Then the huntsman lay down, and slept off his fatigue. When he awoke next morning, he broke off one head of the bad cabbages and another of the good ones, and thought to himself, “This shall help me to get my own again and punish treachery.”
Then he took the cabbages with him, climbed over the wall, and went forth to seek for the castle of his sweetheart.
After wandering about for a couple of days, he was lucky enough to find it again. He dyed his face brown, so that his own mother would not have known him; and begged for shelter. “I am so tired,” said he, “that I can go no further.”
The Witch asked, “Who are you, Countryman, and what is your business?”
Said he, “I have been so fortunate as to find the most wonderful salad which grows under the sun, and am carrying it about with me.”
When the Old Woman heard of the exquisite salad, she was greedy, and said, “Dear Countryman, let me just taste this wonderful salad.”
“Why not?” answered he, “I have brought two heads with me, and will give you one of them,” and he opened his pouch and handed her the bad cabbage.
The Witch suspected nothing amiss, and her mouth watered so for this new dish, that she herself went into the kitchen and prepared it. When it was ready she could not wait until it was set on the table, but took a couple of leaves at once, and put them in her mouth. Hardly had she swallowed them, than she was deprived of her human shape, and she ran out into the courtyard in the form of a Donkey.
Presently the maid-servant entered the kitchen, saw the salad standing there ready prepared, and was about to carry it up. But on the way, according to habit, she was seized by the desire to taste, and she ate a couple of leaves. Instantly the magic power showed itself, and she likewise became a Donkey, and ran out to the Old Woman. And the dish of salad fell to the ground.
Meantime the huntsman sat beside the beautiful maiden, and as no one came with the salad and she also was longing for it, she said, “I don’t know what has become of the salad.”