But the huntsman had paid heed to their words, and as soon as they
were gone, he rose and climbed up to the summit of the mountain, and
when he had sat there a while, a cloud floated towards him, caught him
up, carried him away, and travelled about for a long time in the
heavens. Then it sank lower, and let itself down on a great
cabbage-garden, girt round by walls, so that he came softly to the
ground on cabbages and vegetables. Then the huntsman looked about him and said, “If I had but something to
eat! I am so hungry, and my hunger will increase in course of time; but
I see here neither apples nor pears, nor any other sort of fruit,
everywhere nothing but cabbages,” but at length he thought, “At a pinch
I can eat some of the leaves, they do not taste particularly good, but
they will refresh me.” With that he picked himself out a fine head of
cabbage, and ate it, but scarcely had he swallowed a couple of
mouthfuls than he felt very strange and quite different. Four legs grew on him, a large head and two thick ears, and he saw with
horror that he was changed into an ass. Still as his hunger increased
every minute, and as the juicy leaves were suitable to his present
nature, he went on eating with great zest. At last he arrived at a
different kind of cabbage, but as soon as he had swallowed it, he again
felt a change, and reassumed his former human shape. Then the huntsman lay down and slept off his fatigue. When he awoke
next morning, he broke off one head of the bad cabbages and another of
the good ones, and thought to himself, “This shall help me to get my
own again and punish treachery.” Then he took the cabbages with him,
climbed over the wall, and went forth to seek for the castle of his
sweetheart. After wandering about for a couple of days he was lucky
enough to find it again. He dyed his face brown, so that his own mother
would not have known him; and begged for shelter: “I am so tired,” said
he, “that I can go no further.” The witch asked, “Who are you,
countryman, and what is your business?” “I am a King’s messenger, and
was sent out to seek the most delicious salad which grows beneath the
sun. I have even been so fortunate as to find it, and am carrying it
about with me; but the heat of the sun is so intense that the delicate
cabbage threatens to wither, and I do not know if I can carry it any
further.”

When the old woman heard of the exquisite salad, she was greedy, and
said, “Dear countryman, let me just taste this wonderful salad.” “Why
not?” answered he, “I have brought two heads with me, and will give you
one of them,” and he opened his pouch and handed her the bad cabbage. The witch suspected nothing amiss, and her mouth watered so for this
new dish that she herself went into the kitchen and dressed it. When it
was prepared she could not wait until it was set on the table, but took
a couple of leaves at once, and put them in her mouth, but hardly had
she swallowed them than she was deprived of her human shape, and she
ran out into the courtyard in the form of an ass. Presently the
maid-servant entered the kitchen, saw the salad standing there ready
prepared, and was about to carry it up; but on the way, according to
habit, she was seized by the desire to taste, and she ate a couple of
leaves. Instantly the magic power showed itself, and she likewise
became an ass and ran out to the old woman, and the dish of salad fell
to the ground. Meantime the messenger sat beside the beautiful girl,
and as no one came with the salad and she also was longing for it, she
said, “I don’t know what has become of the salad.” The huntsman
thought, “The salad must have already taken effect,” and said, “I will
go to the kitchen and inquire about it.” As he went down he saw the two
asses running about in the courtyard; the salad, however, was lying on
the ground. “All right,” said he, “the two have taken their portion,”
and he picked up the other leaves, laid them on the dish, and carried
them to the maiden. “I bring you the delicate food myself,” said he,
“in order that you may not have to wait longer.” Then she ate of it,
and was, like the others, immediately deprived of her human form, and
ran out into the courtyard in the shape of an ass. After the huntsman had washed his face, so that the transformed ones
could recognize him, he went down into the courtyard, and said, “Now
you shall receive the wages of your treachery,” and bound them
together, all three with one rope, and drove them along until he came
to a mill. He knocked at the window, the miller put out his head, and
asked what he wanted. “I have three unmanageable beasts,” answered he,
“which I don’t want to keep any longer. Will you take them in, and give
them food and stable room, and manage them as I tell you, and then I
will pay you what you ask.” The miller said, “Why not? But how am I to
manage them?” The huntsman then said that he was to give three beatings
and one meal daily to the old donkey, and that was the witch; one
beating and three meals to the younger one, which was the servant-girl;
and to the youngest, which was the maiden, no beatings and three meals,
for he could not bring himself to have the maiden beaten. After that he
went back into the castle, and found therein everything he needed. After a couple of days, the miller came and said he must inform him
that the old ass which had received three beatings and only one meal
daily was dead; “the two others,” he continued, “are certainly not
dead, and are fed three times daily, but they are so sad that they
cannot last much longer.” The huntsman was moved to pity, put away his
anger, and told the miller to drive them back again to him. And when
they came, he gave them some of the good salad, so that they became
human again. The beautiful girl fell on her knees before him, and said,
“Ah, my beloved, forgive me for the evil I have done you; my mother
drove me to it; it was done against my will, for I love you dearly. Your wishing-cloak hangs in a cupboard, and as for the bird’s-heart I
will take a vomiting potion.” But he thought otherwise, and said, “Keep
it; it is all the same, for I will take thee for my true wife.” So the
wedding was celebrated, and they lived happily together until their
death. 123 The Old Woman in the Wood

A poor servant-girl was once travelling with the family with which she
was in service, through a great forest, and when they were in the midst
of it, robbers came out of the thicket, and murdered all they found. All perished together except the girl, who had jumped out of the
carriage in a fright, and hidden herself behind a tree. When the
robbers had gone away with their booty, she came out and beheld the
great disaster. Then she began to weep bitterly, and said, “What can a
poor girl like me do now? I do not know how to get out of the forest,
no human being lives in it, so I must certainly starve.” She walked
about and looked for a road, but could find none.