August 19, 2025 • 12 mins
Listen Ad Free https://www.solgoodmedia.com - Listen to hundreds of audiobooks, thousands of short stories, and ambient sounds all ad free!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hans the Hedgehog. There once was a countryman who had
money and land in plenty. But how rich soever he was,
one thing was still wanting in his happiness. He had
no children. Often when he went into town with the
other peasants, they mocked him and asked why he had
(00:20):
no children. At last he became angry, and when he
got home he said, I will have a child, even
if it be a hedgehog. Then his wife had a
child that was a hedgehog in the upper part of
his body, and a boy in the lower. And when
she saw the child, she was terrified and said, see there,
(00:44):
thou hast brought ill luck upon us. Then said the man,
what can be done? Now? The boy must be christened,
But we shall not be able to get a godfather
for him. The woman said, and we cannot call him
anything else. But Hans the Hedgehog. When he was christened,
(01:05):
the pass and said he cannot go into any ordinary
bed because of his spikes. So a little straw was
put behind the stove, and Hans the Hedgehog was laid
on it. His mother could not suckle him, for he
would have pricked her with his quills. So he lay
there behind the stove for eight years, and his father
(01:26):
was tired of him and thought if he would but die.
He did not die, however, but remained lying there. How
it happened that there was a fair in the town,
and the peasant was about to go to it, and
asked his wife what he should bring back with him
for her. A little meat and a couple of white rolls,
(01:48):
which are wanted for the house, said she. Then he
asked the servant, and she wanted a pair of slippers
and some stockings with clocks. At last, he said, also,
and what wilt thou have, Hans, my hedgehog, dear father,
he said, do bring me bagpipes. When therefore the father
(02:10):
came home again, he gave his wife what he had
brought for her meat and white rolls, and then he
gave the maid the slippers and the stockings with clocks.
And lastly he went behind the stove and gave Hans
the hedgehog the bagpipes. And when Hans the hedgehog had
the bagpipes, he said, dear father, do go to the
(02:31):
forge and get the cock shod, and then I will
ride away and never come back again. On this the
father was delighted to think that he was going to
get rid of him, and had the cock shod for him.
And when it was done, Hans the hedgehog got on
it and rode away, but took swine and asses with him,
(02:52):
which he intended to keep in the forest. When they
got there, he made the cock fly onto a high
tree with him, and there he sat for many a
long year and watched his asses and swine until the
herd was quite large, and his father knew nothing about him.
While he was sitting in the tree, however, he played
(03:13):
his bagpipes, and he made music which was very beautiful.
Once a king came traveling by who had lost his
way and heard the music. He was astonished at it
and sent his servant forth to look all round and
see from where hence this music came. He spied about,
but saw nothing but a little animal sitting up aloft
(03:37):
on the tree, which looked like a cock with a
hedgehog on it, which made this music. Then the king
told the servant he was to ask why he sat there,
and he knew the road which led to his kingdom.
So Hans the hedgehog descended from the tree and said
he would show the way if the King would write
a bond and promise him whatever he he first met
(04:00):
in the royal courtyard as soon as he arrived at home.
Then the king thought, I can easily do that. Hans
the Hedgehog understands nothing, and I can write what I like.
So the King took pen and ink and wrote something,
And when he was done, Hans the Hedgehog showed him
the way and he got safely home. But his daughter,
(04:24):
when she saw him from afar, was so overjoyed that
she ran to meet him and kissed him. Then he
remembered Hans the Hedgehog and told her what had happened,
and that he had been forced to promise whatsoever. First
met him when he got home, and to a very
strange animal, which sat on a cock as if it
(04:45):
were a horse, and made beautiful music. But that instead
of writing that he should have what he wanted, he
had written that he should not have it. Thereupon, the
princess was glad and said he had unwell, for she
never would have gone away with the hedgehog. Hans the hedgehog, however,
(05:06):
looked after his asses and pigs, and was always merry,
and sat on the tree and played his bagpipes. Now
it came to pass that another king came journeying by
with his attendants and runners, and he also had lost
his way and did not know how to get home
again because the forest was so large. He likewise heard
(05:30):
the beautiful music from a distance and asked his runner
what that could be, and told him to go and see.
Then the runner went under the tree and saw the
cock sitting at the top of it, and Hans the
hedgehog on the cock. The runner asked him what he
was about up there. I am keeping my asses and
(05:52):
my pigs, But what is your desire? The messager said
that they had lost their way and could not get
back into their own kingdom, and asked if he would
not show them the way. Then Hans the Hedgehog got
down the tree with the cock and told the aged
king that he would show him the way if he
would give him for his own whatsoever first met him
(06:15):
in front of his royal palace. The king said yes
and wrote a promise to Hans the Hedgehog that he
should have this that done. Hans rode on before him
on the cock and pointed out the way, and the
king reached his kingdom again. In safety. When he got
to the courtyard, there were great rejoicing. Now he had
(06:36):
an only daughter, who was very beautiful. She ran to
meet him, threw her arms around his neck, and was
delighted to have her old father back again. She asked
him where in the world he had been so long.
So he told her how he had lost his way
and had very nearly not come back at all, but
(06:57):
that as he was traveling through the great forest, a
creature half hedgehog half man, who was sitting astray at
a cock in a high tree and making music, had
shown him the way and helped him to get out.
But then in return hey had promised him whatsoever first
met him in the royal courtyard, and how that was
(07:19):
she herself, which made him unhappy now, But on this
she promised that, for love of her father, she would
go willingly with this Hans if he came. Hans the hedgehog, however,
took care of his pigs, and the pigs multiplied until
they became so many in number that the whole forest
was filled with them. Then Hans their hedgehog, resolved not
(07:42):
to live in the forest any longer, and sent word
to his father to have every sigh in the village emptied,
for he was coming with such a great herd that
all might kill who wished to do so. When his
father heard that, he was troubled, for he thought Hans
the Hedgehog had died long ago. Hans the Hedgehog, however,
(08:03):
seated himself on the cock and drove the pigs before
him into the village and ordered the slaughter to begin.
Ha But there was still a killing and chopping that
might have been heard two miles off. After this, Hans
the Hedgehog said, father, let me have the cock shod
once more at the forge, and then I will ride
(08:24):
away and never come back for as long as I live.
Then the father had the cock shod once more and
was pleased that Hans the Hedgehog would never return again.
Hans the Hedgehog rode away to the first kingdom. There,
the king had commanded that whosoever came mounted on a
cock and had bagpipes with him should be shot at,
(08:46):
cut down, or stabbed by everyone, so that he might
not enter the palace. When therefore Hans the Hedgehog came
riding thither, they all pressed forward against him with their pikes,
but he spurred the cock, and it flew up over
the gate in front of the king's window and lighted there,
and Hans cried that the king must give him what
(09:06):
he had promised, or he would take both his life
and his daughters. Then the king began to speak his
daughter fair and to beg her to go away with
Hans in order to save her own life and her father's.
So she dressed herself in white, and her father gave
her a carriage with six horses and magnificent attendants, together
(09:27):
with gold and possession. She seated herself in the carriage
and placed Hans the hedgehog beside her with the cock
and the bagpipes. And then they took leave and drove away,
and the king thought he should never see her again.
He was, however, deceived in his expectation, for when they
were a short distance from the town, Hans the hedgehog
(09:49):
took her pretty clothes off and pierced her with his
hedgehog's skin until she bled all over. This is the
reward of your falseness, he said, go your way, I
will not have you. And on that Hay chased her
home again, and she was disgraced for the rest of
her life. Hans the Hedgehog, however, rode on further on
(10:11):
the cock with his bagpipes, to the dominions of the
second king, to whom he had shown the way. This one, however,
had arranged it if any one resembling Hans the Hedgehog
should come, they were to present arms, give him safe conduct,
cry long life to him, and lead him to the
royal palace. But when the king's daughter saw him, she
(10:32):
was terrified, for he looked quite too strange. She remembered, however,
that she could not change her mind, for she had
given her promise to her father. So Hans the Hedgehog
was welcomed by her and married to her, and had
to go with her to the royal table, and she
seated herself by his side, and they ate and drank.
(10:55):
When the evening came and they wanted to go to sleep,
she was afraid of his quills, and he told her
that she was not to fear, for no harm would
befall her. And he told the old king that he
was to appoint four men to watch by the door
of the chamber and light a great fire, And when
he entered the room and was about to get into bed,
(11:18):
he would creep out of his hedgehog skin and leave
it lying there by the bedside, and that the man
would have run nimbly to it, throw it into the fire,
and stay by it until it was consumed. When the
clock strunk the leven, he went into the chamber, stripped
off the hedgehog skin, and left it lying by the bed.
(11:39):
Then came the men and fetched it swiftly and threw
it into the fire. And when the fire had consumed it,
he was delivered and lay there in the bed in
human form, but he was cold, black as if he
had been burnt. The king sent for his physician, who
washed him with precious salves and anointed him, and he
(12:00):
became white and was a handsome young man. When the
king's daughter saw that, she was glad, and the next
morning they arose joyfully ate and drank. And then the
marriage was properly solemnized, and Hans the hedgehog received the
kingdom from the aged king. When several years had passed,
(12:23):
he went with his wife to his father and said
that he was his son. The father, however, declared he
had no son. He had never had but one, and
he had been born like a hedgehog, with spikes, and
had gone forth into the world. Then Hans made himself known,
and the old father rejoiced and went with him to
(12:45):
his kingdom. My tailor is done, and away it has
run to Little August's house. End of Hans the Hedgehog.
Hans the Hedgehog. There once was a countryman who had
money and land in plenty. But how rich soever he was,
one thing was still wanting in his happiness. He had
no children. Often when he went into town with the
other peasants, they mocked him and asked why he had
(00:20):
no children. At last he became angry, and when he
got home he said, I will have a child, even
if it be a hedgehog. Then his wife had a
child that was a hedgehog in the upper part of
his body, and a boy in the lower. And when
she saw the child, she was terrified and said, see there,
(00:44):
thou hast brought ill luck upon us. Then said the man,
what can be done? Now? The boy must be christened,
But we shall not be able to get a godfather
for him. The woman said, and we cannot call him
anything else. But Hans the Hedgehog. When he was christened,
(01:05):
the pass and said he cannot go into any ordinary
bed because of his spikes. So a little straw was
put behind the stove, and Hans the Hedgehog was laid
on it. His mother could not suckle him, for he
would have pricked her with his quills. So he lay
there behind the stove for eight years, and his father
(01:26):
was tired of him and thought if he would but die.
He did not die, however, but remained lying there. How
it happened that there was a fair in the town,
and the peasant was about to go to it, and
asked his wife what he should bring back with him
for her. A little meat and a couple of white rolls,
(01:48):
which are wanted for the house, said she. Then he
asked the servant, and she wanted a pair of slippers
and some stockings with clocks. At last, he said, also,
and what wilt thou have, Hans, my hedgehog, dear father,
he said, do bring me bagpipes. When therefore the father
(02:10):
came home again, he gave his wife what he had
brought for her meat and white rolls, and then he
gave the maid the slippers and the stockings with clocks.
And lastly he went behind the stove and gave Hans
the hedgehog the bagpipes. And when Hans the hedgehog had
the bagpipes, he said, dear father, do go to the
(02:31):
forge and get the cock shod, and then I will
ride away and never come back again. On this the
father was delighted to think that he was going to
get rid of him, and had the cock shod for him.
And when it was done, Hans the hedgehog got on
it and rode away, but took swine and asses with him,
(02:52):
which he intended to keep in the forest. When they
got there, he made the cock fly onto a high
tree with him, and there he sat for many a
long year and watched his asses and swine until the
herd was quite large, and his father knew nothing about him.
While he was sitting in the tree, however, he played
(03:13):
his bagpipes, and he made music which was very beautiful.
Once a king came traveling by who had lost his
way and heard the music. He was astonished at it
and sent his servant forth to look all round and
see from where hence this music came. He spied about,
but saw nothing but a little animal sitting up aloft
(03:37):
on the tree, which looked like a cock with a
hedgehog on it, which made this music. Then the king
told the servant he was to ask why he sat there,
and he knew the road which led to his kingdom.
So Hans the hedgehog descended from the tree and said
he would show the way if the King would write
a bond and promise him whatever he he first met
(04:00):
in the royal courtyard as soon as he arrived at home.
Then the king thought, I can easily do that. Hans
the Hedgehog understands nothing, and I can write what I like.
So the King took pen and ink and wrote something,
And when he was done, Hans the Hedgehog showed him
the way and he got safely home. But his daughter,
(04:24):
when she saw him from afar, was so overjoyed that
she ran to meet him and kissed him. Then he
remembered Hans the Hedgehog and told her what had happened,
and that he had been forced to promise whatsoever. First
met him when he got home, and to a very
strange animal, which sat on a cock as if it
(04:45):
were a horse, and made beautiful music. But that instead
of writing that he should have what he wanted, he
had written that he should not have it. Thereupon, the
princess was glad and said he had unwell, for she
never would have gone away with the hedgehog. Hans the hedgehog, however,
(05:06):
looked after his asses and pigs, and was always merry,
and sat on the tree and played his bagpipes. Now
it came to pass that another king came journeying by
with his attendants and runners, and he also had lost
his way and did not know how to get home
again because the forest was so large. He likewise heard
(05:30):
the beautiful music from a distance and asked his runner
what that could be, and told him to go and see.
Then the runner went under the tree and saw the
cock sitting at the top of it, and Hans the
hedgehog on the cock. The runner asked him what he
was about up there. I am keeping my asses and
(05:52):
my pigs, But what is your desire? The messager said
that they had lost their way and could not get
back into their own kingdom, and asked if he would
not show them the way. Then Hans the Hedgehog got
down the tree with the cock and told the aged
king that he would show him the way if he
would give him for his own whatsoever first met him
(06:15):
in front of his royal palace. The king said yes
and wrote a promise to Hans the Hedgehog that he
should have this that done. Hans rode on before him
on the cock and pointed out the way, and the
king reached his kingdom again. In safety. When he got
to the courtyard, there were great rejoicing. Now he had
(06:36):
an only daughter, who was very beautiful. She ran to
meet him, threw her arms around his neck, and was
delighted to have her old father back again. She asked
him where in the world he had been so long.
So he told her how he had lost his way
and had very nearly not come back at all, but
(06:57):
that as he was traveling through the great forest, a
creature half hedgehog half man, who was sitting astray at
a cock in a high tree and making music, had
shown him the way and helped him to get out.
But then in return hey had promised him whatsoever first
met him in the royal courtyard, and how that was
(07:19):
she herself, which made him unhappy now, But on this
she promised that, for love of her father, she would
go willingly with this Hans if he came. Hans the hedgehog, however,
took care of his pigs, and the pigs multiplied until
they became so many in number that the whole forest
was filled with them. Then Hans their hedgehog, resolved not
(07:42):
to live in the forest any longer, and sent word
to his father to have every sigh in the village emptied,
for he was coming with such a great herd that
all might kill who wished to do so. When his
father heard that, he was troubled, for he thought Hans
the Hedgehog had died long ago. Hans the Hedgehog, however,
(08:03):
seated himself on the cock and drove the pigs before
him into the village and ordered the slaughter to begin.
Ha But there was still a killing and chopping that
might have been heard two miles off. After this, Hans
the Hedgehog said, father, let me have the cock shod
once more at the forge, and then I will ride
(08:24):
away and never come back for as long as I live.
Then the father had the cock shod once more and
was pleased that Hans the Hedgehog would never return again.
Hans the Hedgehog rode away to the first kingdom. There,
the king had commanded that whosoever came mounted on a
cock and had bagpipes with him should be shot at,
(08:46):
cut down, or stabbed by everyone, so that he might
not enter the palace. When therefore Hans the Hedgehog came
riding thither, they all pressed forward against him with their pikes,
but he spurred the cock, and it flew up over
the gate in front of the king's window and lighted there,
and Hans cried that the king must give him what
(09:06):
he had promised, or he would take both his life
and his daughters. Then the king began to speak his
daughter fair and to beg her to go away with
Hans in order to save her own life and her father's.
So she dressed herself in white, and her father gave
her a carriage with six horses and magnificent attendants, together
(09:27):
with gold and possession. She seated herself in the carriage
and placed Hans the hedgehog beside her with the cock
and the bagpipes. And then they took leave and drove away,
and the king thought he should never see her again.
He was, however, deceived in his expectation, for when they
were a short distance from the town, Hans the hedgehog
(09:49):
took her pretty clothes off and pierced her with his
hedgehog's skin until she bled all over. This is the
reward of your falseness, he said, go your way, I
will not have you. And on that Hay chased her
home again, and she was disgraced for the rest of
her life. Hans the Hedgehog, however, rode on further on
(10:11):
the cock with his bagpipes, to the dominions of the
second king, to whom he had shown the way. This one, however,
had arranged it if any one resembling Hans the Hedgehog
should come, they were to present arms, give him safe conduct,
cry long life to him, and lead him to the
royal palace. But when the king's daughter saw him, she
(10:32):
was terrified, for he looked quite too strange. She remembered, however,
that she could not change her mind, for she had
given her promise to her father. So Hans the Hedgehog
was welcomed by her and married to her, and had
to go with her to the royal table, and she
seated herself by his side, and they ate and drank.
(10:55):
When the evening came and they wanted to go to sleep,
she was afraid of his quills, and he told her
that she was not to fear, for no harm would
befall her. And he told the old king that he
was to appoint four men to watch by the door
of the chamber and light a great fire, And when
he entered the room and was about to get into bed,
(11:18):
he would creep out of his hedgehog skin and leave
it lying there by the bedside, and that the man
would have run nimbly to it, throw it into the fire,
and stay by it until it was consumed. When the
clock strunk the leven, he went into the chamber, stripped
off the hedgehog skin, and left it lying by the bed.
(11:39):
Then came the men and fetched it swiftly and threw
it into the fire. And when the fire had consumed it,
he was delivered and lay there in the bed in
human form, but he was cold, black as if he
had been burnt. The king sent for his physician, who
washed him with precious salves and anointed him, and he
(12:00):
became white and was a handsome young man. When the
king's daughter saw that, she was glad, and the next
morning they arose joyfully ate and drank. And then the
marriage was properly solemnized, and Hans the hedgehog received the
kingdom from the aged king. When several years had passed,
(12:23):
he went with his wife to his father and said
that he was his son. The father, however, declared he
had no son. He had never had but one, and
he had been born like a hedgehog, with spikes, and
had gone forth into the world. Then Hans made himself known,
and the old father rejoiced and went with him to
(12:45):
his kingdom. My tailor is done, and away it has
run to Little August's house. End of Hans the Hedgehog.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Football’s funniest family duo — Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs — team up to provide next-level access to life in the league as it unfolds. The two brothers and Super Bowl champions drop weekly insights about the weekly slate of games and share their INSIDE perspectives on trending NFL news and sports headlines. They also endlessly rag on each other as brothers do, chat the latest in pop culture and welcome some very popular and well-known friends to chat with them. Check out new episodes every Wednesday. Follow New Heights on the Wondery App, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free, and get exclusive content on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And join our new membership for a unique fan experience by going to the New Heights YouTube channel now!