Once there lived seven tailors who grew tired of their peaceful needlework. People were always talking about brave heroes. And when they heard that a great war had broken out in Turkey and that fearless men were needed there, they decided to set out to earn their spurs.

"We are just the right men to go! Enough of buttonholes. Let us go and bore the bodies of the enemy!" exclaimed the seven tailors in one voice. They ordered a long spear shaft to be made from the hardest oak-tree; then they took their seven pairs of scissors to a blacksmith to be hammered into a spear-head, which was then fastened to the shaft. Before going they drew lots who should lead their campaign. Then they all stood in a line, one behind the other; the chosen one headed the procession and was called the Chief; the following five received the names: First-strong, Second-strong, Third-strong, Fourth-strong, Fifth-strong and the seventh was called Tail-end. They chose these names so that they would know the order in which they had to march. With combined efforts they lifted the huge spear upon their shoulders, with the pointed end resting on the shoulder of the Chief. Each of them put a flat-iron in his pocket to prevent the wind from blowing them away in the open field.

The seven tailors set out on a nice summer morning; they were careful not to miss a meal and whenever they felt tired they rested in the shade of trees. They were certain that soon they would meet a wise man who could show them the shortest way to Turkey.

As they were crossing a field, the Chief and soon everyone along the line noticed a farm by the roadside. Two men were sent out to investigate and perhaps to procure some additional provisions for their journey. When the two men returned they reported that all they saw were three women and a few children but no men.

The Chief cried,

"Warriors must be brave! Let us attack the enemy, although he is strong!"

With deafening war-cries the seven tailors attacked the farm. At the outset the women were quite frightened but soon one of them, the oldest and the most sharp-eyed, said scornfully,

"Men like these we drive away with broomsticks!" and she seized one forthwith, while the others armed themselves with pitchforks. Thus they stood in the doorway awaiting the approach of the enemy.

"Hold, brothers!" cried the Chief. "Common sense at times must temper extreme courage; we have only one weapon but they have three; it would be wiser to retreat."

The six others approved the caution and prudence of their leader and they all took to flight and ran as if their pockets were on fire. After a while Tail-end glanced back and when he saw no pursuers at their heels, they slackened their pace, recovered their breath and continued their journey at a more modest speed.

In the quiet dusky evening a dung-beetle flew past the seven warriors; the buzzing of its wings sounded so loud to the tailors that shudders of fear ran down their spines.

The Chief screamed,

"Comrades, I hear the enemy approaching!" and dropping the end of the spear from his shoulder, away he fled. The others thought that their lives were worth every bit as much as that of their leader and they all fled, one hiding here, another there and so, hidden, they spent the whole night. Third-strong had happened to hide in a wild rose-bush, the thorns of which pricked and scratched him at the slightest movement. He wept and pleaded for mercy for he was convinced that he was being speared by many enemies.

"Have mercy, dear people! One spear is enough, why do you wound me with so many?"

Finally the poor man could endure it no longer and he made a dash for liberty; he ran until he stumbled and fell over somebody, but neither of them moved for fear and both pretended to be dead. Only at daybreak did they recognize each other. Third-strong had stumbled over his own companion, Tail-end.

In the morning all the warriors, one after another, crept cautiously from their hiding-places, recovered their spear and ate their breakfast rejoicing to be alive after two such dangerous encounters with the enemy. Suddenly the Chief remembered that in cases like this, a roll call must be made to learn if anyone was missing. He counted, and counted again; the others also counted in turn, but none could see more than six. The seventh had vanished, which of them, no one could discover. The reason for this was that they all counted like this: I am here, and then, one, two, three, four, five, six; each of them forgot to count himself.

Then a bright idea struck one of the men; he espied a mudheap near by and he proposed that they stick their noses into it to see how many holes would appear in the mud. Having done this, they counted the holes and—oh joy to behold! there were seven holes, but they never could understand their mistake in counting.

Much encouraged now, the seven tailors proceeded on their way. After long wanderings they came to the edge of a thick, wild forest into which led a very narrow path. They could make their way through the thicket but very slowly and it was as dark as night. And thus it came to pass that they were not aware of a wolf lying in the middle of the path. The Chief was about to tread on it, when at the last moment, however, he saw the beast and screamed,

"Beware of the wolf!"

He sprang back with such force that all his companions, except Tail-end, tumbled to the ground and the spear fell from their shoulders so that the spearhead struck the wolf. The tailors were frantic to make their escape but they were rooted to the spot with terror. Unable to stir a limb, they lay and waited for the beast to devour them one by one. The Chief was nearer to the beast than the rest and at last he began to wonder why it did not jump at him. Wisely he decided that their spear must have killed the sleeping wolf. He ventured a glance and found the wolf really dead. But it was not the spear of the seven tailors that had caused its death; for the wolf had already been dead for many days. With a sigh of relief the Chief turned to his comrades, but he was frightened anew when he saw them all lying on the ground, face down. He jumped to the conclusion that he had pierced them with the shaft of the spear when he sprang back so unexpectedly. He began to wail sorrowfully and to lament loudly, whereupon the others, hearing his cries, believed that he was being torn to bits by the wolf. But when his lamentations did not cease, the bravest of his comrades lifted his head and seeing that the wolf lay still they all jumped to their feet with shouts of victory. They discovered that no one was hurt and that they had tumbled to the ground from fear and nothing else. On the body of the wolf not a wound could be found and from its stench the seven men concluded that the beast must have been dead a long time. Nevertheless, he decided to take its skin and to carry it on their spear as a trophy, that the whole world might witness the great deeds they had performed.

Towards evening the seven adventurers reached an open field which was covered here and there with juniper bushes. Here they decided to spend the night. While the others slept, one of them was always on watch.

At about midnight, when Third-strong was on guard, he heard a strange noise. In alarm he roused his companions. The men held their breath and listened. From time to time they heard some strange thud, like the sound of a heavy stone falling to the ground. Some of them even thought they felt the ground trembling under them. But no one would risk to go and find out what it was.

Third-strong, who often appeared sharp-witted enough to solve complicated problems, said,

"I think I know what causes this noise; it is the ghost of the dead wolf walking around."

By and by the noise drew nearer; after some deliberation Tail-end undertook to wrap himself in the skin of the wolf and to go upon all fours in the direction whence the noise came; then the ghost would surely retreat since all ghosts were afraid of wild beasts. The others were pleased with this plan; they wrapped Tail-end carefully in the skin and to protect him they all followed him bravely, a hundred paces behind. Tail-end had not gone far when he saw a monstrous creature with five legs and two huge horns and burning eyes. It made queer movements, leaping clumsily and lifting both its front legs at once; the fifth leg moved from the right to the left, back and forth, as if to balance the movements of the heavy body. Tail-end stole noiselessly back and told his companions of the strange sight he had seen.

"Run! Run! Save your lives before it is too late!" he cautioned and they all fled.

In reality, however, if fear had not made him see visions, he would have seen that it was only a horse which had been left to graze in the pasture during the night. Its front legs were hobbled to keep it from straying. The supposed horns were the ears of the horse; the unusual fifth leg was its tail, whisking away the flies.

The following day things went quite smoothly for the seven warriors until towards evening when they came to a lake. From the steep shores they saw the blue waves rippling over the lake. They held a council how to get across the lake for no boat was at hand.

The Chief deliberated,

"If one of us possessed the strength of Kalevipoeg or if he was a good swimmer he could easily carry us across the lake."

Immediately the others began quarrelling as to which of them was the most fitted for this task. In the argument that followed, Fifth-strong pushed Third-strong from the bank. The terrified Third-strong rolled down but landed, instead of water, in a flax-field all in blue blossoms, which the warriors had mistaken for a lake.

When Third-strong found himself lying comfortably and unhurt in the flowering flax he felt braver than ever and called out,

"Whoever dares, follow me!"

The Chief pushed two other men down the slope and the rest jumped after them. They were all happy at the success of their venture and relieved that the feared water had not even made them wet.

The seven warriors were just preparing to spend the night in a sheltered place in the flax-field when they noticed a peasant with a heavy cudgel on his shoulder come towards them, scolding angrily,

"You rascals! Can you find no other place to idle away your time than my flax-field? Just you wait, you loafers! I shall beat you until your backs are as blue as the flax-flowers!"

The seven men fled in such a hurry that they had scarcely time to take the spear with them. After they had covered about a mile, the Chief said,

"We really could have taught the impudent fellow a lesson if only he had not caught us so unprepared."

Third-strong, however, still shaking with fear, replied,

"You must have forgotten the cudgel he carried! I thank my lucky stars that he did not measure my back with it or he would have broken all my bones. Dear friends, what do you think of turning our steps homewards on the morrow? Who knows how far the land of Turkey really is and what disasters might befall us before we reach it."

The others approved the thought of going home very warmly.

"Unfortunately, we cannot return the way we came for the peasant with the cudgel is doubtless waiting for us," said the Chief.

And they all agreed to follow another route.

After a few days' wandering they came to a big lake.

"This is Lake Peipsi," exclaimed Fourth-strong, who had recognized the place at once. "We must be very cautious because here lives a dreadful monster; whether it is a bird or a fish or a quadruped I do not know, but old people say that even Kalevipoeg could not conquer it."

The Chief urged that happen what may, they must find the monster; this deed would bring them even greater fame and honour than fighting the Turks. Sad and oppressed with forebodings, they sat down to eat their meal. During the meal they talked about death, and reminded each other that it might well be their last meal. This, however, did not prevent them from filling their bellies as it would surely be easier to die with a full stomach, they thought.

After the meal the Chief said he thought it was now high time for him to cede the post of honour to one of the others, but to this they all objected firmly. Courage they all possessed but their weak bodies did not keep pace with their courage.

At last Third-strong proposed that the best thing to do would be for one of them to die for his companions and that the leader naturally should make the sacrifice.

"He who knows to give good advice must himself set the example," shouted the Chief in answer.

In the end they did not come to any new decision but went, as usual, all together against the enemy. They crossed a plain where a rabbit was hiding; it sat watching around and now and then moved its long ears. This sight terrified the seven tailors who in their excitement mistook the rabbit for the dreaded monster. They stopped and took council together whether to advance and. slay the monster with their spear or to run for their lives. They were so terrified that their hair stood on end like the bristles on a pig. At last the Chief summoned his courage and said,

"Come, comrades, let us advance against the foe!"

He shut his eyes and rushed onward, shouting with all his might,

"Hurjoh! Hurjoh!"

Thereupon the frightened rabbit fled into the nearby wood. When the Chief opened his eyes again and saw the enemy running, he shouted triumphantly,

"He retreats! He retreats! Look, fellows, look! He runs like a rabbit! But perhaps... he is a rabbit?"

Third-strong objected angrily,

"Brother, where are your eyes? The animal is at least the size of a foal!"

Fourth-strong believed that the creature was at least as big as a horse.

Fifth-strong said,

"To my eyes an ox compared with this animal is as small as a puppy-dog."

Tail-end thought that the creature was much bigger than a haystack.

As we all know terror magnifies all objects and fear makes a mountain out of a molehill.

The seven men could not come to an agreement about the size or the shape of the animal, but everyone agreed that a big and unusual creature it had been indeed.

When the danger seemed to be over the seven men sat down to refresh themselves and to decide what was to be done next. They were very proud of the great deeds they had performed on their adventure and they all felt that every one of them had done more than enough to be remembered by the future generations. After some thought they adopted the following resolution:

"Whoever has endured heat and hardships as we seven have done, has every right to go home and spend the rest of his days in peace and in honour! Our trophies, the spear and the wolf's skin shall be suitably preserved for posterity, always to remind all tailors of the deeds we seven have performed."

Where the spear and the wolf's skin are kept now, no one knows, but the fact remains that no one in the world can match tailors for valour and courage.

Jason Ladock

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