POTTER
THE TAILOR
OF GLOUCESTER
THE TAILOR OF
GLOUCESTER
B
LIT
Author oj
he Tale of Peter Rabbit" etc.
2 1997
OISE/UT
'I'LL BE
AND ENTERTAIN A SCORE OR TWO OF TAILORS."
Richard III
LONDON
FREDERICK WARNE & CO., LTD.
AND NEW YORK
[All rights reserved^
Copyright in all Countries
signatory to the Berne Convention
FREDERICK WARNE & Co., LTD.
LONDON, ^ENGLAND
05115
Printed for the Publishers
by Jarrold & Sons Ltd., Norwich
1535-264
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 Gloucester-
shire, and that it is true at least
about the tailor, the waistcoat, and
the
"JV0 more twist!"
Christmas, 1901
THE TAILOR
OF GLOUCESTER
IN the time of swords and periwigs
and full-skirted coats with flowered
lappets when gentlemen wore ruffles,
and gold-laced waistcoats of paduasoy
and taffeta there lived a tailor in
Gloucester.
He sat in the window of a little
shop in Westgate Street, cross-legged
on a table, from morning till dark.
All day long while the light lasted he
sewed and snippeted, piecing out his
satin and pompadour, and lutestring;
stuffs had strange names, and were
very expensive in the days of the
Tailor of Gloucester.
io The Tailor of Gloucester
But although he sewed fine silk for
his neighbours, he himself was very,
very poor a little old man in spec-
tacles, with a pinched face, old crooked
fingers, and a suit of thread-bare
clothes.
He cut his coats without waste,
according to his embroidered cloth;
they were very small ends and snippets
that lay about upon the table "Too
narrow breadths for nought except
waistcoats for mice," said the tailor.
One bitter cold day near Christmas-
time the tailor began to make a coat
a coat of cherry-coloured corded
silk embroidered with pansies and roses,
and a cream coloured satin waistcoat
trimmed with gauze and green
The Tailor of Gloucester 1 3
worsted chenille for the Mayor of
Gloucester.
The tailor worked and worked, and
he talked to himself. He measured
the silk, and turned it round and
round, and trimmed it into shape with
his shears; the table was all littered
with cherry-coloured snippets.
"No breadth at all, and cut on the
cross; it is no breadth at all; tippets
for mice and ribbons for mobs ! for
mice!" said the Tailor of Gloucester.
When the snow-flakes came down
against the small leaded window-panes
and shut out the light, the tailor had
done his day's work; all the silk and
satin lay cut out upon the table.
There were twelve pieces for the
14 The Tailor of Gloucester
coat and four pieces for the waistcoat ;
and there were pocket flaps and cuffs,
and buttons all in order. For the
lining of the coat there was fine yellow
taffeta ; and for the button-holes of the
waistcoat, there was cherry-coloured
twist. And everything was ready to
sew together in the morning, all mea- ^
sured and sufficient except that there
was wanting just one single skein of
cherry-coloured twisted silk.
The tailor came out of his shop at
dark, for he did not sleep there at
nights; 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
out without any keys !
The Tailor of Gloucester 17
For behind the wooden wainscots of
all the old houses in Gloucester, there
are little mouse staircases and secret
trap-doors; and the mice run from house
to house through those long narrow
passages; they can run all over the
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 College Green;
and although it was not a big house,
the tailor was so poor he only rented
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
1 8 The Tailor of Gloucester
by himself; and he also was fond of
the mice, though he gave them no
satin for 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
to a 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 a
penn'orth of sausages. And oh, Simp-
kin, with the last penny of our four-
pence buy me one penn'orth of cherry-
coloured silk. But do not lose the
last penny of the fourpence, Simpkin,
or I am undone and worn to a thread-
paper, for I have NO MORE TWIST."
20
The Tailor of Gloucester 21
Then Simpkin again said, " Miaw?"
and took the groat and the pipkin,
and went out into the dark.
The tailor was very tired and begin-
ning to be ill. He sat down by the
hearth and talked to himself about
that wonderful coat.
"I shall make my fortune to be
cut bias the Mayor of Gloucester is
to be married on Christmas Day in
the morning, and he hath ordered a
coat and an embroidered waistcoat
to be lined with yellow taffeta and
the taffeta sufficeth; there is no more
left over in snippets than will serve to
make tippets for mice "
Then the tailor started ; for sud-
denly, interrupting him, from the
22 The Tailor of Gloucester
dresser at 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
his chair. The dresser was covered
with crockery and pipkins, willow
pattern plates, 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
up the tea-cup which was upside
down.
2 4
The Tailor of Gloucester 25
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, and
mumbling to himself
"The waistcoat is cut out from
peach-coloured satin tambour stitch
and rose-buds in beautiful floss silk.
Was I wise to entrust my last four-
pence to 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, and
26 The Tailor of Gloucester
turned 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, all
sounding together, and answering one
another, like watch-beetles in an old
worm-eaten window-shutter
Tip tap, tip tap, tip tap tip!
And out from under tea-cups and
from under bowls and basins, stepped
other and more little mice who hopped
away down off the dresser and under
the wainscot.
The tailor sat down, close over the
fire, lamenting " One-and-twenty
button-holes of cherry-coloured silk!
28
The Tailor of Gloucester 29
To be finished by noon of Saturday :
and this is Tuesday evening. Was it
right to let loose those mice, undoubt-
edly the property of Simpkin? Alack,
I am undone, for I have no more
twist!"
The little mice came out again, and
listened to the tailor; they took notice
of the pattern of that wonderful coat.
They whispered to one another about
the taffeta lining, and about little
mouse tippets.
And then all at once they all ran
away together down the passage
behind the wainscot, squeaking and
calling to one another, as they ran
from house to house; and not one
mouse was left in the tailor's kitchen
30 The Tailor of Gloucester
when Simpkin came back with the
pipkin of milk !
Simpkin opened the door and
bounced in, with an angry "G-r-r-
miaw!" like a cat 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 and the 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 looked
suspiciously at the tea-cups. He wanted
his supper of little fat mouse !
"Simpkin," said the tailor, "where
is my TWIST?"
The Tailor of Gloucester 33
But Simpkin hid a little parcel pri-
vately in the tea-pot, and spit and
growled at the tailor ; and if Simpkin
had been able to talk, he would have
asked: "Where is my MOUSE?"
"Alack, I am undone!" said the
Tailor of Gloucester, and went sadly
to bed.
All that night long Simpkin hunted
and searched through the kitchen,
peeping into cupboards and under the
wainscot, and into the tea-pot where
he 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 at night.
34 The Tailor of Gloucester
For the poor old tailor was very ill
with a fever, tossing and turning in
his four-post bed; and still in his
dreams he mumbled "No more twist !
no more twist ! "
All that day he was ill, and the next
day, and the next; and what should
become of the cherry-coloured coat?
In the tailor's shop in Westgate Street
the embroidered silk and satin lay cut
put upon the table one-and-twenty
button-holes and who should come
to sew them, when the window was
barred, and the door was fast locked?
But that does not hinder the little
brown mice; they run in and out
without any keys through all the old
houses in Gloucester!
The Tailor of Gloucester 37
Out of doors the market folks went
trudging through the snow to buy their
geese and turkeys, and to bake their
Christmas pies; but there would be
no Christmas dinner for Simpkin and
the poor old Tailor of Gloucester.
The tailor lay ill for three days and
nights ; and then it was Christmas Eve ?
and very late at night. The moon
climbed up over the roofs and chim-
neys, and looked down over the gate-
way into College Court. There were
no lights in the windows, nor any sound
in the houses ; all the city of Gloucester
was fast asleep under the snow.
And still Simpkin wanted his mice,
and mewed as he stood beside the
four-post bed.
38 The Tailor of Gloucester
But it is in the old story that all the
beasts can talk, in the night between
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in
the morning (though there are very
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
echo of 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 a thousand merry voices singing
the old Christmas rhymes all the old
songs that ever I heard of, and some
that I don't know, like Whittington's
bells.
39
'
The Tailor of Gloucester 41
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
came from over the way.
"Hey, diddle, diddle, the cat and
the fiddle! All the cats in Gloucester
except me," said Simpkin.
Under the wooden eaves the starlings
and sparrows sang of Christmas pies ;
the jack-daws woke up in the Cathe-
dral tower; and although it was the
middle of the night the throstles and
robins sang ; the air was quite full of
little twittering tunes.
42 The Tailor of Gloucester
But it was all rather provoking to
poor hungry Simpkin!
Particularly he was vexed with some
little shrill voices from behind a wooden
lattice. I think that they were bats,
because they always have very small
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.
From the tailor's shop in Westgate
came a glow of light ; and when Simp-
kin crept up to peep in at the window
43
44
The Tailor of Gloucester 45
it was full of candles. There was a
snippeting of scissors, and snappeting
of thread; and little mouse voices
sang 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 "
"Mew! Mew!" interrupted Simp-
kin, and he scratched at the door.
46 The Tailor of Gloucester
But the key 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 little mice
" 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!"
They clicked their thimbles to mark
the time, but none of the songs pleased
4 8
The Tailor of Gloucester 4.9
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 the
little mice inside sprang to their feet,
and all began to shout at once in little
twittering voices: "No more twist!
No more twist!" And they barred
up the window shutters and shut out
Simpkin.
But still through the nicks in the
shutters he could hear the click of
50 The Tailor of Gloucester
thimbles, and little mouse voices sing-
ing
"No more twist! No more twist!"
Simpkin came away from the shop
and went home, considering in his
mind. He found the poor old tailor
without fever, sleeping peacefully.
Then Simpkin went on tip-toe and
took a little parcel of silk out of the
tea-pot, and looked at it in the moon-
light ; and he felt quite ashamed of his
badness compared with those good
little mice!
When the tailor awoke in the morn-
ing, the first thing which he saw upon
the patchwork quilt, was a skein of
cherry-coloured twisted silk, and beside
his bed stood the repentant Simpkin!
The Tailor of Gloucester 53
"Alack, I am worn to a ravelling,"
said the Tailor of Gloucester, "but I
have my twist!"
The sun was shining on the snow
when the tailor got up and dressed,
and came out into the street with
Simpkin running before him.
The starlings whistled on the chim-
ney stacks, and the throstles and
robins sang but they sang their own
little noises, not the words they had
sung in the night.
"Alack," said the tailor, "I have
my twist; but no more strength nor
time than will serve to make me
one single button-hole; for this is
Christmas Day in the Morning ! The
Mayor of Gloucester shall be married
54 The Tailor of Gloucester
by noon and where is his cherry-
coloured coat?"
He unlocked the door of the little
shop in Westgate Street, and Simpkin
ran in, like a cat that expects some-
thing.
But there was no one there ! Not
even one little brown mouse !
The boards were swept and clean;
the little ends of thread and the little
silk snippets were all tidied away, and
gone from off the floor.
But upon the table oh, joy! the
tailor gave a shout there, where he
had left plain cuttings of silk there
lay the most beautifullest coat and
embroidered satin waistcoat that ever
were worn by a Mayor of Gloucester.
55
56 The Tailor of Gloucester
There were roses and pansies upon
the facings of the coat ; and the waist-
coat was worked with poppies and
corn-flowers.
Everything was finished except just
one single cherry-coloured button-hole,
and where that button-hole was want-
ing there was pinned a scrap 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
quite stout, and he grew quite rich.
He made the most wonderful waist-
coats for all the rich merchants of
Gloucester, and for all the fine gentle-
men of the country round.
57
The Tailor of Gloucester 59
Never were seen such ruffles, or
such embroidered cuffs and lappets !
But his button-holes were the greatest
triumph of it all.
The stitches of those button-holes
were so neat so neat I wonder how
they could be stitched by an old man
in spectacles, with crooked old fingers,
and a tailor's thimble.
The stitches of those button-holes
were so small so small they looked
as if they had been made by little
mice!
THE END
I
Potter, B*
The tailor of Gloucester.
PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE
CARDS OR SLIPS FROM THIS POCKET
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
