"Hans my Hedgehog.” The Juniper Tree, and other Tales from Grimm, Brothers Grimm, translated by Lore Segal, Randall Jarrell, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1973, pp. 11-22.

Tale Summary

There was once upon a time a peasant who wished very badly for a child, so badly he would even be happy with a hedgehog. His wife told him that he had cursed them as she bore a child that was hedgehog above and boy below, who was christened as Hans my Hedgehog, and given a straw bed behind the stove. He stayed there for eight years, and all the while the man grew resentful and wished his son would die. One day there was a fair in town and the man asked Hans what he would like brought home from it. He asked for some bagpipes, which he was given, and then requested that his father go to the smithy to shoe his cockerel so that he could ride away from the house and never return. The man was happy with the opportunity to get rid of the boy, and so did as he asked. Hans my Hedgehog took off on the rooster, taking with him pigs and donkeys to tend in the forest. One day, after spending many years there, he met a king who was lost in the woods, and agreed to show him the way back to the castle if only he promised to give him the first thing that came to meet him when he arrived home there. The king, knowing that Hans my Hedgehog could not read, scribbled on a piece of paper that he would not give it to him. When they reached the castle, the king’s daughter ran out to meet them, and he explained to her what had happened and what he wrote on the piece of paper, which she was glad about because she would not go anyway. Hans my Hedgehog continued to tend his animals until one day another king became lost in the woods and asked for directions. He asked this king to promise the same thing, and the agreement was made on paper. When he arrived home his only daughter, a beautiful princess, ran out to meet him, and learned of the agreement he had made, and consented for her father’s sake. Hans my Hedgehog sent word to his father to have all the stables in the village cleared so that he could bring his animals there to be butchered. He was not happy to hear that his son was still alive, but agreed to this and to shod his rooster once more. Hans my Hedgehog made his way to the first kingdom, where everyone was told to kill him on sight, and flew over the mob straight into the king’s window. He demanded his daughter or else he would kill them both. The king consented and Hans my Hedgehog took his bride on a carriage into the woods, where he stripped off her clothes and bloodied her with his spikes for her treachery. He sent her back home because he did not want her, and she lived in shame. He traveled to the second kingdom where he was given a warm welcome and the hand of the princess in marriage. After they were wed, she was afraid to go to bed with him because of his spikes, but he promised she would not be hurt. He had a fire made in the room and requested that four men stand guard, and explained that he would crawl out of his hedgehog skin and the men must rush in to throw it in the fire. They did this when the clock struck eleven, and the curse was broken but his skin was dark and burnt. A physician was sent for who washed him with salves and revealed a beautiful young gentleman. Everyone celebrated the wedding in earnest and Hans my Hedgehog received the entire kingdom from the old king. Several years later, he took his wife to visit his father and revealed himself to him. Happily, they all went back to live in the kingdom forever.