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Hans my Hedgehog
Tale of the Brothers Grimm translated by M. Hunt [1884] (slightly changed by us)
Interpretation by Undine & Jens in green [2025]
There was once 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 the town with the other peasants, they mocked him and asked why he had 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, you have cursed us.”
We will now try to continue the symbol of the hedgehog in this fairy tale, as we found it in the previous fairy tale of “The Hare and the Hedgehog”. At the beginning, we again encounter a man and a woman who are not lacking in material wealth, but in living things—that is, a farmer as the active spirit and his wife as the giving birth nature. We have already spoken a great deal about the power of desires, and that the active spirit must naturally be careful not to “curse” himself, causing nature to react and act accordingly. For then, under the influence of desire and anger, he desires some kind of property, something he wants to hold on to when it pleases him, and what he wants to get rid of again when it no longer pleases him. Then he fails to recognize the true nature of his own activity, but sees only the external forms that appear good or bad to him.
Then the man said, “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 my Hedgehog.” When he was christened, the parson said, “He cannot go into any ordinary bed because of his quills.” So, a little straw was put behind the stove, and Hans my 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 was tired of him and thought, “If he would but die!” But he did not die, however, and remained lying there.
So, spirit and nature must now live in their world of desires and make the best of it, even if they don’t like its outward form. What kind of being is this that, although baptized and dedicated to higher things, appears useless to the farmer as a wilful spirit and does not feed on Mother Nature, yet nevertheless lives and does not die? He is called “Hans” as a short form for “Johannes,” a name meaning “God is gracious.” This allows us to think again of holistic reason, pure intelligence, or the Christ consciousness, which is present and alive in the depths of every creature, but is rarely recognized and heard. In this sense, Mother Nature also baptized this holistic consciousness, in the spirit of “Johannes my hedgehog,” with the name “God’s grace is my reason.” It is worrying that even the priest did not see it as a reasonable being, but only as a prickly animal that does not belong in the ordered world of humans, an order that the human mind has created for itself.
Now 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 for her. “A little meat and a couple of white rolls which are wanted for the house,” said she. Then he asked the housemaid, and she wanted a pair of slippers and some stockings. At last, he said also, “And what would you like, Hans my Hedgehog?” - “Dear father,” he said, “do bring me a bagpipe.” When, therefore, the father came home again, he gave his wife what he had bought for her; meat and white rolls, and then he gave the maid the slippers, and the stockings; and, lastly, he went behind the stove, and gave Hans my Hedgehog the bagpipe.
Thus, the farmer, as an active spirit, also fulfils further wishes: Mother Nature wishes for food, her maid for clothing, and reason for a bagpipe so that he can finally be heard. This holistic consciousness thus acquires an instrument that reminds us of the famous Magic Flute, which has the power to transform everything for the better:
With it, you can act almightily, transforming human passions. With the magic sound of your flute, threats turn into song… You have the Magic Flute, indeed; it brings us closer to our goal. In a magical hour, my father carved it from the deepest depths of the thousand-year-old oak tree, amidst lightning and thunder, storm and terror. (Mozart, Magic Flute)
Thus, this magical flute comes from the root of an ancient tree, reminiscent of the Tree of Life, with its profound roots that feed from the pure source of profound intuition, from a consciousness that underlies everything.
A similarly symbolic flute is also found in the ancient Indian stories of Krishna, an incarnation of Vishnu, who, as a shepherd boy, uses this flute to sound the call of true and pure love (see, for example, Bhagavatam 10.21. Krishna’s Flute Playing). Vishnu himself is considered the god of preservation and essentially represents universal intelligence or holistic reason.
And when Hans my Hedgehog had the bagpipe, he said, “Dear father, do go to the forge and get my cock shod, and then I will ride away, and never come back again.”
We also find such symbolism of mounts in ancient Indian stories. For example, Brahma, as the creator god, rides the swan Hamsa, Vishnu, as the god of preservation, rides the eagle Garuda, and Shiva, as the god of dissolution, rides the bull Nanda (see also Yogawiki Mounts).
The colourful rooster reminds us of the colourful world of external diversity, which is created and guided by a holistic consciousness that is itself formless and can therefore take on any form. Thus, unity is supported by diversity and symbolically rides on diversity to make itself recognizable. And the symbolic blacksmith, as the ruler of the natural elements of fire, wind, water, and iron or earth, reminds us of the conceptual mind that gives this diversity of nature a tangible and thus transient physicality. Here, one might also think of the old saying: “Everyone is the blacksmith of his own happiness.” And so, consciousness fulfils the father’s or active spirit’s wish to be able to get rid of what he first desired or cursed, so that we now live in a world of physical transience.
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 my Hedgehog got on it, and rode away, but took swine and asses with him which he intended to keep in the forest. When they got there, he made the cock fly on to 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.
Thus, holistic reason, with his bagpipe and carried by the diversity of nature, goes into the forest of the external world, which has grown from the trees of our imaginations, which we have placed before us in all directions. There he sits on the tree of life and guards our animal beings, just as Krishna, as a shepherd boy, guarded the cows with his flute. The pig reminds us of our greedy, voracious physicality, and the donkey of our wilful, egotistical mind. Yes, reason should always watch over this physical mind, and then everything will be well. It should be noted that it is a holistic reason that rules not separately in each being, but as a unity over the diversity of beings, insofar as they can and will hear his harmonious voice, in order to be guarded and guided. And, of course, the conceptual mind can know nothing of this unity, for it can only perceive and comprehend separate and limited forms. This is the Father as active Spirit and Creator, who does not recognize the true nature of his own creation.
While he was sitting in the tree, however, he played his bagpipe, and made music which was very beautiful. Once a King came travelling 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 whence this music came. He spied about, but saw nothing but a little animal sitting up aloft 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 if he knew the road which led to his kingdom.
We can now read how the conceptual mind, as worldly king and supposed ruler, gets lost in this dense forest of ideas and cannot find his way home to his true kingdom. And so, at some point in this forest, we all hear the harmonious voice of reason and send out our worldly servants, in the form of the five senses and thoughts, to explore this incomprehensible being. But, of course, they cannot truly know him because they only perceive external forms. Nevertheless, we are all somehow searching for our true kingdom, which we can find within ourselves, where all our wealth and our true root lies.
So, Hans my Hedgehog came down from the tree, and said he would show the way if the King would write a bond and promise him whatever he first met in the royal courtyard as soon as he arrived at home. Then the King thought, “I can easily do that, Hans my Hedgehog understands nothing, and I can write what I like.” So, the King took pen and ink and wrote something, and when he had done it, Hans my Hedgehog showed him the way, and he got safely home. But his daughter, when she saw him from afar, was so overjoyed that she ran to meet him, and kissed him. Then he remembered Hans my Hedgehog, and told her what had happened, and that he had been forced to promise whatsoever first met him when he got home, to a very strange animal which sat on a cock as if it 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 done well, for she never would have gone away with the Hedgehog.
Reason can certainly show us this great path of paths, but only if we unite our inner soul with reason. Otherwise, the intellect attempts to reach it only with mental images and can thus never leave the forest of ideas. Then he attempts to outwit holistic reason with the common illusions of conceptual thinking, but only deceives himself. Accordingly, his soul, which he naturally encounters first when he returns to his inner self, is also unready. For she is always also a natural child of her spiritual father, and if the father deceives, the soul cannot be true and pure.
Hans my Hedgehog, however, looked after his asses and pigs, and was always merry and sat on the tree and played his bagpipe. 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 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 my Hedgehog on the cock. The runner asked him what he was about up there? “I am keeping my asses and my pigs; but what is your desire?” The messenger 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 my Hedgehog got down from 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 in front of his royal palace. The King said, “Yes,” and wrote a promise to Hans my 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 rejoicings. Now he had an only daughter, who was very beautiful; she ran to meet him, threw her arms round 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 that as he was travelling through a great forest, a creature, half hedgehog, half man, who was sitting astride a cock in a high tree, and making music, had shown him the way and helped him to get out, but that in return he had promised him whatsoever first met him in the royal court-yard, and how that was she herself, which made him unhappy now. But on this she promised that, for love of her father, she would willingly go with this Hans if he came.
Well, reason is practically unaffected by such illusions as self-deception of the intellect, but remains serene and joyful. He waits until the worldly intellect is ready and inclined toward the truth, no longer seeking his advantage in lies and deceit. Then the natural soul is also ready, which, as the spiritual daughter of a truth-loving intellect, allows herself to be guided by a purer love and is no longer controlled and driven by desire.
Hans my 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 my Hedgehog resolved not to live in the forest any longer, and sent word to his father to have every stable 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 my Hedgehog had died long ago. Hans my Hedgehog, however, seated himself on the cock, and drove the pigs before him into the village, and ordered the killing to begin. Now, there was a killing and a chopping that might have been heard two miles off! After this Hans my Hedgehog said, “Father, let me have the cock shod once more at the forge, and then I will ride away and never come back as long as I live.” Then the father had the cock shod once more, and was pleased that Hans my Hedgehog would never return again.
This symbolism is difficult to understand today because, due to our exorbitant desires, we have already exaggerated factory farming to such an extent that one can no longer speak of reason at all. Back then, the pig was still a worldly treasure, so people considered themselves lucky to be allowed to slaughter one. At least the term lucky pig remains from this, and “Schwein haben” (to have a pig) means “being lucky.” Similarly, the horseshoe was considered a lucky symbol, with which reason had the rooster shod, and the father was happy to be rid of his son.
From a spiritual perspective, we could see the pigs as our own embodiments, given to us by reason as perishable matter so that the mind could live with it and grow from it in this world of transience. Thus, our body is merely a blink of an eye in the life of the universe and, like many other “foodstuffs”, bears the label: “Intended for immediate consumption after birth.” But this time, too, the father, as an active spirit, failed to recognize his great fortune, neither the true purpose of his body nor the true nature of his son. So, reason turns away again, unwilling to reveal himself alive in this external form again, and turns to the worldly kings, who at least became aware that they had lost their way in this external world and were seeking their way home. Thus, the fairy tale enters its second round.
Hans my Hedgehog rode away to the first kingdom. There the King had commanded that, whosoever came mounted on a cock and had a bagpipe with him should be shot at, cut down, or stabbed by everyone, so that he might not enter the palace. When, therefore, Hans my 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 he had promised, or he would take both his life and his daughter’s. Then the King began to encourage his daughter, 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 with gold and possessions. She seated herself in the carriage, and placed Hans my Hedgehog beside her with the cock and the bagpipe, and then they took leave and drove away, and the King thought he should never see her again. But he was wrong, for when they were at a short distance from the town, Hans my Hedgehog took her pretty clothes off, and pierced her with his hedgehog’s skin until she bled all over. “That is the reward of your falseness,” said he. “Go your way, I do not want you!” and on that he chased her home again, and she was disgraced for the rest of her life.
Even today, most people live in such a kingdom, where pure reason has been practically banned and is persecuted and killed everywhere because self-willed egoism reigns, for which the holistic view of reason is an essential threat. Therefore, we should not be surprised that nowadays hardly anyone knows the difference between understanding and reason, or between “I” and “self.” Thus, the conceptual ego-mind has everything under control and protects his little kingdom as best he can. But reason can neither be seized nor killed, but penetrates through every wall and through every gate to the king’s windows—that is, to the physical senses with thought. There, he calls the king to truthfulness, whose deaf ego, however, usually only reacts when the greatest annihilation threatens and no other salvation for his life with all his supposed possessions is apparent. For reason, as a holistic consciousness, is the true foundation of life, and not the conceptual ego-mind, which so eagerly desires to rule the world as king. Therefore, he lives in constant fear that his illusory ego bubble might burst and die, and even sells his soul for it, hoping to save himself with possessions and money. But ultimately, for a natural soul that knows no reason and doesn’t love the holistic consciousness that lives behind every external form, this world remains full of thorns and spikes in the play of opposites, and she never experiences joy in her entire life. Not even the most beautiful and purest clothes she wears externally, nor all the servants, money, and possessions in the world, can help against this.
Hans my Hedgehog, however, rode on further on his cock and with his bagpipe, to the dominions of the second King to whom he had shown the way. This one, however, had ordered, that if any one resembling Hans my Hedgehog should come, they were to present arms, give him safe conduct, cry “Vivat!” to him, and lead him to the royal palace. But when the King’s daughter saw him, she 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 my 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. When the evening came and they wanted to go to sleep, she was afraid of his quills, but he told her she was not to fear, for no harm would befall her. 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, he would creep out of his hedgehog’s skin and leave it lying there by the bedside. Then the men were to run nimbly to it, throw it in the fire, and stay by it until it was consumed.
Now, where the worldly intellect is open to truth and reason is not viewed as an enemy but expected and welcomed in the course of human development, there man takes a different path. Even if the natural soul is initially afraid of this unfamiliar view, she remains faithful to her father and trusts him and ultimately also the promise of reason that she needs not be feared. For, after all, holistic reason, not the intellectual mind, is the way out of suffering. And when reason enters the chamber of the soul and the mystical marriage is accomplished, then the mind has the chance to burn away the prickly hedgehog skin of worldly opposites and resolve suffering at its source. Thus, the four men before the chamber door remind us of the spiritual power of the four elements of earth, water, wind, and fire in the external world, who, as servants of the mind, can ignite the alchemical fire to burn away the opposites between spirit and matter, and thus also between reason and intellect. This is the great path to dissolving the ego’s separating self-consciousness and celebrating the alchemical-mystical marriage of wholeness. For all suffering has its root in this ego-consciousness of separation, from which arise desire and hatred, attachment and resistance, so that man must suffer under worldly contradictions and remains trapped within them.
When the clock struck eleven, he went into the chamber, stripped off the hedgehog’s skin, and left it lying by the bed. Then came the men and fetched it swiftly, and threw it in the fire; and when the fire had consumed it, he was delivered, and lay there in bed in human form, but he was coal-black as if he had been burnt. The King sent for his physician who washed him with precious salves, and anointed him, and he 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 my Hedgehog received the kingdom from the aged King.
When this prickly hedgehog skin is burned and disappears, the external world of the four elements has fulfilled its task, and the person is “whole” again, a reasonable human being who has shed his animal skin and recognizes his holistic nature. In practice, this can be a very painful process at the boundary between the inner and outer worlds. And what was previously completely dark, veiled, and unknowable can now be made bright, radiant, and recognizable again by the “doctor” of the mind. In this way, the “doctor” reminds us of the Holy Spirit, who heals all separation and allows everything to be recognized again in pure light. This is the royal path to a happy ending, and reason becomes king again in a kingdom where soul, mind, and reason are happily healed and united. It should be noted that in this process, which takes place at the end of the worldly day when the clock strikes eleven, the mind itself, as the worldly king, can do nothing but allow the healing to occur. Thus, the mind should neither deny the healing spirit as physician and healer nor the spiritual working of transience in the four elements of nature.
When several years had passed he went with his wife to his father and told him, that he was his son. The father, however, declared he had no son. He had never had but one, and this one 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 his kingdom.
My fairy tale is over,
and goes before Gustchen’s house.
May this fairy tale knock on our door too!
• ... Table of contents of all fairy tale interpretations ...
• King Thrushbeard - (topic: holy and healthy marriage)
• Saint Solicitous - (topic: beard and violin)
• The old witch - (topic: true Love and Reason)
• The Jew among Thorns - (topic: Reason and Mind)
• The Princess and the blind Blacksmith - (topic: Christmas)
• The Hare and the Hedgehog - (topic: I’m already here)
• Hans my Hedgehog (topic: Reason and Nature)
• The Simpleton - (topic: Nature of the sea)
• The Water-Nix - (topic: Source and River)
• The Nix of the Mill-Pond - (topic: Water-being)
• The Little Mermaid Undine - (topic: Wave dance)
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[1884] Grimm's Household Tales. Translated from the German and edited by Margaret Hunt. With an introduction by Andrew Lang, 1884, Vol. 1/2, London: George Bell and Sons |