刺猬汉斯的故事1.docVIP

刺猬汉斯的故事 　　刺猬汉斯的故事 　　Once upon a time there was a peasant who had money and land enough, but as rich as he was, there was still something missing from his happiness: He had no children with his wife. Often when he went to the city with the other peasants, they would mock him and ask him why he had no children. He finally became angry, and when he returned home, he said, “I will have a child, even if it is a hedgehog.” 　　Then his wife had a baby, and the top half was a hedgehog and the bottom half a boy. When she saw the baby, she was horrified and said, “Now see what you have wished upon us!” 　　The man said, “It cannot be helped. The boy must be baptized, but we cannot ask anyone to be his godfather.” 　　The woman said, “And the only name that we can give him is Hans-My-Hedgehog.” 　　When he was baptized, the pastor said, “Because of his quills he cannot be given an ordinary bed.” So they put a little straw behind the stove and laid him in it. And he could not drink from his mother, for he would have stuck her with his quills. He lay there behind the stove for eight years, and his father grew tired of him, and thought, “if only he would die.” But he did not die, but just lay there. 　　Now it happened that there was a fair in the city, and the peasant wanted to go. He asked his wife what he should bring her. 　　”A little meat, some bread rolls, and things for the household,” she said. Then he asked the servant girl, and she wanted a pair of slippers and some fancy stockings. 　　Finally, he also said, “Hans-My-Hedgehog, what would you like?” 　　”Father,” he said, “bring me some bagpipes.” 　　When the peasant returned home he gave his wife what he had brought for her, meat and bread rolls. Then he gave the servant girl the slippers and fancy stockings. And finally he went behind the stove and gave Hans-My-Hedgehog the bagpipes. 　　When Hans-My-Hedgehog had them, he said, “Father, go to the blacksmith’s and have my cock-rooster shod, then I will ride away an