The Valiant Little Tailor

The Secret Kindergarten

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The Valiant Little Tailor

We finish off Lynn Brunelle's book, "Turn This Book Into a Beehive! And 19 Other Experiments and Activities That Explore the Amazing World of Bees" and play a Grimms audiobook thanks to LibriVox.Org.

Gino Volante

Apr 19, 2025

Transcript

"The Valiant Little Tailor" is considered an essential fairy tale for folklorists. What is essential about this tale for young children? The tailor character pops up in a few fairy tales. Consider Steiner, who said fairy tales are "nutrition for the soul", and the fact that fairy tales rich in symbolism. We could say that the symbolism of the tailor provides something for the soul of the child. Tailors make clothes fit, so there is a suggestion of making things in order, or dealing with people that are imperfect, perhaps immoral. The shoe seem to fit with this idea as you will see in the story… the tailor sets out to set things right and gain power and wealth at the same time. I believe the concept of "Tailor Symbolism" in a fairy tale could affirm the spirit of children with The Great Work. Striving in life to do the right thing, raise consciousness of the self and of others. A difficult task in this day and age but we must remain hopeful that The Great Work is something that is possible to live by and still put clothes on the backs of our children.

Audiobooks

Grimm, Jacob & Wilhelm (1785-1863). "The Valiant Little Tailor". Children's and Household Tales. Read by Bob Neufeld for Librivox.org
https://librivox.org/grimms-fairy-tales-version-2-by-jacob-wilhelm-grimm/

Books

Brunelle, Lynn. (2018). Turn This Book Into a Beehive! And 19 Other Experiments and Activities That Explore the Amazing World of Bees. Workman Publishing Co.
https://www.amazon.com/Turn-This-Book-Into-Beehive/dp/1523501413