Prevod

Once upon a time there was an exceedingly proud princess. Whenever a suitor came, she set him a riddle, and if he could not guess the answer, he was sent away with scorn. She also had it proclaimed that whoever solved her riddle should marry her, and anyone who wished might come and try. At last three tailors decided to go together. The two eldest thought that, having made so many fine stitches and always hit the mark, they could hardly fail to hit upon the answer here as well. The third was a little good-for-nothing scapegrace who did not even know his trade, but he thought he was bound to have some luck at this, for where else was it to come from? The other two said to him, "Just stay at home! With what little sense you have, you won't get far!" But the little tailor would not be put off. He said he had set his heart on it and would find a way, and off he went as though the whole world belonged to him.

All three presented themselves before the princess and told her to set them her riddles: the right men had arrived, with wits so fine they could be threaded through a needle. Then the princess said, "I have two kinds of hair on my head. What colours are they?" "If that's all," said the first, "they'll be black and white, like the cloth they call pepper-and-salt." The princess said, "Wrong! Let the second answer." Then the second said, "If they aren't black and white, they're brown and red, like my father's Sunday coat." "Wrong!" said the princess. "Let the third answer. I can tell by the look of him that he is sure to know." Then the little tailor stepped boldly forward and said, "The princess has silver hair and golden hair on her head, and those are the two colours." When the princess heard this, she turned pale and nearly fell over with fright, for the little tailor had guessed correctly, and she had firmly believed that no one in the world would ever find it out. When she had recovered her courage, she said, "You haven't won me yet. There is one more thing you must do. Down in the stable there is a bear, and you must spend the night with him. If I get up tomorrow morning and you are still alive, you shall marry me." She thought this would rid her of the little tailor, for the bear had never left anyone alive who had fallen into his clutches. But the little tailor was not frightened off. He was quite cheerful and said, "A bold beginning is half the battle."

When evening came, my little tailor was taken down to the bear. The bear at once made for the little fellow, meaning to give him a hearty welcome with his paw. "Easy, easy," said the little tailor. "I'll soon settle you down." Then, quite calmly, as though he had not a care in the world, he took some walnuts from his pocket, cracked them with his teeth, and ate the kernels. When the bear saw this, he took a fancy to them and wanted some nuts too. The little tailor reached into his pocket and handed him a handful, but they were not nuts at all: they were pebbles. The bear put them into his mouth, but however hard he bit, he could not crack a single one. Well, he thought, what a stupid oaf you are! You can't even crack a nut! And he said to the little tailor, "Here, crack these nuts for me!" "Now you see what sort of fellow you are," said the little tailor. "You've got such a great mouth, and you can't crack one little nut." He took the stones, quickly slipped a nut into his mouth instead, and crack! It was in two. "I must try that again," said the bear. "When I watch you do it, I feel sure I ought to be able to do it too." So the little tailor gave him pebbles again, and the bear laboured away, biting them with all his might. But you surely don't suppose he managed to crack them. When that was over, the little tailor took a violin from beneath his coat and played himself a little tune. As soon as the bear heard the music, he could not help beginning to dance, and after dancing for a while he liked it so much that he said to the little tailor, "Tell me, is fiddling difficult?" "Child's play! You see, I put my fingers on the strings with my left hand, and draw the bow across them with my right, and off it goes as merry as can be—hop-sa-sa, tra-la-la!" "I'd like to know how to fiddle like that," said the bear, "so I could dance whenever I pleased. What do you say? Will you teach me?" "With all my heart," said the little tailor, "if you've a talent for it. But let me see your paws. Your claws are terribly long; I must trim your nails a little." A vice was brought over, and the bear laid his paws on it. But the little tailor screwed them fast and said, "Now wait till I come back with the scissors!" Then he let the bear growl as much as he liked, lay down in a corner on a bundle of straw, and fell asleep.

When the princess heard the bear growling so fiercely that evening, she was quite sure he was growling with delight and had made an end of the tailor. In the morning she got up cheerful and carefree, but when she looked towards the stable, there stood the little tailor, bright and lively, as hale and hearty as a fish in water. Now she could say nothing more against the marriage, for she had given her promise in public. The king had a carriage brought, and she had to ride to church with the little tailor to be married there. Once they had climbed in, the other two tailors, who were false-hearted and begrudged him his good fortune, went into the stable and released the bear from the vice. In a furious rage, the bear ran after the carriage. The princess heard him snorting and growling. She grew frightened and cried, "Oh, the bear is behind us, and he's coming to get you!" Quick as a flash, the little tailor stood on his head, stuck his legs out of the window, and shouted, "Do you see the vice? If you don't go away, you'll be put back in it!" When the bear saw this, he turned round and ran off. So my little tailor rode peacefully on to church, where the princess became his wife, and he lived with her as happily as a lark. Whoever doesn't believe it must pay a thaler.