The Brave Little Tailor
The Grimm Brothers Create a Character Small Children Relate To
Tailors were amongst the poorest and weakest men in society and were not well regarded. In fact, there was a saying that said ‘Nine tailors make the man,’ which indicating the value that society put on tailors. Perhaps that is why the brothers Grimm took such care in seeing to it that hero of The Brave Little Tailor appealed to children and could be easily identified with by our smallest citizens. For those who are weak, a story of someone who is foolish and small who succeeds in becoming a King is tremendously encouraging.
Emphasizing the Tailor’s Weakness and Smallness
From the beginning of the story, the brothers Grimm underscore the smallness of the tailor by saying “One summer day a little tailor was sitting at the table near a window.” In the German, the word tailor is given in the diminutive form. The word changes from “(Schneider) of one version into a little tailor (Schneiderlein), who becomes more whimsical in revisions.” (Tatar 101) Tatar goes on to suggest that the Grimm’s saw the little tailor as a version of the classic German hero Dummy, who manages to outwit everyone.
Later in the story, the first giant that the tailor meets calls him a little pipsqueak, a little runt.
The use of the suffix –lein is a form of favor and love a parent would bestow on a child and would be familiar to most children and would help them identify with him. Those same children may have heard an older sibling or an irate neighbor belittle them by calling them little pipsqueak or little runt. Now they are doubly able to identify with the tailor.
The Tailor’s Childlike Attitudes and Behavior
Like a good child who is promised reward at the end of a chore, the tailor places his jam before himself as a treat at the end of his task. However, much like a child, he hurries through the chore and the quality of his work diminishes as the anticipated reward draws nearer “and the stitches became bigger and bigger in his joyful anticipation.”
The tailor’s delight in his ability to kills seven flies with one blow causes his heart to wag with joy like the tail of a lamb. A lamb is one of the most enduring symbols of the purity and vulnerability of childhood. Clearly, the Grimm’s are presenting us with a man of simplicity.
Little boy’s are notorious for collecting odds and ends in their pockets, usually things they fancy will be helpful. The tailor too, collects what he finds along the way. As he begins his journey he shoves an old piece of cheese into his pocket to ward off hunger and later he rescues a bird and proceeds to save it in his pocket too. In his first encounter with giants, the tailor’s packrat tendencies give him the tools necessary to outwit someone larger than himself.
According to Tatar “sleep represents a state of supreme vulnerability.” (Tatar 107) The tailor’s naiveté and innocence are referenced by his casual attitude towards sleep. After successfully outwitting his first giants, the tailor wanders on until he finds a royal palace. Much like a child, his exhaustion overwhelms him and he lies down without regard to location or protocol and falls asleep. There he is found by people who read the boast on his belt and bring him to the king.
Much like a child, the tailor accepts the king’s challenges with little regard for the potential consequences. Like a child, he blithely trips his way through the challenges without seeming to realize the danger all around him. He relies on the same attributes a child relies on when in trouble. His small size gives him the ability to run and hide. He doesn’t create clever traps or fight skilled battles. He hides himself from danger and tricks the opponent.
- He hides from the giants and throws stones at them to instigate a fight. Then claims the battle as his own.
- He doesn’t try to catch the unicorn, he simply steps aside and allows the unicorn’s fury do the work.
- He doesn’t fight the boar. Like a child who doesn’t fight the bully, he runs to a place where he can fit and the bully cannot.
Even after his challenges and after receiving his reward, the tailor still sleeps the sleep of the innocent and gives himself away to his new wife by talking in his sleep “‘Boy,’ he yelled, ‘finish up that jacket...’” The young queen was not naive or innocent and she demanded that the father get rid of the unworthy tailor.
When he fights his last battle against those who attempt to destroy him for the sake of the queen’s honor, he relies on the apparent vulnerability of sleep to protect himself. In his apparent sleep, he lists his skills and acts of strength so that those outside the door believe that he is revealing his true character through his sleep-talk and run away in fright.
In Conclusion
Throughout the story, the tailor never resorts to the sophisticated methods of an adult. He always approaches life with the directness of a child. If he can show-off, he does. If he is threatened, he avoids the danger by either running from it or tricking it. “And so the little tailor was and always remained a king.”
For a child's picture book based on the Grimm fairy tale, read The Brave Little Tailor.
Sources
Tatar, Maria. The Annotated Brothers Grimm: Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm Edited with a Preface and Notes by Maria Tatar. W.W. Norton & Company Ltd., 2004.
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