But the third said contemptuously: “That is not worth while. Let him alone. He will soon die here, or if he climbs higher up the mountain the clouds will carry him away.”
Then they went off, and the huntsman got up and climbed to the top of the mountain. After he had sat there for a time, a cloud came sweeping by, and it caught him up and floated away through the air with him. At last, in the dusk of evening, it made a gentle descent and deposited him in a large walled garden. He looked around and said: “I wish I had something to eat. After traveling so far I am very hungry. But here I see not a single apple or berry, or any other fruit—nothing, only cabbages, some of them green and some pink. As there is no other food to be had I will try one of the cabbages, and I think it may refresh me, even if I don’t like the taste of it.”
TO HIS HORROR HE PERCEIVED THAT HE HAD BEEN TRANSFORMED INTO A DONKEY
So he selected a tender head of green cabbage and started to eat. But he had scarcely taken a couple of bites when he felt a wondrous change come over him. His head grew big and shaggy, and his ears long and hairy, and his arms became legs, and he had hoofs instead of hands and feet. To his horror he perceived that he had been transformed into a donkey. Soon he resumed eating, for his appetite had not been appeased, and the juicy cabbages were now much to his liking. Presently he tried one of the pink cabbages. Immediately he felt a new change taking place, and soon found he had resumed his human form.
Now he lay down and slept off his fatigue. When he awoke it was morning, and he broke off a head of the green cabbage and a head of the pink cabbage, and thought: “I will take these along. They may be of use to me.”
Then he clambered over the wall and went off in search of the witch’s castle. After wandering about for a few days he was fortunate enough to find it. But before he showed himself he stained his face and disguised himself as a countryman. Even his own mother would not have known him. That done, he went to the castle and begged for a night’s lodging.
“Who are you?” asked the witch, “and what is your business?”
“I am a messenger from the king,” he replied. “His Majesty sent me to seek the most delicate cabbages that grow on earth. I have been successful in securing two heads, but the sun shines so warm I am afraid the tender leaves will wither and that I would waste my efforts to go any farther with them.”
When the old witch heard about these precious cabbages she was anxious to eat of them herself, and she became very agreeable in her manner toward the wanderer, and said, “Good countryman, let me taste the wonderful cabbages.”