Sometimes he stood still, took a frog into
close consideration, and at length swallowed it down. The stork came to
him and greeted him. “I see,” he began, “that thou hast thy pack on thy
back. Why art thou leaving the town?” The tailor told him what the King
had required of him, and how he could not perform it, and lamented his
misfortune. “Don’t let thy hair grow grey about that,” said the stork,
“I will help thee out of thy difficulty. For a long time now, I have
carried the children in swaddling-clothes into the town, so for once in
a way I can fetch a little prince out of the well. Go home and be easy. In nine days from this time repair to the royal palace, and there will
I come.” The little tailor went home, and at the appointed time was at
the castle. It was not long before the stork came flying thither and
tapped at the window. The tailor opened it, and cousin Longlegs came
carefully in, and walked with solemn steps over the smooth marble
pavement. He had, moreover, a baby in his beak that was as lovely as an
angel, and stretched out its little hands to the Queen. The stork laid
it in her lap, and she caressed it and kissed it, and was beside
herself with delight. Before the stork flew away, he took his
travelling bag off his back and handed it over to the Queen. In it
there were little paper parcels with colored sweetmeats, and they were
divided amongst the little princesses. The eldest, however, had none of
them, but got the merry tailor for a husband. “It seems to me,” said
he, “just as if I had won the highest prize. My mother was if right
after all, she always said that whoever trusts in God and only has good
luck, can never fail.”

The shoemaker had to make the shoes in which the little tailor danced
at the wedding festival, after which he was commanded to quit the town
for ever. The road to the forest led him to the gallows. Worn out with
anger, rage, and the heat of the day, he threw himself down. When he
had closed his eyes and was about to sleep, the two crows flew down
from the heads of the men who were hanging there, and pecked his eyes
out. In his madness he ran into the forest and must have died there of
hunger, for no one has ever either seen him again or heard of him. 108 Hans the Hedgehog

There was once a countryman who had money and land in plenty, but how
rich soever he was, one thing was still wanting in his happiness he had
no children. Often when he went into the town with the other peasants
they mocked 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 a hedgehog.” Then his wife had a child, that was a hedgehog in the
upper part 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 on us.” 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
ordinary bed 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 behind the 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 lying there. Now it happened that there was a fair in the
town, and the peasant was about to go to it, and asked his wife what he
should bring back with him for her. “A little meat and a couple of
white rolls which are wanted for the house,” said she. Then he asked
the servant, and she wanted a pair 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 the bagpipes. And when Hans the
Hedgehog had the bagpipes, he said, “Dear father, do go to the forge
and get the cock shod, and then I will ride away, and never come back
again.” On this, the father was delighted to think 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 took swine and asses
with him which he intended to keep in the forest. When they got there
he made the cock fly on to a high tree with him, and there he sat for
many a long year, and watched his asses and swine until the herd was
quite large, and his father knew nothing about him. While he was
sitting in the tree, however, he played his bagpipes, and made music
which was very beautiful. Once a King came travelling by who had lost
his way and heard the music. He was astonished at it, and sent his
servant forth to 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, which looked like a cock with a hedgehog on it which made
this music. Then the King told the servant he was to ask why he sat
there, and if he knew the road which led to his kingdom. So Hans the
Hedgehog descended from the tree, and said he would show the way if the
King would write a bond and promise him whatever he first met in the
royal courtyard as soon as he arrived at home. Then the King thought,
“I can easily do that, Hans the Hedgehog understands nothing, and I can
write what I like.” So the King took pen and ink and wrote something,
and when he had done it, Hans the Hedgehog 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 what had happened, and that he had been
forced to promise whatsoever first met him when he got home, to a very
strange animal which sat on a cock as if it were a horse, and made
beautiful music, but that instead of writing that he should have what
he wanted, he had written that he should not have 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 was
always merry and sat on the tree and played his bagpipes. Now it came to pass that another King came journeying by with his
attendants and runners, and 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, 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 the cock. The runner asked him what he was about up there?