Hans the Hedgehog Fairy Tales

Once upon a time there was a rich farmer who had tons of money and farmland all over his farm. But there was one big flaw in his happy life: he had no children. When he went to the city, he was often ridiculed by fellow farmers who asked him why he had no children.

Finally, he couldn’t stand it anymore and became very angry. When he returned home, he said angrily, “I must have a child, even if it’s a hedgehog.”

　　So his wife gave birth to a strange child, the upper body of a hedgehog, the lower body of a boy. His wife was terrified and complained to him: “Look at you, this is the bad luck you brought.”

　　The farmer said helplessly: “The rice has become porridge, what should we do now? The child must be baptized, but who can be his godfather?”

　　The wife sighed, “What should we name him? Let’s call him Hans the Hedgehog.”

　　After his baptism, the priest said, “He is covered with thorns and cannot sleep in an ordinary bed.”

　　So they spread some hay behind the stove, and Hans the Hedgehog slept on it. His mother could not feed him, because his quills would hurt her.

He lay there behind the stove for eight years, and his father was fed up with him, and thought to himself, “It would be better if he were dead!” But he lay there, and lived very hard.

　　There was going to be a fair in the city, and before the farmer went to the fair, he asked his wife what he should bring back.

　　”We need some meat and some white bread,” she said.

　　Then she asked the maid, and she asked for a pair of slippers and some embroidered stockings.

　　Finally he asked the hedgehog, “What do you want, my hedgehog Hans?”

　　”Dear father,” he said, “I want the bagpipes.”

　　When the father came home, he brought meat and white bread for his wife, and slippers and embroidered stockings for the maid, and then he went behind the stove and gave the bagpipes to Hans the Hedgehog.

　　Hans the Hedgehog took the bagpipe and said, “Dear father, please go to the blacksmith’s shop and nail the shoes on the cockerel. I am going to ride on the cockerel and never come back again.”

　　The father was very happy to hear this, thinking that he was now free of him. He immediately went to have the cock shod, and then Hans the Hedgehog rode on the cock, taking with him some pigs and donkeys, which he intended to feed in the forest.

　　They went into the forest, and the cock took him up to a big tree. He stayed in the tree for many years, taking care of his donkey and pig until they grew up, and his father didn’t know anything about him. During all these years he played his bagpipe in the tree, playing very beautiful music.

　　Once, a king who had lost his way passed by and heard the beautiful music. He was surprised and immediately sent his servant to find out where the sound of the flute came from. He looked around and found a small animal high up in a tree. It looked like a hedgehog riding a cock and playing the flute .

　　So the King ordered his servants to go up to him and ask him why he was sitting there and if he knew the way to his kingdom. Hans the Hedgehog came down from the tree and told the King that he would show him the way if he would write a promise that when he got home he would give him the first thing he saw in the palace grounds. The King thought to himself, “That’s easy. Hans the Hedgehog can’t read, and he won’t understand anything I write.”

　　So the King took pen and ink, and wrote a pledge, and when he had finished, Hans the Hedgehog showed him the way, and the King returned home in peace. His daughter saw him from a distance, and ran to meet him with great joy, and kissed him for joy.

　　Then he remembered Hans the Hedgehog, and told her how he had been forced to promise to give the first thing he saw on his return home to a very strange animal, who rode a cock like a horse and played beautiful music. But he did not write what it wanted, he wrote that it did not deserve what it wanted.

　　The princess was very happy to hear this, and praised her father for what he did, because she had never thought of living with a hedgehog.

　　Hans the Hedgehog looked after his donkey and pigs as usual, and often sat happily in a tree playing his bagpipes.

　　One day, another king passed by with his entourage and messenger. They also lost their way. The forest was so big and dense that they lost their way home. He also heard the music coming from not far away, so he asked the messenger what it was and ordered him to go over and take a look.

The messenger walked under the tree and saw a rooster on the top of the tree. The hedgehog Hans was riding on the rooster’s back. The messenger asked him what he was doing up there.

　　”I’m herding my donkey and my pig, what do you want to do?”

　　The messengers said they were lost and could not get back to their kingdom, so they asked if he could show them the way.

Hans the Hedgehog and the Cock came down from the tree and told the old King that he would tell them the way if he would give him the first thing he saw in front of the palace.

　　The King answered simply, “Very well,” and wrote a letter of guarantee and gave it to Hans the Hedgehog.

　　Then Hans rode ahead on his cock and showed them the way, and the King returned safely to his kingdom. When he reached the court in front of the palace, there was great rejoicing. The King had an only very beautiful daughter, who ran to meet him and threw her arms around his neck, for she was so glad to see her old father back.

　　She asked him where he had been so long, and he told how he had lost his way. Almost been unable to find his way back, but as he was passing through a great forest a strange creature, half hedgehog, half man, who sat high up in a tree and played the bagpipes, showed him the way and helped him out of the forest, but he had promised in return that he would give him the first thing he met in the palace, and now that he had met her first, the King was very sorry.

　　Unexpectedly, the princess said something shocking: For the sake of her beloved father, she was willing to go with Hans when he came.

　　Hans the Hedgehog continued to take good care of his herd of pigs, and the herd grew larger and larger, until the whole forest was full of them.

So Hans the Hedgehog decided not to live in the forest any more, and sent a message to his father, saying that all the pigsties in the village had been cleared out, and that he would drive back a large herd of livestock, and call in all those who could kill pigs.

His father was very embarrassed when he heard about this, for he had always thought that Hans the Hedgehog was dead.

　　Hans the Hedgehog sat comfortably on the cock’s back and drove a group of pigs into the village. He gave the order and the slaughter began. The sound of the knife and axe fell, and the blood and flesh were all over the pigs.

After the matter was finished, Hans the Hedgehog said, “Father, please go to the blacksmith shop and nail the cock’s feet again. This time I will never come back after I leave.”

　　The father clapped the rooster once more, and he felt relieved that Hans the Hedgehog would never come back.

　　Hans the Hedgehog rode on a cock to the first kingdom. The king there ordered that if anyone was seen riding a cock and holding a bagpipe, everyone should raise their bows and arrows, pick up their swords and spears, and block him outside the palace.

So when Hans the Hedgehog arrived at the city gate, they all raised their spears and rushed towards him. He hit the cock with the spur of his shoe, and the cock flew up, flew over the city gate, and landed in front of the king’s window.

　　Hans shouted that the king must keep his promise and give him what belonged to him, otherwise he would kill the king and his daughter. The king was very scared at this time, and he begged his daughter to go with Hans, only in this way could she save her own life and her father’s life.

So she dressed in white, took the coach pulled by six horses given by her father, a group of beautiful maids, gold and treasures, got into the coach, placed Hans, the cock and the bagpipes beside her, and then they set off together.

　　The king thought he would never see his daughter again, but he never expected that not far from the city, Hans the Hedgehog stripped off her beautiful clothes and then stabbed her with his own thorns until her whole body was covered with blood.

　　”This is the reward for your hypocrisy and cunning,” he said. “Go away, I won’t want you.” Then he drove her back, and from then on she was despised all her life.

　　Hans the Hedgehog rode on his cock and played his bagpipes, and went on to the kingdom of the second king, to whom he had once shown the way.

That king gave orders that anyone who looked like Hans the Hedgehog should salute him, keep him safe, sing Hail the King to him, and lead him to the palace.

　　Unexpectedly, the king’s daughter saw him and was frightened by his strange appearance. At this time, she warned herself not to change her mind because she had promised her father.

So she went out to meet Hans the Hedgehog and married him forever. The two walked to the table in the palace, sat side by side, and enjoyed the wine and food.

　　When evening came, they should go to bed, but she was afraid of the thorns on his body. He comforted her and said that she would not be hurt. At the same time, he asked the old king to send four soldiers to guard the door of the bridal chamber and light a fire.

When he walked into the bridal chamber and was about to go to bed, he would crawl out of the hedgehog skin and throw it beside the bed. They should immediately run over, pick up the hedgehog skin and throw it into the fire, and not leave until it was burned out.

　　When the clock struck eleven, he entered the bridal chamber, took off his hedgehog skin and threw it beside the bed. The soldier ran over quickly, picked up the hedgehog skin and threw it into the fire. When the fire burned the skin to ashes, he was saved and lay on the bed in human form, his whole body black as if he had been burned by fire.

The king sent the royal doctor to scrub and apply expensive ointment all over his body. Soon, his skin turned white and he became a handsome young man.

　　The king’s daughter was very happy to see him like this. The next morning they got up happily, ate and drank together, and held the wedding again in a solemn atmosphere. Hedgehog Hans inherited the old king’s throne.

　　A few years later, he took his wife to see his father and told him that he was his son. But his father repeatedly said that he had no son, saying that he had once had one, who was born like a hedgehog with thorns, and left long ago and no one knew where he went.

　　Hans proved who he was, and the old father was delighted and followed him to his kingdom.