by Jacob Grimm
“It’s for the apprentice,” she said.
“Then he must have the mill,” said the miller.
But the princess said that he could keep his mill, and he could have the horse, too. She took her faithful Hans by the hand, led him into the coach, and drove off with him. First they went to the small cottage that he had built for her with the silver tools, but it had become a huge castle, and everything in it was made of silver and gold. Afterward she married him, and he was rich, so rich that he had more than enough money for the rest of his life.
So remember, don’t ever let anyone tell you that simpletons can never amount to anything.
21
THE CROWS
An honest and diligent soldier had earned and saved some money because he had been diligent and had not squandered his earnings in the taverns as the other soldiers had. It so happened that two of his comrades were quite devious and wanted to get at his money, and so they pretended to be very friendly with him. One day they said to him, “Listen, why should we stay here in this city? We’re locked in as though we were prisoners. Besides, someone such as you could really earn something decent and live happily if you were in your own country.”
They kept talking to him like this until finally he agreed to leave with them. However, the other two only intended to steal his money. After they had gone part of the way, the two soldiers said, “We must turn right over there if we want to get to the border.”
“No,” he replied. “That leads straight back into the city. We’ve got to keep to our left.”
“What!” the other two exclaimed. “You always want to have the last word in everything!”
Then they rushed at him and began hitting him until he fell down, and they took the money out of his pocket. But that wasn’t enough. They poked his eyes out, dragged him to the gallows, and tied him up tightly. After that they left him behind and went back to the city with his stolen money.
The poor blind man wasn’t aware that he had been left in such a terrible place. He groped about and could feel that he was sitting beneath a beam of wood. Since he thought it was a cross, he said, “Well, at least it was good of them to tie me up under a cross. God is with me.” And he began praying to God. When it was almost night, he heard the fluttering of wings, which turned out to be three crows landing on the beam. After that he heard one of them say, “Sister, what good news have you brought? Oh, if only the people knew what we know! The king’s daughter is sick, and the old king has promised to give her to anyone who can cure her. But no one can do it, for she’ll only get well again if the toad in the pond over there is burned to ashes and she drinks the ashes with some water.”
Then the second crow said, “Oh, if only the people knew what we know! A dew will fall from heaven tonight, and it will have such miraculous and healing powers that the blind will be able to regain their sight if they rub their eyes with it.”
Finally, the third crow said, “Oh, if only the people knew what we know! The toad can only help one person, and the dew can only help a few. Meanwhile, there’s a great emergency in the city. All the wells are dried out, and nobody knows that if the people removed the square stone in the marketplace and dug beneath that spot, the most beautiful water would gush forth.”
After the three crows had finished talking, the blind man heard the fluttering of wings again, and they flew away. Gradually he was able to untie himself, and then he stooped down, pulled out a few blades of grass, and rubbed his eyes with the dew that had fallen on them. All at once he regained his sight. The moon and the stars were in the sky, and he saw that he was standing next to the gallows. After that he looked for some earthenware to gather as much of the precious dew as he could find. When this was done, he went to the pond, dug into the water, grabbed hold of the toad, and burned it to ashes. Next he carried the ashes to the king’s court and had the king’s daughter take some. When she was restored to health, he demanded her for his wife as the king had promised. However, the king didn’t take a liking to him because he was dressed so poorly, and he said that whoever wanted to have his daughter would first have to provide water for the city. In this way the king hoped to get rid of him. But the soldier went to the city and ordered the people to remove the square stone from the marketplace and to dig beneath the spot for water. No sooner had they dug than they hit upon a spring, and a mighty jet of water shot forth. Now the king could no longer refuse to give his daughter to him. After the wedding, they lived together in a happy marriage.
One day, when the soldier was taking a walk through the fields, he met his former comrades who had treated him so disgracefully. They didn’t recognize him, but he knew them right away and went up to them.
“Look,” he said. “I’m your former comrade whose eyes you poked out so cruelly. But fortunately the dear Lord has allowed me to prosper.”
They fell to his feet and begged for mercy. Since he had a kind heart, he took pity on them and brought them back to his palace. He gave them food and clothes and afterward told them what had happened and how he had gained such honor. When the two heard all that, they were restless and eager to spend a night beneath the gallows to see if they could perhaps hear something good as well. So they went and sat under the gallows. Soon they heard the fluttering of wings above their heads, and the three crows arrived. One of them said to the others, “Listen, sisters, someone must have overheard us, for the king’s daughter is healthy, the toad is gone from the pond, a blind man has regained his sight, and they’ve dug a fresh well in the city. Come, let’s look for the eavesdropper and punish him.”
When they swooped down from the beam, they found the two soldiers, and before the men could defend themselves, the crows sat on their heads and hacked out their eyes, and they kept hacking their faces until they were dead and then left them lying beneath the gallows. After a few days, when the soldiers had not returned, their former comrade thought, “Where could the two be wandering about?” He went out to look for them but found nothing except their bones, which he took away from the gallows and buried in a grave.
22
HANS MY HEDGEHOG
Once there was a rich farmer, and he and his wife didn’t have any children. When he went into town with the other farmers, they often made fun of him and asked why he had no children. One day he finally got angry, and when he went home, he said, “I want to have a child, even if it’s a hedgehog.”
Then his wife gave birth to a child whose upper half was hedgehog and bottom half, human. When she saw the child, she was horrified and said, “You see how you cursed us!”
“There’s nothing we can do about it now,” said her husband. “The boy must be christened, but we’ll never find a godfather for him.”
“There’s only one name I can think of for him,” said the wife, “and that’s Hans My Hedgehog.”
After he was christened, the pastor said, “He won’t be able to sleep in a regular bed because of his quills.”
Consequently, they gathered together some straw, spread it on the floor behind the stove, and laid Hans My Hedgehog on it. His mother couldn’t nurse him because he might have stuck her with his quills. So he lay behind the stove for eight years, and eventually his father got tired of him and wished he might die, but he didn’t die. He just kept lying there.
One day there was a fair in town, and the farmer decided to go to it and asked his wife if she wanted anything.
“Some meat and a few rolls,” she said. “That’s all we need for the house.”
Then he asked the maid, and she wanted a pair of slippers and hand-sewn stockings. Finally, he went and asked his son, “Hans My Hedgehog, what would you like to have?”
“Father,” he said, “just bring me back some bagpipes.”
When the farmer returned home, he gave his wife the meat and rolls he had bought. Then he handed the maid the slippers and hand-sewn stockings. Finally, he went behind the stove and gave Hans My Hedgehog his bagpipes. Upon receiving the bagpipes, he said, “Father, please go
to the blacksmith and have him shoe my rooster. Then I’ll ride away and never come back.”
The father was happy at the idea of getting rid of him and had his rooster shod. When the rooster was ready, Hans My Hedgehog mounted it and rode away, taking some donkeys and pigs with him, which he wanted to tend out in the forest. Once he reached the forest, he had the rooster fly him up into a tall tree, where he sat and tended the donkeys and pigs. Indeed, he sat there for many years until the herd was very large, and he never sent word to his father about his whereabouts.
As he sat in the tree he played his bagpipes and made some beautiful music. One day a king, who had lost his way in the forest, came riding by. When he heard the music, he was so astonished that he sent his servant to look around and see where the music was coming from. The servant looked around, but all he could see was a small animal, sitting up in a tree, that seemed to be a rooster with a hedgehog sitting on top of it playing music. The king told the servant to ask the creature why he was sitting there and whether he knew the way back to the king’s country. Hans My Hedgehog climbed down from the tree and said he would show him the way if the king would promise in writing to give him the first thing he met at the castle courtyard when he returned home.
“No danger in that,” thought the king. “Hans My Hedgehog can’t understand writing, so I can write whatever I want.” The king took pen and ink and wrote something down, and after he had done this, Hans My Hedgehog showed him the way, and the king arrived home safely. When his daughter saw him coming from afar, she was so overcome with joy that she ran out to meet him and kissed him. Then he thought of Hans My Hedgehog and explained to her what had happened: he had been forced to make a promise in writing to a strange creature who had demanded to have the first thing the king met upon returning home. This creature had been sitting on a rooster as though it were a horse and had been playing beautiful music. The king told his daughter that he had, however, written down that Hans My Hedgehog was not to get what he demanded.
Anyway, it made no difference because he couldn’t read. The princess was happy to hear that and said it was a good thing since she would never have gone with him anyway.
Hans My Hedgehog continued tending his donkeys and pigs. He was always cheerful sitting there perched in his tree, playing his bagpipes. Now it happened that another king came driving by with his servants and couriers. He too had lost his way, and the forest was so large that he didn’t know how to get back home. He too heard the beautiful music from afar and told a courier to go and see what it was. So the courier went to the tree and saw the rooster sitting there with Hans My Hedgehog on its back, and the courier asked him what he was doing up there.
“I’m tending my donkeys and pigs, but what can I do for you?”
The courier asked him whether he could show them the way out of the forest since they were lost and couldn’t make it back to their kingdom. Hans My Hedgehog climbed down from the tree with his rooster and told the old king that he would show him the way if the king would give him the first thing that met him when he returned home to his royal castle. The king agreed and put it in writing that Hans My Hedgehog was to have what he demanded. When that was done, Hans My Hedgehog rode ahead of him on the rooster and showed the way. The king reached his kingdom safely, and as he entered the castle courtyard, there was great rejoicing. His only daughter, who was very beautiful, ran toward him and embraced him. She was very happy to see her old father again and asked him what in the world had kept him so long. He told her he had lost his way and would not have made it back at all had it not been for a strange creature, half human, half hedgehog, who had helped him find his way out of the forest. The creature had been sitting astride a rooster up in a tall tree and had been playing beautiful music. In return for his aid the king had promised to give him the first thing that met him at the castle courtyard. Now he was very sorry that it had happened to be her. However, out of love for her old father, the princess promised him that she would go with Hans My Hedgehog whenever he came.
In the meantime, Hans My Hedgehog kept tending his pigs, and the pigs had more pigs, and eventually there were so many that the entire forest was full of them. Then Hans My Hedgehog sent word to his father to clear out all the pigsties in the village, for he was coming with such a huge herd of pigs that anyone who wanted to slaughter one could have his pick. On hearing this, his father was distressed, for he had believed that Hans My Hedgehog had long been dead. Nevertheless, Hans My Hedgehog mounted his rooster, drove his pigs ahead of him into the village, and ordered the slaughtering to begin. Whew! There was such chopping and butchering that the noise could be heard for miles around. Afterward Hans My Hedgehog said, “Father, have the blacksmith shoe my rooster one more time. Then I’ll ride away and never return as long as I live.”
So his father had the rooster shod and was glad that Hans My Hedgehog didn’t want to return again. Now, when Hans My Hedgehog departed, he set out for the country of the first king whom he had helped, but the king had given his men orders to stop anyone who was riding on a rooster and playing bagpipes from entering the castle. If necessary, they were to use their guns, spears, or swords to stop him. So when Hans My Hedgehog came riding, they attacked him with their bayonets, but he put spurs to his rooster, and the bird rose in the air, flew over the gate, and landed on the ledge of the king’s window. He called to the king to keep his promise and give him the princess; otherwise, he would take his life and his daughter’s as well. Then the king implored his daughter with the best words he could use to go with Hans My Hedgehog to save their lives. So she dressed herself all in white, and her father gave her a coach with six horses, splendid servants, money, and property. She got into the coach and was followed by Hans My Hedgehog, with his bagpipes and his rooster by his side. They then said good-bye and drove away, and the king thought that was the last be would ever see of his daughter, but things happened much differently from how he thought they would. When they had gone a little way from the city, Hans My Hedgehog took off the princess’s beautiful clothes and stuck her with his quills until she was covered with blood.
“This is what you get for being so deceitful!” he said. “Go away. I don’t want you.”
Then he chased her home, and she lived in disgrace for the rest of her life.
Meanwhile, Hans My Hedgehog took his bagpipes, got on his rooster, and continued his journey toward the second kingdom, which belonged to the other king whom he had led out of the forest. However, this king had ordered his men to present arms, to allow Hans My Hedgehog to enter, and to greet him by shouting “Long may he live!” After that they were to escort him into the royal palace. When the king’s daughter saw him, she was frightened because he looked so strange. However, she thought there was nothing she could do, for she had promised her father to go with him. Therefore, she welcomed Hans My Hedgehog and had to go with him to the royal table, where she sat next to him. Then they ate and drank. When evening came and it was time to go to bed, she was very much afraid of his quills, but he said not to fear because he had no intention of harming her. Then he told the old king to have four men stand watch in front of the bedroom door and to make a big fire, for when he got inside and prepared to go to bed, he would slip out of his hedgehog’s skin and leave it in front of the bed. The men were then to rush in quickly, throw the skin on the fire, and stand there until it was completely extinguished.
When the clock struck eleven, he went into the room, stripped off the hedgehog’s skin, and left it on the floor in front of the bed. Right after this the men came, picked up the skin, and threw it into the fire. When the fire had consumed it, he was set free and lay in bed just like a human being, but he was pitch black, as if he had been burned. The king sent for his doctor, who rubbed him with special ointments and balms, and gradually, he became white and turned into a handsome young man. When the princess saw that, she was very happy. The next morning they got up in a joyful mood and had a fine meal. Then the wedding was held, and Hans My Hedgehog was g
iven the kingdom by the old king.
After some years had passed, the young king took his wife and drove to visit his father, and he told the old man that he was his son. The father, however, said he had no son, though he once had one, but he had been born with quills like a hedgehog and had gone off into the world. Then Hans My Hedgehog revealed himself to his father, and the old man rejoiced and went back with him to his kingdom.
23
THE LITTLE SHROUD
A mother had a little boy of seven who was handsome, and she loved him more than anything in the world. But, all of a sudden, he died. The mother couldn’t stop grieving and wept day and night. Not long after the boy was buried, he began to appear at night in places where he had formerly sat and played when he had been alive. Then, whenever his mother wept, he would weep too, and when morning came, he would disappear. Since his mother wouldn’t stop her weeping, he came one night clad in the little white shroud that he had worn in his coffin and with a wreath on his head. He sat down at her feet on the bed and said, “Oh, Mother, please stop weeping. Otherwise, I won’t be able to get to sleep in my coffin. My little shroud is all wet from the tears you’ve been shedding on it.”
Upon hearing this, his mother became frightened and stopped weeping. The next night, the child came again with a light in his hand and said, “You see, now my shroud is almost dry, and I can rest in my grave.”
Then his mother commended her grief to the dear Lord and bore it silently and patiently. The child never returned after that but slept in his little bed beneath the ground.
