Hans the Hedgehog

by The Brothers Grimm

　　THERE was once a countryman who had money and land in plenty, but how richsoever he was, one thing was still wanting in his happiness he had nochildren. Often when he went into the town with the other peasants theymocked him and asked why he had no children. At last he became angry,and when he got home he said, "I will have a child, even if it be ahedgehog." Then his wife had a child, that was a hedgehog in the upperpart of his body, and a boy in the lower, and when she saw the child,she was terrified, and said, "See, there thou hast brought ill-luck onus." Then said the man, "What can be done now? The boy must be christened,but we shall not be able to get a godfather for him." The woman said,"And we cannot call him anything else but Hans the Hedgehog."

　　When he was christened, the parson said, "He cannot go into any ordinarybed because of his spikes." So a little straw was put behind the stove,and Hans the Hedgehog was laid on it. His mother could not suckle him,for he would have pricked her with his quills. So he lay there behindthe stove for eight years, and his father was tired of him and thought,"If he would but die!" He did not die, however, but remained lyingthere. Now it happened that there was a fair in the town, and the peasantwas about to go to it, and asked his wife what he should bring back withhim for her. "A little meat and a couple of white rolls which are wantedfor the house," said she. Then he asked the servant, and she wanted apair of slippers and some stockings with clocks. At last he said also,"And what wilt thou have, Hans my Hedgehog?" "Dear father," he said,"do bring me bagpipes." When, therefore, the father came home again,he gave his wife what he had bought for her; meat and white rolls,and then he gave the maid the slippers, and the stockings with clocks;and, lastly, he went behind the stove, and gave Hans the Hedgehog thebagpipes. And when Hans the Hedgehog had the bagpipes, he said, "Dearfather, do go to the forge and get the cock shod, and then I will rideaway, and never come back again." On this, the father was delighted tothink that he was going to get rid of him, and had the cock shod for him,and when it was done, Hans the Hedgehog got on it, and rode away, but tookswine and asses with him which he intended to keep in the forest. Whenthey got there he made the cock fly on to a high tree with him, and therehe sat for many a long year, and watched his asses and swine until theherd was quite large, and his father knew nothing about him. While he wassitting in the tree, however, he played his bagpipes, and made music whichwas very beautiful. Once a King came travelling by who had lost his wayand heard the music. He was astonished at it, and sent his servant forthto look all round and see from whence this music came. He spied about,but saw nothing but a little animal sitting up aloft on the tree, whichlooked like a cock with a hedgehog on it which made this music. Then theKing told the servant he was to ask why he sat there, and if he knew theroad which led to his kingdom. So Hans the Hedgehog descended from thetree, and said he would show the way if the King would write a bond andpromise him whatever he first met in the royal courtyard as soon as hearrived at home. Then the King thought, "I can easily do that, Hans theHedgehog understands nothing, and I can write what I like." So the Kingtook pen and ink and wrote something, and when he had done it, Hans theHedgehog showed him the way, and he got safely home. But his daughter,when she saw him from afar, was so overjoyed that she ran to meet him,and kissed him. Then he remembered Hans the Hedgehog, and told her whathad happened, and that he had been forced to promise whatsoever first methim when he got home, to a very strange animal which sat on a cock as ifit were a horse, and made beautiful music, but that instead of writingthat he should have what he wanted, he had written that he should nothave it. Thereupon the princess was glad, and said he had done well,for she never would have gone away with the Hedgehog.

　　Hans the Hedgehog, however, looked after his asses and pigs, and wasalways merry and sat on the tree and played his bagpipes.

　　Now it came to pass that another King came journeying by with hisattendants and runners, and he also had lost his way, and did not knowhow to get home again because the forest was so large. He likewise heardthe beautiful music from a distance, and asked his runner what that couldbe, and told him to go and see. Then the runner went under the tree,and saw the cock sitting at the top of it, and Hans the Hedgehog on thecock. The runner asked him what he was about up there? "I am keepingmy asses and my pigs; but what is your desire?" The messenger said thatthey had lost their way, and could not get back into their own kingdom,and asked if he would not show them the way. Then Hans the Hedgehog gotdown the tree with the cock, and told the aged King that he would showhim the way, if he would give him for his own whatsoever first met himin front of his royal palace. The King said, "Yes," and wrote a promiseto Hans the Hedgehog that he should have this. That done, Hans rode onbefore him on the cock, and pointed out the way, and the King reached hiskingdom again in safety. When he got to the courtyard, there were greatrejoicings. Now he had an only daughter who was very beautiful; she ranto meet him, threw her arms round his neck, and was delighted to haveher old father back again. She asked him where in the world he had beenso long. So he told her how he had lost his way, and had very nearly notcome back at all, but that as he was travelling through a great forest,a creature, half hedgehog, half man, who was sitting astride a cock ina high tree, and making music, had shown him the way and helped him toget out, but that in return he had promised him whatsoever first methim in the royal court-yard, and how that was she herself, which madehim unhappy now. But on this she promised that, for love of her father,she would willingly go with this Hans if he came.

　　Hans the Hedgehog, however, took care of his pigs, and the pigsmultiplied until they became so many in number that the whole forestwas filled with them. Then Hans the Hedgehog resolved not to live in theforest any longer, and sent word to his father to have every stye in thevillage emptied, for he was coming with such a great herd that all mightkill who wished to do so. When his father heard that, he was troubled,for he thought Hans the Hedgehog had died long ago. Hans the Hedgehog,however, seated himself on the cock, and drove the pigs before him intothe village, and ordered the slaughter to begin. Ha! but there was akilling and a chopping that might have been heard two miles off! Afterthis Hans the Hedgehog said, "Father, let me have the cock shod once moreat the forge, and then I will ride away and never come back as long asI live." Then the father had the cock shod once more, and was pleasedthat Hans the Hedgehog would never return again.

　　Hans the Hedgehog rode away to the first kingdom. There the King hadcommanded that whosoever came mounted on a cock and had bagpipes with himshould be shot at, cut down, or stabbed by everyone, so that he might notenter the palace. When, therefore, Hans the Hedgehog came riding thither,they all pressed forward against him with their pikes, but he spurredthe cock and it flew up over the gate in front of the King's windowand lighted there, and Hans cried that the King must give him what hehad promised, or he would take both his life and his daughter's. Thenthe King began to speak his daughter fair, and to beg her to go awaywith Hans in order to save her own life and her father's. So she dressedherself in white, and her father gave her a carriage with six horses andmagnificent attendants together with gold and possessions. She seatedherself in the carriage, and placed Hans the Hedgehog beside her with thecock and the bagpipes, and then they took leave and drove away, and theKing thought he should never see her again. He was however, deceived inhis expectation, for when they were at a short distance from the town,Hans the Hedgehog took her pretty clothes off, and pierced her with hishedgehog's skin until she bled all over. "That is the reward of yourfalseness," said he, "go your way, I will not have you!" and on that hechased her home again, and she was disgraced for the rest of her life.

　　Hans the Hedgehog, however, rode on further on the cock, with hisbagpipes, to the dominions of the second King to whom he had shown theway. This one, however, had arranged that if any one resembling Hans theHedgehog should come, they were to present arms, give him safe conduct,cry long life to him, and lead him to the royal palace.

　　But when the King's daughter saw him she was terrified, for he lookedquite too strange. She remembered however, that she could not changeher mind, for she had given her promise to her father. So Hans theHedgehog was welcomed by her, and married to her, and had to go withher to the royal table, and she seated herself by his side, and theyate and drank. When the evening came and they wanted to go to sleep,she was afraid of his quills, but he told her she was not to fear,for no harm would befall her, and he told the old King that he wasto appoint four men to watch by the door of the chamber, and light agreat fire, and when he entered the room and was about to get into bed,he would creep out of his hedgehog's skin and leave it lying there bythe bedside, and that the men were to run nimbly to it, throw it in thefire, and stay by it until it was consumed. When the clock struck eleven,he went into the chamber, stripped off the hedgehog's skin, and left itlying by the bed. Then came the men and fetched it swiftly, and threwit in the fire; and when the fire had consumed it, he was delivered,and lay there in bed in human form, but he was coal-black as if he hadbeen burnt. The King sent for his physician who washed him with precioussalves, and anointed him, and he became white, and was a handsome youngman. When the King's daughter saw that she was glad, and the next morningthey arose joyfully, ate and drank, and then the marriage was properlysolemnized, and Hans the Hedgehog received the kingdom from the aged King.

　　When several years had passed he went with his wife to his father,and said that he was his son. The father, however, declared he had noson he had never had but one, and he had been born like a hedgehog withspikes, and had gone forth into the world. Then Hans made himself known,and 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.