[Illustration] 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_ [Illustration] 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. [Illustration] 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. [Illustration] 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. [Illustration] 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! [Illustration] 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. [Illustration] 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. " [Illustration] 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. [Illustration] 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. [Illustration] 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. [Illustration] 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! [Illustration] Simpkin opened the door and bounced in, with an angry "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?" [Illustration] 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 a mouse! Whenever the tailor muttered and talked in his sleep, Simpkin said"Miaw-ger-r-w-s-s-ch!" and made strange horrid noises, as cats do atnight. [Illustration] For the poor old tailor was very ill with a fever, tossing and turning inhis four-post bed; and still in his dreams he mumbled--"No more twist! nomore twist!" All that day he was ill, and the next day, and the next; and what shouldbecome of the cherry-coloured coat? In the tailor's shop in WestgateStreet the embroidered silk and satin lay cut out upon thetable--one-and-twenty button-holes--and who should come to sew them, whenthe window was barred, and the door was fast locked? But that does not hinder the little brown mice; they run in and outwithout any keys through all the old houses in Gloucester! [Illustration] Out of doors the market folks went trudging through the snow to buy theirgeese and turkeys, and to bake their Christmas pies; but there would be noChristmas dinner for Simpkin and the poor old Tailor of Gloucester. The tailor lay ill for three days and nights; and then it was ChristmasEve, and very late at night. The moon climbed up over the roofs andchimneys, and looked down over the gateway into College Court. There wereno lights in the windows, nor any sound in the houses; all the city ofGloucester was fast asleep under the snow. And still Simpkin wanted his mice, and he mewed as he stood beside thefour-post bed. [Illustration] But it is in the old story that all the beasts can talk, in the nightbetween Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in the morning (though there arevery few folk that can hear them, or know what it is that they say). When the Cathedral clock struck twelve there was an answer--like an echoof the chimes--and Simpkin heard it, and came out of the tailor's door, and wandered about in the snow. From all the roofs and gables and old wooden houses in Gloucester came athousand merry voices singing the old Christmas rhymes--all the old songsthat ever I heard of, and some that I don't know, like Whittington'sbells. [Illustration] First and loudest the cocks cried out: "Dame, get up, and bake your pies!" "Oh, dilly, dilly, dilly!" sighed Simpkin. And now in a garret there were lights and sounds of dancing, and cats camefrom over the way. "Hey, diddle, diddle, the cat and the fiddle! All the cats inGloucester--except me, " said Simpkin. Under the wooden eaves the starlings and sparrows sang of Christmas pies;the jack-daws woke up in the Cathedral tower; and although it was themiddle of the night the throstles and robins sang; the air was quite fullof little twittering tunes. [Illustration] But it was all rather provoking to poor hungry Simpkin! Particularly he was vexed with some little shrill voices from behind awooden lattice. I think that they were bats, because they always have verysmall voices--especially in a black frost, when they talk in their sleep, like the Tailor of Gloucester. They said something mysterious that sounded like-- "Buz, quoth the blue fly, hum, quoth the bee, Buz and hum they cry, and so do we!" and Simpkin went away shaking his ears as if he had a bee in his bonnet. [Illustration] From the tailor's shop in Westgate came a glow of light; and when Simpkincrept up to peep in at the window it was full of candles. There was asnippeting of scissors, and snappeting of thread; and little mouse voicessang loudly and gaily-- "Four-and-twenty tailors Went to catch a snail, The best man amongst them Durst not touch her tail, She put out her horns Like a little kyloe cow, Run, tailors, run! or she'll have you all e'en now!" Then without a pause the little mouse voices went on again-- "Sieve my lady's oatmeal, Grind my lady's flour, Put it in a chestnut, Let it stand an hour----" [Illustration] "Mew! Mew!" interrupted Simpkin, and he scratched at the door. But thekey was under the tailor's pillow, he could not get in. The little mice only laughed, and tried another tune-- "Three little mice sat down to spin, Pussy passed by and she peeped in. What are you at, my fine little men? Making coats for gentlemen. Shall I come in and cut off your threads? Oh, no, Miss Pussy, you'd bite off our heads!" "Mew! Mew!" cried Simpkin. "Hey diddle dinketty?" answered the littlemice-- "Hey diddle dinketty, poppetty pet! The merchants of London they wear scarlet; Silk in the collar, and gold in the hem, So merrily march the merchantmen!" [Illustration] They clicked their thimbles to mark the time, but none of the songspleased Simpkin; he sniffed and mewed at the door of the shop. "And then I bought A pipkin and a popkin, A slipkin and a slopkin, All for one farthing---- and upon the kitchen dresser!" added the rude little mice. "Mew! scratch! scratch!" scuffled Simpkin on the window-sill; while thelittle mice inside sprang to their feet, and all began to shout at once inlittle twittering voices: "No more twist! No more twist!" And they barredup the window shutters and shut out Simpkin. But still through the nicks in the shutters he could hear the click ofthimbles, and little mouse voices singing-- [Illustration] "No more twist! No more twist!" Simpkin came away from the shop and went home, considering in his mind. Hefound the poor old tailor without fever, sleeping peacefully. Then Simpkin went on tip-toe and took a little parcel of silk out of thetea-pot, and looked at it in the moonlight; and he felt quite ashamed ofhis badness compared with those good little mice! When the tailor awoke in the morning, the first thing which he saw uponthe patchwork quilt, was a skein of cherry-coloured twisted silk, andbeside his bed stood the repentant Simpkin! [Illustration] "Alack, I am worn to a ravelling, " said the Tailor of Gloucester, "but Ihave my twist!" The sun was shining on the snow when the tailor got up and dressed, andcame out into the street with Simpkin running before him. The starlings whistled on the chimney stacks, and the throstles and robinssang--but they sang their own little noises, not the words they had sungin the night. "Alack, " said the tailor, "I have my twist; but no more strength--nortime--than will serve to make me one single button-hole; for this isChristmas Day in the Morning! The Mayor of Gloucester shall be married bynoon--and where is his cherry-coloured coat?" He unlocked the door of the little shop in Westgate Street, and Simpkinran in, like a cat that expects something. But there was no one there! Not even one little brown mouse! The boards were swept clean; the little ends of thread and the little silksnippets were all tidied away, and gone from off the floor. But upon the table--oh joy! the tailor gave a shout--there, where he hadleft plain cuttings of silk--there lay the most beautifullest coat andembroidered satin waistcoat that ever were worn by a Mayor of Gloucester. [Illustration] There were roses and pansies upon the facings of the coat; and thewaistcoat was worked with poppies and corn-flowers. [Illustration] Everything was finished except just one single cherry-colouredbutton-hole, and where that button-hole was wanting there was pinned ascrap of paper with these words--in little teeny weeny writing-- NO MORE TWIST And from then began the luck of the Tailor of Gloucester; he grew quitestout, and he grew quite rich. He made the most wonderful waistcoats for all the rich merchants ofGloucester, and for all the fine gentlemen of the country round. [Illustration] Never were seen such ruffles, or such embroidered cuffs and lappets! Buthis button-holes were the greatest triumph of it all. The stitches of those button-holes were so neat--_so_ neat--I wonder howthey could be stitched by an old man in spectacles, with crooked oldfingers, and a tailor's thimble. The stitches of those button-holes were so small--_so_ small--they lookedas if they had been made by little mice! THE END