One summer morning, a little tailor was sitting at his table by the window. He was in a great mood and was working hard on a jacket. A woman walked down the street calling out, "Good jam for sale! Cheap jam!"
The tailor liked the sound of that. He shouted out the window, "Come up here, dear woman! I will buy some."
The woman climbed the stairs and opened her baskets. The tailor looked at every jar, smelled them, and finally said, "This looks like good jam. Weigh out four ounces for me." The woman was disappointed because she wanted to sell more, but she gave him the jam and left, grumbling.
"Now, this will give me strength!" the tailor cried. He cut a large piece of bread and spread the jam on it. "I’ll just finish this jacket before I take a bite," he said. He put the bread down and started sewing with even bigger stitches.
The sweet smell of the jam attracted many flies. Soon, a large group of them landed on his bread. "Hey! Who invited you?" the tailor shouted. He tried to brush them away, but the flies kept coming back. Finally, he lost his patience. He grabbed a piece of cloth and hit the flies hard. When he looked down, seven flies lay dead.
"I am a brave man!" he said, amazed by his own strength. "The whole world should know about this!"
He quickly made a belt and sewed large letters on it: SEVEN AT ONE STROKE! He decided to leave his small shop and travel the world. He looked around his house for something to take and found only an old piece of cheese. He put it in his pocket. Near the door, he found a bird caught in a bush and put it in his pocket, too.
As he walked, he reached a mountain. At the top sat a huge giant. The tailor walked up to him bravely. "Good day, friend! I am going out to try my luck. Do you want to come with me?"
The giant looked at the tailor with contempt. "You tiny creature!"
"Oh, really?" the tailor replied. He unbuttoned his coat to show his belt. The giant read: Seven at one stroke. He thought the tailor had killed seven men, and he began to feel a bit of respect. But first, he wanted to test the little man. The giant picked up a stone and squeezed it until water came out.
"Can you do that?" the giant asked.
"That is child's play," said the tailor. He reached into his pocket, took out the soft cheese, and squeezed it until the liquid ran out. The giant was surprised. Then, the giant threw a stone so high that he could almost not see it.
"Well thrown," said the tailor. "But your stone came back down. I will throw one that never comes back." He took the bird out of his pocket and threw it into the air. The bird, happy to be free, flew away and disappeared.
Next, the giant asked the tailor to help him carry a fallen oak tree. "Sure," the tailor said. "You take the trunk, and I will carry the branches—they are the heaviest part." The giant lifted the trunk onto his shoulder, but the tailor sat on a branch. The giant had to carry the whole tree and the tailor!
After a few more tricks, the giant invited the tailor to sleep in a cave with other giants. At midnight, the giant took a heavy iron bar and hit the bed with all his strength. He thought he had killed the tailor. But the tailor had actually slept in a corner because the bed was too big. The next morning, when the tailor walked out to meet the giants, they were so terrified that they ran away.
The tailor continued his journey and eventually reached a king’s palace. He fell asleep on the grass. People saw his belt and told the king, "A great warrior has arrived!" The king offered the tailor a job in his army, and the tailor accepted.
However, the other soldiers were afraid of him. They told the king, "If we argue with him, he will kill seven of us at once!" The king wanted to get rid of the tailor but was afraid to fire him. So, he gave the tailor a dangerous task: "There are two giants in the forest who are killing my people. If you kill them, I will give you my daughter’s hand in marriage and half my kingdom."
The tailor went into the forest and found the giants sleeping. He climbed a tree above them and dropped stones on one giant. The giant woke up and blamed his friend. Soon, the two giants were fighting so hard that they pulled up trees to hit each other. In the end, they both died.
The king was surprised but didn't want to keep his promise yet. He told the tailor to catch a unicorn and then a wild boar. The clever tailor used the trees and a small building to trap both animals. Finally, the king had no choice. He gave the tailor the princess and the kingdom.
The tailor lived as a king, but one night his wife heard him talking in his sleep about sewing jackets. She realized he was just a tailor and told her father. The king planned to send soldiers to capture him that night. But a friend warned the tailor. When the soldiers arrived at his door, the tailor pretended to be asleep and shouted: "I killed seven at one stroke, two giants, a unicorn, and a boar! Do you think I am afraid of the men outside my door?"
The soldiers were so scared that they ran away and never returned. And so, the little tailor remained a king for the rest of his life.