The tailor

Tailor

There once was a tailor who wore waistcoats in all weathers. He could craft fine clothes from any material, silk, cotton,even hessian sack. His customers had their own preferences, but everyone left the tailor's shop satisfied. 
Sometimes the tailor grew tired of his work, but at the end of the day he was content, and when he walked into town he could see people walking around, happy in the clothes he had made for them. 

	One day a stranger walked in to the tailors shop. Instead of giving instructions or asking for advice, he looked the tailor up and down, very intently. 

"Why?" Said the stranger impetuously,"Do you spend all of your time in this little place dressing other people?" 

	The tailor was not offended but rather curious. The stranger smiled warmly and placed his hand on the tailor's shoulder. “Come with me”he said as he walked into back room as if it were his and emerged with a bundle of clothes. “Come on, try these”, he said and smiled again. The tailor was amused and tried on the clothes, he strode around and felt happy, but not quite himself. The tailor and the stranger walked out hand in hand.

        When they stepped out there was an immediate response, isn't that the tailor people said, doesn't he look different? Some said he looked very handsome, others that he looked a fool,and others that he had forgotten his place. What sort of tailor modelled his own clothes? 

        The tailor was upset, he was glad to have a friend to dress up with and go outside, but he had lost the goodwill of his customers. He was not invisible in his waistcoat any more. Some people admired him, others disliked him, and his business was suffering. 

        For some reason he just could not put his waistcoat back on again, he felt that it did not suit him any more. The tailor tried dressing in fine silk, cotton and even hessian sack, but found the same response every time. Some people admired his clothes, some disliked them and the tailor was not happy. 

        The tailor continued with his work, but he found thathis customers did not seem as kind to him as before, they all had an opinion. Worse, his friend had lost interest and never came to see him any more. Still, he could not bring 
himself to wear a waistcoat. One night as he was closing up, another stranger came to the shop.

        What can I do for you? he said wearily, I can make anything you like.

"Me!" laughed the stranger. "I came in to get out of the rain" "Your shop's lovely though, you must spend a lot of time in here " 

The tailor smiled. Wait there he said, and went into the back room, it was his after all. He came back with a mug of tea and a raincoat. I'm closing up 
but you can take these with you. The stranger smiled and waved as the tailor closed up for the day.

"I'm not a tailor" he thought, "I just make clothes" 

He slipped on a fine jacket reserved for a customer, buttoned it and walked home, smiling as the rain tapped on his hood.