_How Owlglass hires himself to a Tailor; and how well he executes
his Master's Orders._
When Owlglass found his pockets empty, he hired himself to a Tailor,
who said to him, "Sew neatly, so that no one can see it, as a good
workman should do." So Owlglass took a needle and some pieces of cloth,
and having crept under the cutting board, with his face turned to the
wall, he laid the work across his knees and began to sew in the dark.
When the Master beheld this proceeding, he said, "What are you doing
there, my man? That is a most extraordinary way of working." Owlglass
answered, "Master, you told me to work so that no one could see it, and
as you yourself cannot see what I am doing, so can no one else see my
work, and therefore I am strictly executing your orders." The Tailor,
who was a quiet, easy man, then said, "That was not what I meant; come
out there, and sew in such a manner that every one may see how fine
your work is." Thus they went on for a matter of three days, when,
one evening, the Tailor, feeling sleepy, threw a half-finished rough
peasant's coat over to Owlglass, and said, "There, make up that wolf
for me, and then you can go to bed, as I am now going to do." You must
know, that that particular sort of coat was called a wolf. As soon as
the Tailor had left the workshop, Owlglass cut up the coat, and with
the pieces first made the head, and then the body and legs of a wolf.
He stood it up by means of sticks, and then went to bed. When, on the
following morning, the Master went into the shop, he started back in
a fright, but Owlglass just then coming in, he saw how it was, and
said, "What have you been doing here?" Owlglass answered, "I have made
a wolf, as you bid me." And the Tailor saying that he did not mean a
wolf of that sort, but the peasant's rough coat, he continued, "My dear
Master, I wish I had understood your meaning, for I would rather have
made a coat than a wolf." With this the Master was satisfied, and they
went on comfortably together for three or four days more, when one
evening he again felt sleepy; but thinking it too early for his man to
go to bed, he gave him a coat which was finished all but putting in
the sleeves, and said, "Whip the sleeves to this coat, and then you
can go to rest." Owlglass hung the coat up on a hook, and having laid
the sleeves near it, he lighted two candles, and, with a whip he then
made, whipped the sleeves all through the night. When the Tailor came
in, in the morning, he exclaimed, "What tomfoolery is this?" "It is no
tomfoolery," Owlglass answered, "I have done as you told me; but though
I have stood here all night whipping the sleeves, I could not get them
to stick to the coat. It would have been better you had let me go to
bed than make me waste my time in this way." "It is not my fault," the
Tailor said, "how could I know you understood it this way, when I meant
you to sew the sleeves into the coat?" Owlglass answered, "I wish you
would not say one thing when you mean another; but now you may do the
work, for I must go to bed." This the Tailor would no way agree to, so
they quarrelled; and Owlglass leaving him, went his way.