The Clever Little Tailoring-bottom: 68.91%;">Once upon a time there was a princess who was ever so proud: if any man came to woo her she would set him a riddle, and if he couldn't guess it he was laughed to scorn and sent packing. She also had it made known that whoever did guess the answer to her riddle should marry her, no matter who he might be. And indeed, in the end it so happened that three tailors were making the attempt at the same time. The two eldest reckoned that as they had already successfully sewn many a delicate stitch, they could hardly go wrong and were bound to succeed here as well; the third was a feckless, giddy young fellow who didn't even know his trade properly but thought he was bound to have luck in this case, for if not, then what luck would he ever have in any other case. The two others said to him: "You'd better just stay at home, you with your feather-brain won't get far." But the young tailor wouldn't be put off, saying that he had set his heart on this enterprise and would manage all right; and off he went, sauntering along as if the whole world belonged to him. So all three of them appeared before the princess and asked her to put her riddle to them: she would find, they said, that she had met her match this time, because their wits were so sharp that you could thread a needle with them. So the princess said: "I have two kinds of hair on my head, what colours are they?" "That's easy," said the first, "I think they're black and white, like the cloth they call pepper and salt. "The princess said: "You've guessed wrong; let the second of you answer." So the second said: "If it's not black and white, then it's brown and red like my respected father's frock-coat." "Wrong again," said the princess. "Let the third of you answer, I can see he knows it for sure." So the young tailor stepped forward boldly and said: "The princess has silver and gold hair on her head, and those are the two colours." When the princess heard that, she turned pale and nearly fainted away in alarm, for the young tailor had guessed right, and she had been convinced that no one in the world would be able to do so. When she had recovered herself she said: "This still doesn't give you the right to marry me, there's something else you must do first. Down in the stable there's a bear, and you must spend the night with him. If you're still alive when I get up tomorrow morning, then you shall marry me." But she thought that she would get rid of the young tailor in this way, because no one had ever got into this bear's clutches and lived to tell the tale. But the young tailor wasn't to be daunted. "Nothing venture, nothing win," he commented cheerfully. So that evening our young friend was taken down to the bear's den. And sure enough, the bear at once advanced on the little fellow, meaning to welcome him with a good swipe of his paw. "Not so fast, not so fast," said the young tailor, "I'll soon take the steam out of you." And in leisurely manner, as if he were quite unconcerned, he took some walnuts out of his pocket, cracked them open with his teeth and ate the kernels. When the bear saw this, his appetite was whetted and he wanted some nuts as well. The young tailor put his hand in his pocket and held out some to him: these, however, weren't nuts but pebbles. The bear stuck them in his mouth, but couldn't crack a single one of them, bite as he might. Goodness me, what a booby I am, thought the bear, I can't even crack nuts. And he said to the young tailor: "Hey, crack these nuts for me!" "There now, what a fellow you are!" said the tailor. "A big muzzle like that and you can't even crack a little nut!" And he took the stones, but nimbly put a nut into his mouth instead, and crack! He bit open the shell. "I must try that again," said the bear. "To look at you doing it, you'd think I'd find it easy." So the young tailor gave him another lot of pebbles, and the bear worked away at them, biting for dear life. But as you may imagine, they were more than he could crack. After this, the young tailor pulled out a fiddle from under his coat and began playing a tune on it. When the bear heard the music, he couldn't help himself and began to dance, and when he'd danced for a little he found himself enjoying it so much that he said to the tailor. "Tell me, is it difficult to play the fiddle?" "It's child's play: look, my left hand fingers the strings, my right hand scrapes away at them with the bow, and out comes a merry noise, tralala." "Then I could dance whenever I liked. What do you say to that? Will you give me lessons?" "I'll be delighted to," said the tailor, "If you have the skill for it. but let's have a look at your paws: they're a mighty length, I'll have to pare your nails down a bit." So a vice was fetched, and the bear held out his paws, but the young tailor screwed them in tightly and said: "Now wait till I get the scissors." So saying, he left the bear to stand there and growl, lay down in the corner on a pile of straw and went to sleep. The princess, hearing the bear growl so loudly that night, assumed that he must be growling with satisfaction, having made an end of the tailor. In the morning she got up feeling very pleased and not worried at all, but when she took a look at the stable there was the young tailor standing outside it cock-a-hoop and safe and sound. So then there was nothing more she could say, because she'd publicly promised to marry him; and the king sent for a carriage to take her and the tailor to church to be married. As they drove off, the other two tailors, who were false-hearted and envied him his good fortu ne, went into the stable and unscrewed the bear. The bear in a great rage charged off in pursuit of the carriage. The princess heard him growling and snorting and cried out in terror: "Oh, the bear's after us, he's coming to get you!" With great presence of mind the tailor stood on his head, stuck his legs out of the window and shouted: "Do you see this vice? If you don't clear off I'll screw you back into it." When the bear saw that, he turned round and ran away. Our young friend then drove on to the church as calm as you like, and the princess gave him her hand at the altar, and he lived with her as happy as a woodlark. There's a fine of three marks for anyone who doesn't believe this story.
I. Translation for Reference(參考譯文) 聰明的小裁縫 從前，有一個非常高傲的公主。求婚的人一來，她就給人家出謎語。要是猜不出來，她就嘲笑人家，把人家趕出去。她還向世人宣告說，只要是能猜中她謎語的，不管是誰，都可以和她結婚。後來，有三個裁縫一起來了。兩個年紀大的心裏想，他們過去曾經做過許多精細的針線活，都獲得了成功，這次猜謎也一定不會出錯，準能猜到。另一個裁縫是一個沒什麼才幹的冒失的小夥子，連自己的手藝都不太熟練。可是他想，這回一定會有好運氣，不然的話，真不知道到哪裏去碰好運氣呢。兩個年紀大的裁縫對小夥子說：“最好呆在家裏，你的智慧還不夠用，幹不了什麼了不起的大事。”可是，小裁縫卻不甘心。他說，他算豁出去了，一定要去試試看看。他義無反顧瀟瀟灑灑地走了去，就好象整個世界都是他的似的。 他們三個人來到公主面前，請她給他們出謎語。他們說，公主會發現這回遇上了對手，因爲他們是頂尖高手，智慧超羣思維精細得簡直可以用來穿針引線。於是，公主說：“我頭上有兩種頭髮，都是什麼顏色的？”“這太容易了！”第一個裁縫說，“是黑色和白色唄！就像人們說的黑白點混成的灰布似的。”公主說：“猜得不對。第二個回答吧！”於是，第二個裁縫回答說：“要不是黑色和白色的，那就是像我可敬的爸爸的那件禮服大衣似的，是棕色和紅色的。”公主說：“猜得不對。第三個人回答吧！看樣子，這個人一定能知道嘍！”於是，小裁縫大膽地走過去說：“公主頭上的頭髮是金色和銀色的，就是這兩種顏色。”公主一聽這話，驚得面如土色，險些昏厥過去。因爲，小裁縫猜對了。過去，她深信不疑世界上沒有人能猜對。公主恢復常態後說道：“這還不行，我還不能和你結婚。你還得做一件事情。你要在下邊的獸棚裏和熊住一夜。明天我醒的時候，如果你還活着，我就和你結婚。”公主心裏想，這下就能把小裁縫除掉了。因爲，熊還沒有讓誰從自己腳爪下活着出去的。可是，小裁縫毫不氣餒，還是高高興興地說：“不入虎穴，焉得虎子。” 到了晚上，小裁縫被帶到熊籠裏。熊馬上向他猛撲過來要用它那有力的腳掌來好好歡迎它的客人。“慢慢來！慢慢來！”小裁縫說，“我一會兒就會叫你安靜下來的！”他好像一點兒也沒有擔心害怕的樣子，逍遙自在地從衣袋裏拿出幾個核桃，咬開後，吃着核桃仁。熊看見小裁縫吃，被激起了食慾，也想吃。小裁縫把手伸進衣袋裏，拿出一把交給熊。但是這不是核桃，而是鵝卵石。熊把石頭放進嘴裏，不論怎樣用力，卻一個也咬不開。哎呀呀！我真是個廢物，連個核桃都咬不動了！熊心裏想着，就對小裁縫說：“喂，你幫我把這核桃咬開！”“你看看你，真是個沒用的傢伙！那麼大的一張嘴，連一個小核桃都咬不開！”小裁縫說着，把石頭接過來，敏捷地換了個核桃放進嘴裏，嘎嘣一下子把核桃咬開。熊說，“看你做得如此輕巧，我一定要再試試！”於是，小裁縫又給熊一些鵝卵石。熊用盡力氣去咬，你可想而知，它是怎麼也咬不開的。這件事就這樣過去了。小裁縫從衣裳裏拿出一把小提琴，拉了一支曲子。熊聽見音樂聲，情不自禁地跳起舞來。跳了一會兒，它發現自己太喜歡這玩意了，於是就對小裁縫說：“老實告訴我，拉小提琴難學嗎？”小裁縫說：“這非常容易。你看，左手指按上琴絃，右手拉着琴弓。就這麼一拉，美妙的音樂就出來了！”“就這麼拉嗎？”熊說，“那我高興的時候就可以跳舞了。你看怎麼樣？你能教教我嗎？”“我樂意效力！”小裁縫說，“只要你和靈巧的話就可以了。你把腳掌伸出來讓我看看。哎呀，你指甲太長，我得把你的指甲剪下來一點！”於是，小裁縫把老虎鉗子拿出來。熊伸出爪子，小裁縫緊緊地把熊爪擰在老虎鉗子中以後，說：“你等一等，我拿剪刀去！”說完，小裁縫走到角落裏的麥捆上睡覺去了，只剩下熊站在那裏吼叫。 那天晚上，公主聽見熊吼得很兇，心裏想：熊一定把小裁縫幹掉了，高興地吼叫呢！第二天早晨，公主放心了，高高興興地起了牀，但她到獸棚子一看，只見小裁縫得意洋洋地站在那裏，安然無恙。公主再也說不出一句反對結婚的話了。因爲那是她當衆答應了的。國王派來了馬車，公主和小裁縫坐上去，要一起到教堂舉行婚禮。他們坐上馬車走的時候，那兩個陰險的裁縫，對小裁縫得到幸福十分嫉妒，就但獸棚裏去，擰開老虎鉗子，把熊放了出來。熊氣得火冒三丈，在馬車後面猛追。公主聽見了熊的吼叫，咆哮，害怕地喊起來：“哎呀！熊追來了！熊要把你抓走復仇啊！”小裁縫說着拿了個大頂，把兩隻腳伸到馬車窗戶外邊去，喊到：“來呀，看見這把老虎鉗子了嗎？你要是不滾開，我還用老虎鉗子夾你！”熊聽了這話，掉過頭去就逃跑了，小裁縫不慌不忙地到了教堂，和公主舉行婚禮典禮。從那以後，他們就像雲雀似的過着快樂 的生活。誰要是不相信這故事是真的就叫他掏出三塊錢來。
II. Exercise Choose the correct answer to the following questions. Exercises: 1). Why did the three tailors make the attempt in the end? A.
Because they knew the princess was very beautiful. B.
Because the princess was very proud. C.
Because the princess was not very beautiful but also proud. D.
Because the princess said she would marry anyone who guess the answer to her riddle.
2). Which statement is right? A.
The two elder tailors were confident. B.
The young tailor was not confident. C.
The two elder tailors asked the young tailor to go with them. D.
The young tailor didn't want to go with them and stayed at home.
3). Who guessed the answer to the princess's riddle? A.
