الفصل الفصل 172 · The Hare and the Hedgehog

. The Hare and the Hedgehog

This story, my dear young folks, seems to be false, but it really is

true, for my grandfather, from whom I have it, used always, when

relating it, to say complacently, “It must be true, my son, or else no

one could tell it to you.” The story is as follows. One Sunday morning

about harvest time, just as the buckwheat was in bloom, the sun was

shining brightly in heaven, the east wind was blowing warmly over the

stubble-fields, the larks were singing in the air, the bees buzzing

among the buckwheat, the people were all going in their Sunday clothes

to church, and all creatures were happy, and the hedgehog was happy

too.

The hedgehog, however, was standing by his door with his arms akimbo,

enjoying the morning breezes, and slowly trilling a little song to

himself, which was neither better nor worse than the songs which

hedgehogs are in the habit of singing on a blessed Sunday morning.

Whilst he was thus singing half aloud to himself, it suddenly occurred

to him that, while his wife was washing and drying the children, he

might very well take a walk into the field, and see how his turnips

were going on. The turnips were, in fact, close beside his house, and

he and his family were accustomed to eat them, for which reason he

looked upon them as his own. No sooner said than done. The hedgehog

shut the house-door behind him, and took the path to the field. He had

not gone very far from home, and was just turning round the sloe-bush

which stands there outside the field, to go up into the turnip-field,

when he observed the hare who had gone out on business of the same

kind, namely, to visit his cabbages. When the hedgehog caught sight of

the hare, he bade him a friendly good morning. But the hare, who was in

his own way a distinguished gentleman, and frightfully haughty, did not

return the hedgehog’s greeting, but said to him, assuming at the same

time a very contemptuous manner, “How do you happen to be running about

here in the field so early in the morning?” “I am taking a walk,” said

the hedgehog. “A walk!” said the hare, with a smile. “It seems to me

that you might use your legs for a better purpose.” This answer made

the hedgehog furiously angry, for he can bear anything but an attack on

his legs, just because they are crooked by nature. So now the hedgehog

said to the hare, “You seem to imagine that you can do more with your

legs than I with mine.” “That is just what I do think,” said the hare.

“That can be put to the test,” said the hedgehog. “I wager that if we

run a race, I will outstrip you.” “That is ridiculous! You with your

short legs!” said the hare, “but for my part I am willing, if you have

such a monstrous fancy for it. What shall we wager?” “A golden

louis-d’or and a bottle of brandy,” said the hedgehog. “Done,” said the

hare. “Shake hands on it, and then we may as well come off at once.”

“Nay,” said the hedgehog, “there is no such great hurry! I am still

fasting, I will go home first, and have a little breakfast. In

half-an-hour I will be back again at this place.”

Hereupon the hedgehog departed, for the hare was quite satisfied with

this. On his way the hedgehog thought to himself, “The hare relies on

his long legs, but I will contrive to get the better of him. He may be

a great man, but he is a very silly fellow, and he shall pay for what

he has said.” So when the hedgehog reached home, he said to his wife,

“Wife, dress thyself quickly, thou must go out to the field with me.”

“What is going on, then?” said his wife. “I have made a wager with the

hare, for a gold louis-d’or and a bottle of brandy. I am to run a race

with him, and thou must be present.” “Good heavens, husband,” the wife

now cried, “art thou not right in thy mind, hast thou completely lost

thy wits? What can make thee want to run a race with the hare?” “Hold

thy tongue, woman,” said the hedgehog, “that is my affair. Don’t begin

to discuss things which are matters for men. Be off, dress thyself, and

come with me.” What could the hedgehog’s wife do? She was forced to

obey him, whether she liked it or not.

So when they had set out on their way together, the hedgehog said to

his wife, “Now pay attention to what I am going to say. Look you, I

will make the long field our race-course. The hare shall run in one

furrow, and I in another, and we will begin to run from the top. Now

all that thou hast to do is to place thyself here below in the furrow,

and when the hare arrives at the end of the furrow, on the other side

of thee, thou must cry out to him, ‘I am here already!’”

Then they reached the field, and the hedgehog showed his wife her

place, and then walked up the field. When he reached the top, the hare

was already there. “Shall we start?” said the hare. “Certainly,” said

the hedgehog. “Then both at once.” So saying, each placed himself in

his own furrow. The hare counted, “Once, twice, thrice, and away!” and

went off like a whirlwind down the field. The hedgehog, however, only

ran about three paces, and then he stooped down in the furrow, and

stayed quietly where he was. When the hare therefore arrived in full

career at the lower end of the field, the hedgehog’s wife met him with

the cry, “I am here already!” The hare was shocked and wondered not a

little, he thought no other than that it was the hedgehog himself who

was calling to him, for the hedgehog’s wife looked just like her

husband. The hare, however, thought to himself, “That has not been done

fairly,” and cried, “It must be run again, let us have it again.” And

once more he went off like the wind in a storm, so that he seemed to

fly. But the hedgehog’s wife stayed quietly in her place. So when the

hare reached the top of the field, the hedgehog himself cried out to

him, “I am here already.” The hare, however, quite beside himself with

anger, cried, “It must be run again, we must have it again.” “All

right,” answered the hedgehog, “for my part we’ll run as often as you

choose.” So the hare ran seventy-three times more, and the hedgehog

always held out against him, and every time the hare reached either the

top or the bottom, either the hedgehog or his wife said, “I am here

already.”

At the seventy-fourth time, however, the hare could no longer reach the

end. In the middle of the field he fell to the ground, blood streamed

out of his mouth, and he lay dead on the spot. But the hedgehog took

the louis-d’or which he had won and the bottle of brandy, called his

wife out of the furrow, and both went home together in great delight,

and if they are not dead, they are living there still.

This is how it happened that the hedgehog made the hare run races with

him on the Buxtehuder heath till he died, and since that time no hare

has ever had any fancy for running races with a Buxtehuder hedgehog.

The moral of this story, however, is, firstly, that no one, however

great he may be, should permit himself to jest at any one beneath him,

even if he be only a hedgehog. And, secondly, it teaches, that when a

man marries, he should take a wife in his own position, who looks just

as he himself looks. So whosoever is a hedgehog let him see to it that

his wife is a hedgehog also, and so forth.