In which I share a story-gift: "The Tailor's Coat" - learn to tell it too!

A traditional story that you can hear storytellers telling all over the world. And hey: at the end of the story, you will be able to tell it, too. Not a bad thing for a new year, huh?

The Tailor’s Coat
There once was a tailor who spent his life making beautiful clothes for other people to wear.

He made clothes out of soft velvet, shiny satin, and he used beautiful threads of silver and gold to make pretty dresses, and splendid shirts and ever so many other things.

One day, when he was cleaning up his shop, he found a box of beautiful cloth scraps left over from the fine clothes he had made over the years.

None of the pieces were big enough to make anything by themselves, but if he sewed the scraps together, there was enough to make a fine coat for himself to wear in his retirement.

And that is what he did.

He stitched and he sewed and he sewed and he stitched and by the morning time he had made himself a beautiful coat.

When he wore his coat into the market, everyone admired it so much that the tailor decided to wear the new coat everywhere.

And that's what he did--he wore it, and wore it, and wore it, until it was all worn out.

Or was it?

He looked closely at his coat, and discovered that there was just enough good cloth left in it to make a jacket.

The tailor set to work that evening.

He stitched and he sewed, he sewed and he stitched, and by the next morning he had made a very fine jacket, and when he wore his new jacket, everyone admired it so much that the tailor decided to wear it everywhere.

And that's what he did--he wore it, and wore it, and wore it, until it was all worn out.

Or was it?

He looked carefully at the jacket, and discovered that there was just enough good cloth in it to make a vest.

The tailor set to work that evening, and he stitched and he sewed and he sewed and he stitched, and the next morning he had finished making a very fancy vest.

Everyone admired it so much that the tailor decided to wear the fancy vest everywhere. And that's what he did--he wore it, and wore it, and wore it, until it was all worn out.

Or was it?

He looked carefully at the vest, and discovered that there was just enough good cloth in it to make a hat.

He stayed up all night, and he stitched and he sewed and he sewed and he stitched and by the morning time he had made a beautiful hat.

And the hat was so fine and sparkling that the tailor decided to wear his new hat verywhere.

And that's what he did--he wore it, and wore it, and wore it, until it was all worn out.

Or was it?

When he looked at the hat, there was not much material left in it. But there was just enough to make a shining button to wear on his shirt.

So that’s what he did : he stitched and he sewed and he sewed and he stitched and he made himself a beautiful button.

In fact, it was so beautiful that he wore it everywhere. He wore it, and wore it, and wore it until it was all worn out.

Or was it?

The tailor took the ragged button in his hands and held it up in the sunlight, where the sparkling threads shone brightly.

Just then, the wind came up and before he could close his hands, the threads from the button floated up and away...

...and there was only enough left to make a story.

And that is exactly what he did. And now you have the story for your very own.