ONCE there was a rich farmer who had an only son named Hans, and from his waist upward the boy was like a hedgehog. He was intelligent, and could talk like any other boy, but of course he could not be treated as if he was entirely human. For one thing, he was not allowed to sleep in a bed on account of his prickles. Instead, they shook down some straw for him behind the stove, and there he spent most of his time until he was eight years old. Then the farmer was one day going to a fair that was to be held in a neighboring town. He asked his wife what he should buy for her, and she said, “Some meat, and a couple of loaves of bread for the house.”
Then he asked the servant maid what she wanted, and she replied, “A pair of slippers and some stockings.”
Lastly he said, “Well, Hans my Hedgehog, and what shall I bring you?”
“Daddy,” said Hans, “please bring me some bagpipes.”
When the farmer returned home he gave his wife and the maid the things they had asked for, and then he went behind the stove and gave Hans the Hedgehog the bagpipes.
As soon as Hans received this gift he said: “Daddy, tomorrow morning I wish you would take our largest rooster to the harness-maker and have him fitted with a bridle. I want to use him for my horse.”
So the next day the farmer had a harness made for the biggest rooster on the farm. Then Hans the Hedgehog mounted on the rooster’s back and rode away to the forest. There he made the rooster fly up to the top of a lofty tree with him.
For several years he dwelt, there in the greenwood, and most of the time he stayed high among the branches of that tall tree. Meanwhile his father knew nothing of what had become of him.
As he sat on the rooster’s back in the tree-top he played on his bagpipes and made beautiful music. Once a king who had lost his way in the forest came riding near enough to hear him. He was much surprised, and sent a servant to find out whence the music came. The man peered about, but saw only what seemed to be a rooster perched high in a tree with a hedgehog on his back, and this hedgehog was apparently playing some bagpipes.
The king told the servant to ask the strange creature why he sat there, and also to ask if he could direct him how to find the way back to his kingdom.
When the servant put these questions, Hans the Hedgehog came down from the tree and said he would show the way if the king would give him his written promise to let him have whatever his Royal Highness first met as he approached his castle on his return.
The king thought: “This hedgehog probably does not know one word from another. I can write what I please.”
So he took pen and ink, wrote something, and then Hans the Hedgehog showed him the road, and he got safely home. His daughter saw him coming while he was still at a distance, and she ran to meet him and threw her arms about him. Then he remembered Hans the Hedgehog, and told her what had happened in the forest, and how he had been required to give a written promise to bestow whatever he first met as he approached his palace to an extraordinary creature which had shown him the way. “The upper half of the creature was like a hedgehog,” said the king, “and he rode on a rooster just as if the rooster had been a horse, and he had bagpipes and made lovely music. But he certainly could not read, and I wrote that I would not give him anything at all.”
Thereupon the princess was quite pleased. “You managed very cleverly,” said she, “for of course you could not have allowed me to be carried off by such a hobgoblin.”
Hans continued to dwell in the forest, and he was very merry sitting in his tree and blowing his bagpipes. Presently it happened that another king who was traveling through the forest with his servants and courtiers lost his way, for the forest was very large. He came near enough to the resort of Hans the Hedgehog to hear the music, and he said to one of his men, “Go at once and find out what that is.”
So the servant went under the tall tree, and he looked up and saw Hans the Hedgehog perched on the rooster, and asked what he was doing up there.
“I’m playing my bagpipes,” was the reply.
Then the servant told him that the king, his master, was not able to find the way out of the forest back to his kingdom. So Hans the Hedgehog descended from the tree with his rooster and went to the king and offered to show him the right way if he would solemnly promise to give him whatever he should meet first in front of his palace.
To this the king agreed, and he gave Hans a written promise to that effect. Then Hans rode on in front and showed him the way, and the king speedily arrived safely in his own kingdom. There was great rejoicing in the palace when he was seen returning, and his only daughter, who was very beautiful, ran to meet him, and she embraced and kissed him, full of delight that her father had come home. She inquired where he had been so long, and he told her how he had lost his way in the forest and might never have gotten back if he had not been helped by a strange creature, half man and half hedgehog, which rode on a rooster and when discovered was in a tree-top seated on the rooster’s back making music with some bagpipes. “My only trouble now,” said the king, “is that I had to promise to give the creature the first thing which met me in front of my palace. I feel very sad, because it is you who first met me.”
“Never mind,” said the princess. “Perhaps he will never come for me; but if he does, for your sake, I will go with him.”
After a time Hans decided to leave the forest and visit the two kings whom he helped to find their way back to their kingdoms. But the first king had given strict orders that if any one came into his domains riding on a rooster and carrying some bagpipes he should be chased away, and, if need be, shot, or hacked to pieces with swords. On no account was he to be allowed to enter the palace. When, therefore, Hans the Hedgehog drew near to the palace, the guards charged on him with their bayonets, but he put spurs to his rooster and flew up over the gate right to one of the king’s windows. He alighted on a balcony and called out that if he was not given what he had been promised, the king and his daughter should be punished for their treachery.
So the frightened king said everything should be done as Hans the Hedgehog wished. He ordered a carriage to be made ready drawn by six white horses, and attended by servants in gorgeous liveries. The princess stepped into it, and Hans the Hedgehog with his rooster and bagpipes took his place beside her. Then they drove away, but they had not gone far out of the city when Hans pulled the princess’s shawl off and pricked her with his quills, saying: “That is your reward for falsehood. Go back home. I will have nothing more to do with you.”
Then the coach returned with her, and Hans the Hedgehog rode away on his rooster to the other kingdom. When he entered the royal city, the guards, in accord with the king’s orders, presented arms, the people cheered, and he was conducted in triumph to the palace. At sight of Hans, the princess was a good deal startled, for he certainly was very peculiar looking, but he told her no harm would befall her and she need not be alarmed. So she made him welcome, and he sat next to her at the royal table, and they ate and drank together.
Late in the evening Hans had a big fire made in his chamber, and at his request four trusty men were ordered to stand on guard at his door. About eleven o’clock, when he went to his room, he said to the guards, “Never in my life have I slept in a bed, and before I get into the one prepared for me here I shall creep out of my hedgehog skin and leave it lying on the floor. Ten minutes from now you four men must come in and throw the skin into the fire, and stand by till it is entirely consumed.”
Hans entered the room, took off his hedgehog skin, and got into bed. Soon afterward the four men came in, threw the skin into the fire, and watched it burn till there was nothing left of it. Hans was now wholly human in his form, but the guards, when they looked at him, were dismayed to find that he was quite black, as though he had been severely scorched. They informed the king, and he at once summoned a physician. The latter, by the use of various salves and ointments, made Hans’ skin white, and the youth became as handsome as he was clever. When the cure was complete the king’s daughter was greatly pleased, and not long afterward they were married, and when the old king died Hans ruled the kingdom in his stead.
