But when the King's daughter saw him she was terrified, for he looked
quite too strange. She remembered however, that she could not change
her mind, for she had given her promise to her father. So Hans the
Hedgehog was welcomed by her, and married to her, and had to go with
her to the royal table, and she seated herself by his side, and they
ate 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 was
to appoint four men to watch by the door of the chamber, and light a
great 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 by
the bedside, and that the men were to run nimbly to it, throw it in the
fire, 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 it
lying by the bed. Then came the men and fetched it swiftly, and threw
it 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 had
been burnt. The King sent for his physician who washed him with precious
salves, and anointed him, and he became white, and was a handsome young
man. When the King's daughter saw that she was glad, and the next morning
they arose joyfully, ate and drank, and then the marriage was properly
solemnized, 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 no
son he had never had but one, and he had been born like a hedgehog with
spikes, 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.


109 The Shroud

There was once a mother who had a little boy of seven years old, who was
so handsome and lovable that no one could look at him without liking him,
and she herself worshipped him above everything in the world. Now it
so happened that he suddenly became ill, and God took him to himself;
and for this the mother could not be comforted, and wept both day and
night. But soon afterwards, when the child had been buried, it appeared by
night in the places where it had sat and played during its life, and if
the mother wept, it wept also, and when morning came it disappeared. As,
however, the mother would not stop crying, it came one night, in the
little white shroud in which it had been laid in its coffin, and with
its wreath of flowers round its head, and stood on the bed at her feet,
and said, "Oh, mother, do stop crying, or I shall never fall asleep in
my coffin, for my shroud will not dry because of all thy tears, which
fall upon it." The mother was afraid when she heard that, and wept no
more. The next night the child came again, and held a little light in
its hand, and said, "Look, mother, my shroud is nearly dry, and I can
rest in my grave." Then the mother gave her sorrow into God's keeping,
and bore it quietly and patiently, and the child came no more, but slept
in its little bed beneath the earth.


110 The Jew Among Thorns

There was once a rich man, who had a servant who served him diligently
and honestly: He was every morning the first out of bed, and the last to
go to rest at night; and, whenever there was a difficult job to be done,
which nobody cared to undertake, he was always the first to set himself
to it. Moreover, he never complained, but was contented with everything,
and always merry.

When a year was ended, his master gave him no wages, for he said to
himself, "That is the cleverest way; for I shall save something, and
he will not go away, but stay quietly in my service." The servant said
nothing, but did his work the second year as he had done it the first;
and when at the end of this, likewise, he received no wages, he made
himself happy, and still stayed on.

When the third year also was past, the master considered, put his hand
in his pocket, but pulled nothing out. Then at last the servant said,
"Master, for three years I have served you honestly, be so good as to
give me what I ought to have, for I wish to leave, and look about me a
little more in the world."

"Yes, my good fellow," answered the old miser; "you have served me
industriously, and, therefore, you shall be cheerfully rewarded;" And
he put his hand into his pocket, but counted out only three farthings,
saying, "There, you have a farthing for each year; that is large and
liberal pay, such as you would have received from few masters."

The honest servant, who understood little about money, put his fortune
into his pocket, and thought, "Ah! now that I have my purse full, why need
I trouble and plague myself any longer with hard work!" So on he went,
up hill and down dale; and sang and jumped to his heart's content. Now
it came to pass that as he was going by a thicket a little man stepped
out, and called to him, "Whither away, merry brother? I see you do
not carry many cares." "Why should I be sad?" answered the servant;
"I have enough; three years' wages are jingling in my pocket." "How
much is your treasure?" the dwarf asked him. "How much? Three farthings
sterling, all told." "Look here," said the dwarf, "I am a poor needy man,
give me your three farthings; I can work no longer, but you are young,
and can easily earn your bread."

And as the servant had a good heart, and felt pity for the old man, he
gave him the three farthings, saying, "Take them in the name of Heaven,
I shall not be any the worse for it."

Then the little man said, "As I see you have a good heart I grant you
three wishes, one for each farthing, they shall all be fulfilled."

"Aha?" said the servant, "you are one of those who can work wonders! Well,
then, if it is to be so, I wish, first, for a gun, which shall hit
everything that I aim at; secondly, for a fiddle, which when I play
on it, shall compel all who hear it to dance; thirdly, that if I ask a
favor of any one he shall not be able to refuse it."

"All that shall you have," said the dwarf; and put his hand into the bush,
and only think, there lay a fiddle and gun, all ready, just as if they
had been ordered. These he gave to the servant, and then said to him,
"Whatever you may ask at any time, no man in the world shall be able to
deny you."

"Heart alive! What can one desire more?" said the servant to himself,
and went merrily onwards. Soon afterwards he met a Jew with a long
goat's-beard, who was standing listening to the song of a bird which
was sitting up at the top of a tree. "Good heavens," he was exclaiming,
"that such a small creature should have such a fearfully loud voice! If
it were but mine! If only someone would sprinkle some salt upon its tail!"

"If that is all," said the servant, "the bird shall soon be down here;"
And taking aim he pulled the trigger, and down fell the bird into the
thorn-bushes. "Go, you rogue," he said to the Jew, "and fetch the bird
out for yourself!"

"Oh!" said the Jew, "leave out the rogue, my master, and I will do it
at once. I will get the bird out for myself, as you really have hit
it." Then he lay down on the ground, and began to crawl into the thicket.

When he was fast among the thorns, the good servant's humor so tempted
him that he took up his fiddle and began to play. In a moment the Jew's
legs began to move, and to jump into the air, and the more the servant
fiddled the better went the dance. But the thorns tore his shabby coat
from him, combed his beard, and pricked and plucked him all over the
body. "Oh dear," cried the Jew, "what do I want with your fiddling? Leave
the fiddle alone, master; I do not want to dance."

But the servant did not listen to him, and thought, "You have fleeced
people often enough, now the thorn-bushes shall do the same to you;"
and he began to play over again, so that the Jew had to jump higher
than ever, and scraps of his coat were left hanging on the thorns. "Oh,
woe's me! cried the Jew; I will give the gentleman whatsoever he asks
if only he leaves off fiddling a purse full of gold." "If you are so
liberal," said the servant, "I will stop my music; but this I must say
to your credit, that you dance to it so well that it is quite an art;"
and having taken the purse he went his way.

The Jew stood still and watched the servant quietly until he was far
off and out of sight, and then he screamed out with all his might,
"You miserable musician, you beer-house fiddler! wait till I catch
you alone, I will hunt you till the soles of your shoes fall off! You
ragamuffin! just put five farthings in your mouth, and then you may be
worth three halfpence!" and went on abusing him as fast as he could
speak. As soon as he had refreshed himself a little in this way, and
got his breath again, he ran into the town to the justice.

"My lord judge," he said, "I have come to make a complaint; see how
a rascal has robbed and ill-treated me on the public highway! a stone
on the ground might pity me; my clothes all torn, my body pricked and
scratched, my little all gone with my purse, good ducats, each piece
better than the last; for God's sake let the man be thrown into prison!"

"Was it a soldier," said the judge, "who cut you thus with his
sabre?" "Nothing of the sort!" said the Jew; "it was no sword that he had,
but a gun hanging at his back, and a fiddle at his neck; the wretch may
easily be known."

So the judge sent his people out after the man, and they found the good
servant, who had been going quite slowly along, and they found, too,
the purse with the money upon him. As soon as he was taken before the
judge he said, "I did not touch the Jew, nor take his money; he gave it
to me of his own free will, that I might leave off fiddling because he
could not bear my music." "Heaven defend us!" cried the Jew, "his lies
are as thick as flies upon the wall."

But the judge also did not believe his tale, and said, "This is a bad
defence, no Jew would do that." And because he had committed robbery on
the public highway, he sentenced the good servant to be hanged. As he was
being led away the Jew again screamed after him, "You vagabond! you dog
of a fiddler! now you are going to receive your well-earned reward!" The
servant walked quietly with the hangman up the ladder, but upon the last
step he turned round and said to the judge, "Grant me just one request
before I die."

"Yes, if you do not ask your life," said the judge. "I do not ask for
life," answered the servant, "but as a last favor let me play once more
upon my fiddle." The Jew raised a great cry of "Murder! murder! for
goodness' sake do not allow it! Do not allow it!" But the judge said,
"Why should I not let him have this short pleasure? it has been granted
to him, and he shall have it." However, he could not have refused on
account of the gift which had been bestowed on the servant.

Then the Jew cried, "Oh! woe's me! tie me, tie me fast!" while the good
servant took his fiddle from his neck, and made ready. As he gave the
first scrape, they all began to quiver and shake, the judge, his clerk,
and the hangman and his men, and the cord fell out of the hand of the
one who was going to tie the Jew fast. At the second scrape all raised
their legs, and the hangman let go his hold of the good servant, and
made himself ready to dance. At the third scrape they all leaped up
and began to dance; the judge and the Jew being the best at jumping.
Soon all who had gathered in the market-place out of curiosity were
dancing with them; old and young, fat and lean, one with another. The
dogs, likewise, which had run there got up on their hind legs and capered
about; and the longer he played, the higher sprang the dancers, so that
they knocked against each other's heads, and began to shriek terribly.

At length the judge cried, quite out of breath, "I will give you your life
if you will only stop fiddling." The good servant thereupon had compassion,
took his fiddle and hung it round his neck again, and stepped down the
ladder. Then he went up to the Jew, who was lying upon the ground panting
for breath, and said, "You rascal, now confess, whence you got the money,
or I will take my fiddle and begin to play again." "I stole it, I stole
it!" cried he; "but you have honestly earned it." So the judge had the
Jew taken to the gallows and hanged as a thief.


111 The Skilful Huntsman

THERE was once a young fellow who had learnt the trade of locksmith,
and told his father he would now go out into the world and seek his
fortune. "Very well," said the father, "I am quite content with that,"
and gave him some money for his journey. So he travelled about and looked
for work. After a time he resolved not to follow the trade of locksmith
any more, for he no longer liked it, but he took a fancy for hunting. Then
there met him in his rambles a huntsman dressed in green, who asked whence
he came and whither he was going? The youth said he was a locksmith's
apprentice, but that the trade no longer pleased him, and he had a liking
for huntsmanship, would he teach it to him? "Oh, yes," said the huntsman,
"if thou wilt go with me." Then the young fellow went with him, bound
himself to him for some years, and learnt the art of hunting. After this
he wished to try his luck elsewhere, and the huntsman gave him nothing
in the way of payment but an air-gun, which had, however, this property,
that it hit its mark without fail whenever he shot with it. Then he set
out and found himself in a very large forest, which he could not get to
the end of in one day. When evening came he seated himself in a high tree
in order to escape from the wild beasts. Towards midnight, it seemed to
him as if a tiny little light glimmered in the distance. Then he looked
down through the branches towards it, and kept well in his mind where
it was. But in the first place he took off his hat and threw it down in
the direction of the light, so that he might go to the hat as a mark when
he had descended. Then he got down and went to his hat, put it on again
and went straight forwards. The farther he went, the larger the light
grew, and when he got close to it he saw that it was an enormous fire, and
that three giants were sitting by it, who had an ox on the spit, and were
roasting it. Presently one of them said, "I must just taste if the meat
will soon be fit to eat," and pulled a piece off, and was about to put it
in his mouth when the huntsman shot it out of his hand. "Well, really,"
said the giant, "if the wind has not blown the bit out of my hand!" and
helped himself to another. But when he was just about to bite into it,
the huntsman again shot it away from him. On this the giant gave the one
who was sitting next him a box on the ear, and cried angrily, "Why art
thou snatching my piece away from me?" "I have not snatched it away,"
said the other, "a sharpshooter must have shot it away from thee." The
giant took another piece, but could not, however, keep it in his hand,
for the huntsman shot it out. Then the giant said, "That must be a good
shot to shoot the bit out of one's very mouth, such an one would be useful
to us." And he cried aloud, "Come here, thou sharpshooter, seat thyself
at the fire beside us and eat thy fill, we will not hurt thee; but if
thou wilt not come, and we have to bring thee by force, thou art a lost
man!" On this the youth went up to them and told them he was a skilled
huntsman, and that whatever he aimed at with his gun, he was certain to
hit. Then they said if he would go with them he should be well treated,
and they told him that outside the forest there was a great lake, behind
which stood a tower, and in the tower was imprisoned a lovely princess,
whom they wished very much to carry off. "Yes," said he, "I will soon
get her for you." Then they added, "But there is still something else,
there is a tiny little dog, which begins to bark directly any one goes
near, and as soon as it barks every one in the royal palace wakens up,
and for this reason we cannot get there; canst thou undertake to shoot
it dead?" "Yes," said he, "that will be a little bit of fun for me."
After this he got into a boat and rowed over the lake, and as soon as he
landed, the little dog came running out, and was about to bark, but the
huntsman took his air-gun and shot it dead. When the giants saw that, they
rejoiced, and thought they already had the King's daughter safe, but the
huntsman wished first to see how matters stood, and told them that they
must stay outside until he called them. Then he went into the castle,
and all was perfectly quiet within, and every one was asleep. When he
opened the door of the first room, a sword was hanging on the wall which
was made of pure silver, and there was a golden star on it, and the name
of the King, and on a table near it lay a sealed letter which he broke
open, and inside it was written that whosoever had the sword could kill
everything which opposed him. So he took the sword from the wall, hung it
at his side and went onwards: then he entered the room where the King's
daughter was lying sleeping, and she was so beautiful that he stood
still and, holding his breath, looked at her. He thought to himself,
"How can I give an innocent maiden into the power of the wild giants,
who have evil in their minds?" He looked about further, and under the
bed stood a pair of slippers, on the right one was her father's name with
a star, and on the left her own name with a star. She wore also a great
neck-kerchief of silk embroidered with gold, and on the right side was
her father's name, and on the left her own, all in golden letters. Then
the huntsman took a pair of scissors and cut the right corner off, and
put it in his knapsack, and then he also took the right slipper with the
King's name, and thrust that in. Now the maiden still lay sleeping, and
she was quite sewn into her night-dress, and he cut a morsel from this
also, and thrust it in with the rest, but he did all without touching
her. Then he went forth and left her lying asleep undisturbed, and
when he came to the gate again, the giants were still standing outside
waiting for him, and expecting that he was bringing the princess. But
he cried to them that they were to come in, for the maiden was already
in their power, that he could not open the gate to them, but there was
a hole through which they must creep. Then the first approached, and
the huntsman wound the giant's hair round his hand, pulled the head in,
and cut it off at one stroke with his sword, and then drew the rest of
him in. He called to the second and cut his head off likewise, and then
he killed the third also, and he was well pleased that he had freed the
beautiful maiden from her enemies, and he cut out their tongues and put
them in his knapsack. Then thought he, "I will go home to my father and
let him see what I have already done, and afterwards I will travel about
the world; the luck which God is pleased to grant me will easily find me."

But when the King in the castle awoke, he saw the three giants lying
there dead. So he went into the sleeping-room of his daughter, awoke her,
and asked who could have killed the giants? Then said she, "Dear father,
I know not, I have been asleep." But when she arose and would have put
on her slippers, the right one was gone, and when she looked at her
neck-kerchief it was cut, and the right corner was missing, and when she
looked at her night-dress a piece was cut out of it. The King summoned
his whole court together, soldiers and every one else who was there, and
asked who had set his daughter at liberty, and killed the giants? Now
it happened that he had a captain, who was one-eyed and a hideous man,
and he said that he had done it. Then the old King said that as he had
accomplished this, he should marry his daughter. But the maiden said,
"Rather than marry him, dear father, I will go away into the world as far
as my legs can carry me." But the King said that if she would not marry
him she should take off her royal garments and wear peasant's clothing,
and go forth, and that she should go to a potter, and begin a trade in
earthen vessels. So she put off her royal apparel, and went to a potter
and borrowed crockery enough for a stall, and she promised him also that
if she had sold it by the evening, she would pay for it. Then the King
said she was to seat herself in a corner with it and sell it, and he
arranged with some peasants to drive over it with their carts, so that
everything should be broken into a thousand pieces. When therefore the
King's daughter had placed her stall in the street, by came the carts,
and broke all she had into tiny fragments. She began to weep and said,
"Alas, how shall I ever pay for the pots now?" The King had, however,
wished by this to force her to marry the captain; but instead of that,
she again went to the potter, and asked him if he would lend to her once
more. He said, "No," she must first pay for the things she had already
had. Then she went to her father and cried and lamented, and said she
would go forth into the world. Then said he, "I will have a little hut
built for thee in the forest outside, and in it thou shalt stay all
thy life long and cook for every one, but thou shalt take no money for
it." When the hut was ready, a sign was hung on the door whereon was
written, "To-day given, to-morrow sold." There she remained a long
time, and it was rumored about the world that a maiden was there who
cooked without asking for payment, and that this was set forth on a sign
outside her door. The huntsman heard it likewise, and thought to himself,
"That would suit thee. Thou art poor, and hast no money." So he took his
air-gun and his knapsack, wherein all the things which he had formerly
carried away with him from the castle as tokens of his truthfulness were
still lying, and went into the forest, and found the hut with the sign,
"To-day given, to-morrow sold." He had put on the sword with which he
had cut off the heads of the three giants, and thus entered the hut,
and ordered something to eat to be given to him. He was charmed with
the beautiful maiden, who was indeed as lovely as any picture. She
asked him whence he came and whither he was going, and he said, "I am
roaming about the world." Then she asked him where he had got the sword,
for that truly her father's name was on it. He asked her if she were
the King's daughter. "Yes," answered she. "With this sword," said he,
"did I cut off the heads of three giants." And he took their tongues out
of his knapsack in proof. Then he also showed her the slipper, and the
corner of the neck-kerchief, and the bit of the night-dress. Hereupon she
was overjoyed, and said that he was the one who had delivered her. On
this they went together to the old King, and fetched him to the hut,
and she led him into her room, and told him that the huntsman was the
man who had really set her free from the giants. And when the aged King
saw all the proofs of this, he could no longer doubt, and said that he
was very glad he knew how everything had happened, and that the huntsman
should have her to wife, on which the maiden was glad at heart. Then she
dressed the huntsman as if he were a foreign lord, and the King ordered
a feast to be prepared. When they went to table, the captain sat on the
left side of the King's daughter, but the huntsman was on the right, and
the captain thought he was a foreign lord who had come on a visit. When
they had eaten and drunk, the old King said to the captain that he would
set before him something which he must guess. "Supposing any one said
that he had killed the three giants and he were asked where the giants'
tongues were, and he were forced to go and look, and there were none in
their heads, how could that happen?" The captain said, "Then they cannot
have had any." "Not so," said the King. "Every animal has a tongue,"
and then he likewise asked what any one would deserve who made such an
answer? The captain replied, "He ought to be torn in pieces." Then the
King said he had pronounced his own sentence, and the captain was put
in prison and then torn in four pieces; but the King's daughter was
married to the huntsman. After this he brought his father and mother,
and they lived with their son in happiness, and after the death of the
old King he received the kingdom.


112 The Flail From Heaven

A countryman was once going out to plough with a pair of oxen. When he got