Le Vaillant Petit Tailleur (The Valiant Little Tailor) ~ Guest Post by Dave Cuzner

The two other people who instantly sprang to mind to guest post were Ward Jenkins and Dave Cuzner. Unfortunately (or fortunately for him) Ward was off vacationing at that place where the giant mouse lives, but thankfully, Dave kindly accepted my offer. Now, let me just say this, when I asked Dave, I seriously thought there was no chance in hell that he would say yes (much less write me back even.) You see, us little wee bloggers who love books and Mid-Century design and old "dusty things" look upon Dave as a God-like figure. Really, I bow at his feet in awe of his awesomness. His blog grain edit is my all time favorite blog EVER, and he has such immaculate taste. If you've ever visited, you know that his children's book collection is exquisite. (His house is pretty fabulous, too.) So without further blah blah and before I go all fan-girl freaky, welcome Dave and his tale of the tailor. And, comment on this post today to win a copy of the rare Dolli The Valiant Little Tailor. Winner will be announced tomorrow. Yesterday's give? The winner is celi.a. E-mail me, webe(at)soon(dot)com. ~ Scribbler

1963 by Desclee De Brouwer ~ Illustrations by E Probst

The Valiant Little Tailor is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm. The story opens with a tailor who is preparing to eat some bread and jam. Seven flies try to land on the jam and he kills all the flies with one blow. Inspired by his accomplishment, he creates a belt describing his deed, "Seven with one blow" and sets out into the world to seek his fortune. Along the way the tailor runs into a host of characters who assume his belt refers to seven men (not flies). One of those characters is the King of the land who challenges the tailor to a series of tasks including the capture of a wild unicorn. In return for completion of these tasks, the King offers the tailor half his kingdom and his daughter's hand in marriage. From here the story gets wild! I don't want to give away all the details, so you'll just have read it for yourself.

The illustrations are credited to E. Probst. Unfortunately, I couldn't find much information on Mr. Probst. Is it possible that E. Probst is a pseudonym for Pierre Probst? If anyone knows, please leave a note in the comments. It's too bad, because the images are absolutely stunning!