So the frightened king said everything should be done as Hans the Hedgehog wished. He ordered a carriage to be made ready drawn by six white horses, and attended by servants in gorgeous liveries. The princess stepped into it, and Hans the Hedgehog with his rooster and bagpipes took his place beside her. Then they drove away, but they had not gone far out of the city when Hans pulled the princess’s shawl off and pricked her with his quills, saying: “That is your reward for falsehood. Go back home. I will have nothing more to do with you.”
Then the coach returned with her, and Hans the Hedgehog rode away on his rooster to the other kingdom. When he entered the royal city, the guards, in accord with the king’s orders, presented arms, the people cheered, and he was conducted in triumph to the palace. At sight of Hans, the princess was a good deal startled, for he certainly was very peculiar looking, but he told her no harm would befall her and she need not be alarmed. So she made him welcome, and he sat next to her at the royal table, and they ate and drank together.
Late in the evening Hans had a big fire made in his chamber, and at his request four trusty men were ordered to stand on guard at his door. About eleven o’clock, when he went to his room, he said to the guards, “Never in my life have I slept in a bed, and before I get into the one prepared for me here I shall creep out of my hedgehog skin and leave it lying on the floor. Ten minutes from now you four men must come in and throw the skin into the fire, and stand by till it is entirely consumed.”
Hans entered the room, took off his hedgehog skin, and got into bed. Soon afterward the four men came in, threw the skin into the fire, and watched it burn till there was nothing left of it. Hans was now wholly human in his form, but the guards, when they looked at him, were dismayed to find that he was quite black, as though he had been severely scorched. They informed the king, and he at once summoned a physician. The latter, by the use of various salves and ointments, made Hans’ skin white, and the youth became as handsome as he was clever. When the cure was complete the king’s daughter was greatly pleased, and not long afterward they were married, and when the old king died Hans ruled the kingdom in his stead.
THE MAGPIE’S NEST
ONCE upon a time
When pigs spoke rhyme,
all the birds of the air came to the magpie and asked her to teach them how to build nests; for the magpie was very clever. So she had them gather around her and began to show them how to do it. First of all she took some mud and made a sort of a round cake with it.
