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| These stories provided by children's author Rick Walton's Online Library. |
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Jack My Hedgehog |
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THERE WAS ONCE A farmer who lived in great comfort. He had both lands and money, but though he was so well off, one thing was wanting to complete his happiness. He had no children. Many and many a time, when he met other farmers at the nearest market town, they would tease him, asking how it was that he was childless. At length he grew so angry he exclaimed:
`I must and will have a child of some sort or kind, even should it be only a hedgehog!'
Not long after this his wife had a child. The lower half of the little creature was a fine boy, but from the waist upward it was a hedgehog. When his mother first saw him she was frightened, and said to her husband, `There now, you have cursed the child yourself:
The farmer said, `What's the use of making a fuss? The creature must be christened, but what are we to call him?'
`There is nothing we can possibly call him but Jack my Hedgehog,' replied the wife.
`We'll never be able to put that child in a decent bed on account of his prickles.' Which was true, but they shook down some straw for him behind the stove and there he lay for eight years. His father grew very tired of him and often wished to be rid of him, but he did not die and lay there year after year.
Now one day there was a big fair at the market town to which the farmer meant to go. He asked his wife what ha should bring her from it. `Some meat and a couple of big loaves for the house,' said she. Then he asked the maid what she wanted, and she said a pair of slippers and some stockings. Lastly he said, `Well, Jack my Hedgehog, what shall I bring you?'
`Daddy,' said he, `bring me a bagpipe.' When the farmer came home he gave his wife and the maid the things they had asked for, and then he went behind the stove and gave Jack my Hedgehog the bagpipes.
Then Jack said, `Daddy, go to the smithy and have the house cock shod for me, and I will ride off and trouble you no more.' His father, delighted at the prospect of getting rid of him, had the cock shod. When it was ready Jack my Hedgehog mounted on its back and rode off to the forest, followed by all the pigs and donkeys he had promised to look after.
Having reached the forest he made the cock fly up to the top of a very tall tree with him. There he sat looking after his pigs and donkeys, and he sat on and on for several years till he had quite a big herd. All this time his father knew nothing about him.
As he sat up in his tree Jack played on his pipes and drew the loveliest music from them. As he was playing one day a king, who had lost his way, happened to pass close by. Hearing the music he was much surprised and sent one of his servants to find out where it came from. The man peered about, but he could see nothing but a cock with a hedgehog sitting on it perched up in a tree. The king desired the servant to ask the strange creature why it sat there and if it knew the shortest way to his kingdom.
On this Jack my Hedgehog came down from his tree and said he would show the king his way home if the king on his part would give him a written promise to let him have whatever first met him on his return.
The king thought, That's easy enough to promise. The creature won't understand a word about it, so I can just write what I choose. So he took pen and ink and wrote something, and Jack my Hedgehog pointed out the way for the king to go safely home.
When the king's daughter saw her father returning in the distance she was delighted. She ran to meet him and threw herself into his arms. Then the king remembered Jack my Hedgehog and he told his daughter all about him.
`The creature,' said he, `rode on a cock as though it had been a horse and made lovely music. But it certainly could not read what I had written-that I would not give anything at all.'
At this the princess was quite pleased and said how clever her father was. Of course nothing would have induced her to go off with Jack my Hedgehog.
Meanwhile Jack minded his donkeys and pigs, sat aloft in his tree, played his bagpipes, and was always merry and cheery. After a time it so happened that another king, having lost his way, passed by with his servants and escort. He too heard the music and told one of his men to find out whence it came. The man came under the tree and, looking up to the top, saw Jack my Hedgehog astride the cock.
The servant asked Jack what he was doing up there. `I'm minding my pigs and donkeys, but what do you want?' was the reply. Then the servant told him they had lost their way and wanted someone to show it to them. Down came Jack my Hedgehog with his cock and told the old king he would show him the right way if he would solemnly promise to give him the first thing he met in front of his royal castle.
The king said, `Yes,' and gave Jack a written promise to that effect. Then Jack rode on in front and the king reached his own country in safety.
Now he had an only daughter who was extremely beautiful. She was delighted at her father's return, ran to meet him, threw her arms round his neck, and kissed him heartily. Then she asked where he had been wandering so long, and he told her how he had lost his way and might never have reached home at all but for a strange creature, half-man, half-hedgehog, which rode a cock and sat up in a tree making,lovely music. He also told her he had pledged his word to give the creature the first thing which met him outside his castle gate. He felt very sad that she had been the first to meet him.
But the princess comforted him. She would be quite willing to go with Jack my Hedgehog, whenever he came to fetch her, because of the great love she had for her dear father.
Jack my Hedgehog continued to herd his donkeys and pigs. They increased in number till there were so many the forest seemed full of them. He made up his mind to live there no longer and sent a message to his father, telling him to have all stables and outhouses in the village cleared, as he was going to bring such an enormous herd that all might have as many as they chose. Jack my Hedgehog mounted his cock, and ';driving his herds before him into the village, he let everyone take all they pleased.
Then Jack said, `Daddy, let the blacksmith shoe my cock once more. I will ride off and I promise never to come back again as long as I live.' So the father had the cock shod.
Then Jack my Hedgehog set off for the first kingdom. There the king had given strict orders that if anyone should be seen riding a cock and carrying bagpipes he was to be chased away. On no account was he to enter the palace. When Jack my Hedgehog rode up, the guards charged him with their bayonets. But he put spurs to his cock, flew up over the gate right to the king's windows, let himself down on the sill, and called out that if he was not given what had been promised him, both the king and his daughter should pay for it with their lives. Then the king coaxed and entreated his daughter to go with Jack and save both their lives.
The princess dressed herself all in white, and her father gave her a coach with six horses, servants in gorgeous liveries and quantities of money. She stepped into the coach, and Jack my Hedgehog with his cock and pipes took his place beside her. They both took leave, and the king fully expected never to set eyes on them again. But matters turned out very differently.
When they had gone some distance from the town Jack tore all the princess' smart clothes off her and pricked her all over with his bristles, saying, `That's what you get for treachery. Now go back, I have no more to say to you.' With that he chased her home, and she felt she had been disgraced and put to shame till her life's end.
Then Jack my Hedgehog rode on with his cock and bagpipes to the country of the second king to whom he had shown the way. Now this king had given orders that, in the event of Jack's coming, the guards were to present arms, the people to cheer, and he was to be conducted in triumph to the royal palace.
When the king's daughter saw Jack my Hedgehog she was a good deal startled. He certainly looked peculiar, but after all, she had given her word. So she made lack welcome and they were betrothed to each other. At dinner he sat next her at the royal table, and they ate and drank together.
When they retired to rest Jack begged the old king to place a watch of four men just outside his bedroom door and have them make a big fire. When he was ready for bed, he would creep out of his hedgehog skin and leave it lying at the bedside. Then the men must rush in, throw the skin on the fire, and stand by till it was entirely burned.
And so it was, for when it struck eleven, Jack my Hedgehog went to his room, took off his skin, and left it at the foot of the bed. The men rushed in, quickly seized the skin and threw it on the fire. Directly it was all burned, Jack was released from his enchantment and he lay in his bed, a man from head to foot, but quite black as though he had been severely scorched.
The king sent at once for his physician in ordinary, who washed Jack all over with various essences and salves until he became a remarkably handsome young man. When the king's daughter saw him she was greatly pleased, and next day the marriage ceremony was performed. The old king bestowed his kingdom on Jack my Hedgehog.
After some years Jack and his wife went to visit his father. But the farmer did not recognize him and declared he had no son. He had had one, born with bristles like a hedgehog, who had gone off into the wide world. Then Jack told his story, and his old father rejoiced and returned to live with him in his kingdom.
[Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm.]
(from The Green Fairy Book , by Andrew Lang)
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