THE TAILOR OF GLOUCESTER（2）

THE TAILOR OF GLOUCESTER
BY
BEATRIX POTTER
Author of “The Tale of Peter Rabbit,” etc“I’LL BE AT CHARGES FOR A LOOKING-GLASS,
AND ENTERTAIN A SCORE OR TWO OF TAILORS”
Richard IIIMY 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 Gloucestershire, and that it is true — at least about the tailor, the waistcoat, and the
“No more twist!”
Christmas, 1901THE TAILOR OF GLOUCESTER
In the time of swords and periwigs and full-skirted coats with flowered lappets — when gentlemen wore ruffles¹, 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.
But although he sewed fine silk for his neighbours, he himself was very, very poor — a little old man in spectacles, with a pinched face, old crooked² fingers, and a suit of thread-bare clothes.
He cut his coats without waste, according to his embroidered³ cloth; they were very small ends and snippets that lay about upon the table— “Too narrow breadths for nought⁴ — except waistcoats for mice,” said the tailor.
One bitter cold day near Christmastime 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 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 shears⁵; 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 coat and four pieces for the waistcoat; and there were pocket flaps and cuffs⁶, and buttons all in order. For the lining⁷ 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 measured and sufficient — except that there was wanting just one single skein of cherry-coloured twisted silk.

格洛斯特的裁缝
 
我要花钱置一面穿衣镜，雇
他二三十个裁缝。
一《理查三世》

亲爱的弗蕾达：
听说你喜欢童话故事，听说你病了，所以我专门为你讲一个故事——一个新故事，之
前没有人听过。
奇怪的是，我在格洛斯特听说过这个故事里的事——那个裁缝、那件背心、那句“没有
捻线了”，都是真实的。
1901年圣诞节
过去，人们曾经流行腰佩长剑，头戴假发，身穿带花边裙裾的外套。绅士们喜欢穿着
带褶边的衬衫和用棱纹丝织物及塔夫绸做成的金边马甲。当时，在格洛斯特住着一个裁
缝。
他在西门大街上开了一家小店，从早到晚都在窗前的工作台上盘腿坐着。
每天，只要还有一丝光亮，他就会在缝缝剪剪，忙着把绸缎、布片和闪闪发光的羽纱
拼接到一起。这些材料的名字稀奇古怪。在格洛斯特的裁缝生活的年代，这些东西十分昂
贵。
不过，尽管他总是用上好的绸缎为邻居们缝制衣裳，他自己却一贫如洗。他是个戴眼
镜的小老头儿，长着一张干瘪的脸，手指苍老弯曲，身上穿的衣服露着线头。
他做衣服的布料，比如绣花布，一点儿也不会浪费。剩在桌上的都是些边角料和碎
片。“这么窄，只能给老鼠做件马甲啦。”他说。
临近圣诞节的一个严寒冬日，他开始给格洛斯特市市长缝制外套和奶油色的缎纹马
甲。外套要用樱桃色的绸缎，绣上三色紫罗兰和玫瑰花；马甲要用薄纱和绿色精纺绒。
他来来回回地量着、裁着，用剪刀把绸缎裁成衣服的各个部分。台子上散落着一块块
樱桃色的绸缎。
他边裁边自言自语道：“实在是太窄了，还是横着裁吧……这也太窄了，只能给老鼠做
一件披肩和一条围巾了……只能给老鼠做一件披肩啦……”
雪花飞舞，落在格子窗的玻璃上，渐渐遮挡住了光线。裁缝已经完成了一天的工作：
所有的绸缎都已裁好，摆放在台子上。
做外套的布料有十二块，做马甲的有四块，还有做口袋的布料和纽扣，它们都整齐有
序地摆在台子上。做外套衬里用的是上好的黄色塔夫绸，做马甲纽扣的扣眼要用樱桃色的
捻线。除了捻线，一切都已经准备停当，天亮以后就可以缝了。
裁缝在黑暗中走出他的小店，因为他晚上不睡在这里。他关上窗，锁上门，拔下钥
匙。夜里，这一带无人居住，只有棕色的老鼠自由自在地跑进跑出。
在格洛斯特所有老房子的木制壁板后面，都藏着老鼠的楼梯和秘密的活板门。老鼠就
靠着这些又长又窄的通道在不同的房子之间窜来窜去，无须通过街道便可以跑遍整个镇
子。