from the head of the table, he answered, “Where the Macdonald sits, there is the head of the table.”

Read the original: Joseph Jacobs, Celtic Fairy Tales (Project Gutenberg #7885, The Sprightly Tailor)

Best for ages 6–8 — a funny, shivery Scottish tale with a great repeating line for reading aloud.

Two things grow at once

As more of the monster rises, the tailor’s stitches grow longer. His repeated answer sounds steady, but his work reveals increasing urgency. The joke at the end depends on that compromise: he finishes and earns the reward, while the laird never notices the hurried sewing.

Perform the pace

Read the monster’s questions slowly and the tailor’s replies a little faster each time. Add a pencil line for each stitch on paper, making the last ones longer. How does that change show fear without making the tailor stop working?

Talk about it

• Why did the tailor agree to sew in the haunted church at night?
• What did the tailor say each time the creature asked, “Do you see…?”
• How did the tailor finish the trews in time to escape?

Related stories

• The Shepherd of Myddvai — another short legend from Celtic Fairy Tales tied to a real place
• The Horned Women — another spooky night-time visitor tale
• The Field of Boliauns — another short, funny Celtic tale