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.