A Portuguese Folktale: D.Caio ~ Sir Fall

I fall! I fall !

Folktales, as much as they are a thing of wonder and fantasy, they are also a thing of humor.
Nothing could be truer with the tale we present to you today: D. Caio, whose name we adapted to Sir Fall. Inspired by the brothers Grimm “The Brave Little Tailor” (the tale is also translated into Portuguese), this version from 1900 focuses more on the misconception of “Kill seven with one blow” and it’s also known in Spain as “Don Juan Bolondron mata siete de um trompom”.

About the artwork, we got a look at General attires from the 1800’s so that’s why there’s a certain French feel to it. Nevertheless, we did our very own version of such clothes as well as the colors, though blue was the color of the Portuguese Army in the sources we checked. And of course, we couldn’t resist and added the old Portuguese Royal Emblem to the horse’s saddle.

This tale has a bit more of our own flair as we had to translate and adapt it from Portuguese to English (we’re quite proud of our efforts!)  If you’d like to read it, click below and enjoy!

D.Caio – Sir Fall

There was a Tailor who was extremely yellow-bellied, working by his house’s front door.
He loved to pretend being courageous and on a certain day after seeing many flies swarming together, he managed to kill seven of them and from then on, all he did was brag about his feat:

“I can kill seven with one blow!”

Meanwhile, the King was crestfallen over the death of his General, Sir Fall, the most valiant of them all and knowing the country was without its commanding officer, the enemy troops began an invading march.
Right away, those who heard the Tailor saying “I can kill seven with one blow!” everywhere he went, told it to the King. The King pondered, that whoever was so valiant would fittingly take Sir Fall’s place.
Hence the boastful Tailor was taken to the King who asked him:

“Is it true that you can kill seven with one blow?”
“I’ll have his Majesty know that indeed I can.”
“Then I want you to command my troops and attack our enemy who already surrounds us.”

The King called for Sir Fall’s attire and had the Tailor dressed in it, but he was so short that the General’s bicorn hat slid down to his ears. Then he ordered for Sir Fall’s white horse to be brought, for the Tailor to ride. The Tailor was helped getting on the horse, already shaking like blades of grass on a windy day. And as soon as the horse felt the spurs, it set out galloping like mad. Distressed, the Tailor wailed:

“I fall! I fall!”

Everyone who heard this, as he zoomed by, commented:

“He even says he’s Sir Fall. We got ourselves a champion!”

The horse, familiarized to battle, ran towards the field where the fighting was taking place, and the Tailor forever fearful of falling, kept crying desperately:

“I fall! I fall!”

As soon as they saw the white horse of the brave General they so feared and heard the yelling of “I fall! I fall!”, the enemy realized the peril they were in. Immediately the soldiers exclaimed:

“We’re done for, Sir Fall arrives! Here comes Sir Fall!”

Thus, the Tailor won the battle just by hanging on to the horse’s neck while screaming: “I fall!”. The King was overjoyed and as a reward offered the Princess’s hand in matrimony and as it happens, no one held back their praising to the bravery of the successor of General Sir Fall…

THE END

This one used to be a childhood’s favorite and we’re glad it has a happy ending just in time to wish you all a happy weekend!

★As always, stay inspired!★