Hans the Hedgehog

Once upon a time there was a farmer who had plenty of money and land. But no matter how rich he was, one thing was missing from his happiness: he had no children. Often when he went to town with the other farmers, they made fun of him and asked why he had no children.

At last he grew angry, and when he came home he said, "I will have a child, even if it is a hedgehog." Then his wife had a child. The upper part of the child's body was a hedgehog, and the lower part was a boy.

When she saw the child, she was terrified and said, "See, you have brought bad luck on us." Then the man said, "What can be done? The boy must be christened, but we won't be able to find a godfather for him." The woman said, "And we cannot call him anything else but Hans the Hedgehog."

When he was christened, the priest said, "He cannot lie in an ordinary bed because of his prickles." So a little straw was put behind the stove, and Hans the Hedgehog was laid on it. His mother could not nurse him, because he would have pricked her with his quills.

So he lay there behind the stove for eight years. His father grew tired of him and thought, "If only he would die!" But he did not die. He stayed there. Now it happened that there was a fair in the town, and the farmer was about to go.

He asked his wife what he should bring back for her. "A little meat and a couple of white rolls, which we need for the house," she said. Then he asked the maid, and she wanted a pair of slippers and some stockings with clocks.

At last he also said, "And what would you like, Hans my Hedgehog?" "Dear father," said Hans, "please bring me bagpipes." So when the father came home again, he gave his wife what he had bought for her: meat and white rolls.

Then he gave the maid the slippers and the stockings with clocks. Lastly, he went behind the stove and gave Hans the Hedgehog the bagpipes. When Hans the Hedgehog had the bagpipes, he said, "Dear father, please go to the blacksmith and have the rooster shod with horseshoes.

Then I will ride away and never come back." The father was delighted that he would get rid of him, so he had the rooster shod. When it was done, Hans the Hedgehog got on it and rode away.

But he took pigs and donkeys with him, which he intended to keep in the forest. When they got there, he made the rooster fly up onto a high tree with him. There he sat for many a long year and watched his donkeys and pigs until the herd was quite large.

His father knew nothing about him. While he was sitting in the tree, he played his bagpipes and made beautiful music.

Once a king came traveling by who had lost his way. He heard the music and was astonished. He sent his servant to look around and see where the music came from. The servant searched but saw nothing except a little animal sitting high up in the tree.

It looked like a rooster with a hedgehog on it, making this music. Then the king told the servant to ask why the creature sat there, and if it knew the road to his kingdom.

So Hans the Hedgehog climbed down from the tree and said he would show the way if the king would write a promise and give him whatever first met him in the royal courtyard when he arrived home. The king thought, "I can do that easily. Hans the Hedgehog doesn't understand anything.

I can write whatever I like." So the king took pen and ink and wrote something. When he was done, Hans the Hedgehog showed him the way, and the king got home safely. But his daughter, when she saw him from far away, was so overjoyed that she ran to meet him and kissed him.

Then he remembered Hans the Hedgehog and told her what had happened. He said he had been forced to promise whatever first met him when he got home to a very strange animal that sat on a rooster as if it were a horse and made beautiful music.

But instead of writing that he should have what he wanted, he had written that he should not have it. The princess was glad and said he had done well, because she would never have gone away with the Hedgehog.

Hans the Hedgehog, however, looked after his donkeys and pigs. He was always merry, and he sat on the tree and played his bagpipes.

Now it came to pass that another king came journeying by with his attendants and runners. He also had lost his way and did not know how to get home again because the forest was so large.

He likewise heard the beautiful music from a distance and asked his runner what that could be. He told him to go and see. So the runner went under the tree and saw the rooster sitting at the top, with Hans the Hedgehog on it.

The runner asked him what he was doing up there. "I am watching my donkeys and my pigs. But what do you want?" The messenger said they had lost their way and could not get back to their own kingdom. He asked if Hans would show them the way.

Then Hans the Hedgehog climbed down the tree with the rooster and told the old king that he would show him the way if the king would give him for his own whatever first met him in front of his royal palace.

The king said yes and wrote a promise to Hans the Hedgehog that he should have this. When that was done, Hans rode ahead on the rooster and pointed out the way. The king reached his kingdom safely. When he got to the courtyard, there were great celebrations.

He had an only daughter who was very beautiful. She ran to meet him, threw her arms around his neck, and was delighted to have her old father back. She asked him where in the world he had been so long.

So he told her how he had lost his way and had almost not come back at all. But as he traveled through a great forest, a creature that was half hedgehog, half man, sitting on a rooster in a high tree and making music, had shown him the way and helped him get out.

In return, he had promised him whatever first met him in the royal courtyard, and that was she herself. That made him unhappy now. But she promised that, out of love for her father, she would willingly go with this Hans if he came.

Hans the Hedgehog, however, took care of his pigs. The pigs multiplied until they became so many that the whole forest was filled with them. Then Hans the Hedgehog decided not to live in the forest any longer.

He sent word to his father to empty every pigpen in the village, because he was coming with such a great herd that everyone could slaughter as many as they wished. When his father heard that, he was troubled, for he thought Hans the Hedgehog had died long ago.

But Hans the Hedgehog seated himself on the rooster and drove the pigs before him into the village. He ordered the slaughter to begin. Ha! There was such a killing and chopping that you could hear it two miles away!

After this, Hans the Hedgehog said, "Father, let me have the rooster shod once more at the blacksmith's. Then I will ride away and never come back as long as I live." So the father had the rooster shod once more and was pleased that Hans the Hedgehog would never return.

Hans the Hedgehog rode away to the first kingdom. There the king had commanded that whoever came mounted on a rooster and carrying bagpipes should be shot at, cut down, or stabbed by everyone, so that he could not enter the palace.

So when Hans the Hedgehog came riding there, all pressed forward against him with their spears. But he spurred the rooster, and it flew up over the gate in front of the king's window and landed there.

Hans cried out that the king must give him what he had promised, or he would take both his life and his daughter's. Then the king began to speak kindly to his daughter and begged her to go away with Hans to save her own life and her father's.

So she dressed herself in white. Her father gave her a carriage with six horses and magnificent attendants, together with gold and possessions. She seated herself in the carriage and placed Hans the Hedgehog beside her with the rooster and the bagpipes. Then they took leave and drove away.

The king thought he would never see her again. But he was deceived, for when they were a short distance from the town, Hans the Hedgehog took her pretty clothes off and pricked her with his hedgehog skin until she bled all over. "That is the reward for your deceit," he said.

"Go your way. I will not have you!" Then he chased her home again, and she was disgraced for the rest of her life.

Hans the Hedgehog, however, rode on further on the rooster, with his bagpipes, to the kingdom of the second king, to whom he had shown the way. This king had arranged that if anyone resembling Hans the Hedgehog should come, they were to present arms, give him safe passage, cry long life to him, and lead him to the royal palace.

When the king's daughter saw him, she was terrified, for he looked very strange. But she remembered that she could not change her mind, because she had given her promise to her father. So Hans the Hedgehog was welcomed by her and married to her.

He had to go with her to the royal table, and she sat by his side, and they ate and drank. When evening came and they wanted to go to sleep, she was afraid of his quills. But he told her not to fear, because no harm would come to her.

He told the old king to appoint four men to watch by the door of the room and light a great fire. When he entered the room and was about to get into bed, he would creep out of his hedgehog skin and leave it lying by the bedside.

The men were to run quickly, throw it in the fire, and stay there until it was completely burned. When the clock struck eleven, he went into the room, stripped off the hedgehog skin, and left it lying by the bed.

Then the men came, fetched it swiftly, and threw it into the fire. When the fire had consumed it, he was freed. He lay there in bed in human form, but he was coal-black, as if he had been burned.

The king sent for his physician, who washed him with precious ointments and anointed him, and he became white and was a handsome young man. When the king's daughter saw that, she was glad. The next morning they arose joyfully, ate and drank, and then the marriage was properly celebrated.

Hans the Hedgehog received the kingdom from the old king.

When several years had passed, he went with his wife to his father and said he was his son. But the father declared he had no son. He said he had never had but one, and he had been born like a hedgehog with prickles and had gone out into the world. Then Hans made himself known. The old father rejoiced and went with him to his kingdom.

My tale is done, And away it has run To little August's house.