The Tailor of Gloucester Read online

  THE TAILOR OFGLOUCESTER

  BYBEATRIX POTTER

  _Author of"The Tale of Peter Rabbit," etc_

  "I'LL BE AT CHARGES FOR A LOOKING-GLASS, AND ENTERTAIN A SCORE OR TWO OF TAILORS" _Richard III_

  NEW YORK

  FREDERICK WARNE & CO, INC

  COPYRIGHT, 1903

  BY

  FREDERICK WARNE & Co.

  COPYRIGHT RENEWED, 1931

  [_All rights reserved_]

  PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. BY PRINCETON POLYCHROME PRESS

  ISBN O 7232 0594 9 (cloth) ISBN O-7232-6227-6 (paper)

  12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20(C) F/

  _MY DEAR FREDA,_

  _Because you are fond of fairy-tales, and have been ill, I have made you a story all for yourself--a new one that nobody has read before._

  _And the queerest thing about it is--that I heard it in Gloucestershire, and that it is true--at least about the tailor, the waistcoat, and the_

  _"No more twist!"_

  _Christmas, 1901_

  THE TAILOR OF GLOUCESTER

  In the time of swords and periwigs and full-skirted coats with floweredlappets--when gentlemen wore ruffles, and gold-laced waistcoats ofpaduasoy and taffeta--there lived a tailor in Gloucester.

  He sat in the window of a little shop in Westgate Street, cross-legged ona table, from morning till dark.

  All day long while the light lasted he sewed and snippeted, piecing outhis satin and pompadour, and lutestring; stuffs had strange names, andwere very expensive in the days of the Tailor of Gloucester.

  But although he sewed fine silk for his neighbours, he himself was very,very poor--a little old man in spectacles, with a pinched face, oldcrooked fingers, and a suit of thread-bare clothes.

  He cut his coats without waste, according to his embroidered cloth; theywere very small ends and snippets that lay about upon the table--"Toonarrow breadths for nought--except waistcoats for mice," said the tailor.

  One bitter cold day near Christmastime the tailor began to make a coat--acoat of cherry-coloured corded silk embroidered with pansies and roses,and a cream coloured satin waistcoat--trimmed with gauze and greenworsted chenille--for the Mayor of Gloucester.

  The tailor worked and worked, and he talked to himself. He measured thesilk, and turned it round and round, and trimmed it into shape with hisshears; the table was all littered with cherry-coloured snippets.

  "No breadth at all, and cut on the cross; it is no breadth at all; tippetsfor mice and ribbons for mobs! for mice!" said the Tailor of Gloucester.

  When the snow-flakes came down against the small leaded window-panes andshut out the light, the tailor had done his day's work; all the silk andsatin lay cut out upon the table.

  There were twelve pieces for the coat and four pieces for the waistcoat;and there were pocket flaps and cuffs, and buttons all in order. For thelining of the coat there was fine yellow taffeta; and for the button-holesof the waistcoat, there was cherry-coloured twist. And everything wasready to sew together in the morning, all measured and sufficient--exceptthat there was wanting just one single skein of cherry-coloured twistedsilk.

  The tailor came out of his shop at dark, for he did not sleep there atnights; he fastened the window and locked the door, and took away the key.No one lived there at night but little brown mice, and they run in and outwithout any keys!

  For behind the wooden wainscots of all the old houses in Gloucester, thereare little mouse staircases and secret trap-doors; and the mice run fromhouse to house through those long narrow passages; they can run all overthe town without going into the streets.

  But the tailor came out of his shop, and shuffled home through the snow.He lived quite near by in College Court, next the doorway to CollegeGreen; and although it was not a big house, the tailor was so poor he onlyrented the kitchen.

  He lived alone with his cat; it was called Simpkin.

  Now all day long while the tailor was out at work, Simpkin kept house byhimself; and he also was fond of the mice, though he gave them no satinfor coats!

  "Miaw?" said the cat when the tailor opened the door. "Miaw?"

  The tailor replied--"Simpkin, we shall make our fortune, but I am worn toa ravelling. Take this groat (which is our last fourpence) and Simpkin,take a china pipkin; buy a penn'orth of bread, a penn'orth of milk and apenn'orth of sausages. And oh, Simpkin, with the last penny of ourfourpence buy me one penn'orth of cherry-coloured silk. But do not losethe last penny of the fourpence, Simpkin, or I am undone and worn to athread-paper, for I have NO MORE TWIST."

  Then Simpkin again said, "Miaw?" and took the groat and the pipkin, andwent out into the dark.

  The tailor was very tired and beginning to be ill. He sat down by thehearth and talked to himself about that wonderful coat.

  "I shall make my fortune--to be cut bias--the Mayor of Gloucester is to bemarried on Christmas Day in the morning, and he hath ordered a coat and anembroidered waistcoat--to be lined with yellow taffeta--and the taffetasufficeth; there is no more left over in snippets than will serve to maketippets for mice----"

  Then the tailor started; for suddenly, interrupting him, from the dresserat the other side of the kitchen came a number of little noises--

  _Tip tap, tip tap, tip tap tip!_

  "Now what can that be?" said the Tailor of Gloucester, jumping up from hischair. The dresser was covered with crockery and pipkins, willow patternplates, and tea-cups and mugs.

  The tailor crossed the kitchen, and stood quite still beside the dresser,listening, and peering through his spectacles. Again from under a tea-cup,came those funny little noises--

  _Tip tap, tip tap, Tip tap tip!_

  "This is very peculiar," said the Tailor of Gloucester; and he lifted upthe tea-cup which was upside down.

  Out stepped a little live lady mouse, and made a curtsey to the tailor!Then she hopped away down off the dresser, and under the wainscot.

  The tailor sat down again by the fire, warming his poor cold hands, andmumbling to himself----

  "The waistcoat is cut out from peach-coloured satin--tambour stitch androse-buds in beautiful floss silk. Was I wise to entrust my last fourpenceto Simpkin? One-and-twenty button-holes of cherry-coloured twist!"

  But all at once, from the dresser, there came other little noises:

  _Tip tap, tip tap, tip tap tip!_

  "This is passing extraordinary!" said the Tailor of Gloucester, andturned over another tea-cup, which was upside down.

  Out stepped a little gentleman mouse, and made a bow to the tailor!

  And then from all over the dresser came a chorus of little tappings, allsounding together, and answering one another, like watch-beetles in an oldworm-eaten window-shutter--

  _Tip tap, tip tap, tip tap tip_!

  And out from under tea-cups and from under bowls and basins, stepped otherand more little mice who hopped away down off the dresser and under thewainscot.

  The tailor sat down, close over the fire, lamenting--"One-and-twentybutton-holes of cherry-coloured silk! To be finished by noon ofSaturday: and this is Tuesday evening. Was it right to let loose thosemice, undoubtedly the property of Simpkin? Alack, I am undone, for I haveno more twist!"

  The little mice came out again, and listened to the tailor; they tooknotice of the pattern of that wonderful coat. They whispered to oneanother about the taffeta lining, and about little mouse tippets.

  And then all at once they all ran away together down the passage behindthe wainscot, squeaking and calling to one another, as they ran from houseto house; and not one mouse was left in the tailor's kitchen when Simpkincame back with the pipkin of milk!

  Simpkin opened the door and bounced in, with an angr
y "G-r-r-miaw!" like acat that is vexed: for he hated the snow, and there was snow in his ears,and snow in his collar at the back of his neck. He put down the loaf andthe sausages upon the dresser, and sniffed.

  "Simpkin," said the tailor, "where is my twist?"

  But Simpkin set down the pipkin of milk upon the dresser, and lookedsuspiciously at the tea-cups. He wanted his supper of little fat mouse!

  "Simpkin," said the tailor, "where is my TWIST?"

  But Simpkin hid a little parcel privately in the tea-pot, and spit andgrowled at the tailor; and if Simpkin had been able to talk, he would haveasked: "Where is my MOUSE?"

  "Alack, I am undone!" said the Tailor of Gloucester, and went sadly tobed.

  All that night long Simpkin hunted and searched through the kitchen,peeping into cupboards and under the wainscot, and into the tea-pot wherehe had hidden that twist; but still he found never