格林童話：鐵漢斯 (3)

　　As he was climbing the steps with them, the gardener met him and said, "How can you take the princess a bouquet of such common flowers? Quick! Go and get some other ones, and choose only the most beautiful and the rarest ones."

　　"Oh, no," replied the boy, the wild ones have a stronger scent, and she will like them better."

　　When he got into the room, the princess said, "Take your cap off. It is not polite to keep it on in my presence."

　　He again responded, "I cannot do that. I have a scabby head."

　　She, however, took hold of his cap and pulled it off. His golden hair rolled down onto his shoulders, and it was a magnificent sight. He wanted to run away, but she held him by his arm, and gave him a handful of ducats. He went away with them, but he did not care about the gold.

　　He took the gold pieces to the gardener, saying, "I am giving these things to your children for them to play with."

　　The next day the princess called to him again, asking him to bring her a bouquet of wildflowers. When he went in with it, she immediately grabbed at his cap, and wanted to take it away from him, but he held it firmly with both hands. She again gave him a handful of ducats. He did not want to keep them, giving them instead to the gardener for his children to play with. On the third day it was no different. She was not able to take his cap away from him, and he did not want her gold.

　　Not long afterwards, the country was overrun by war. The king gathered together his people, not knowing whether or not fight back against the enemy, who was more powerful and had a large army.

　　Then the gardener's boy said, "I am grown up, and I want to go to war as well. Just give me a horse."

　　The others laughed and said, "After we have left, then look for one by yourself. We will leave one behind for you in the stable."

　　After they had left, he went into the stable, and led the horse out. It had a lame foot, and it limped higgledy-hop, higgledy-hop.

　　Nevertheless he mounted it, and rode away into the dark woods. When he came to the edge of the woods, he called "Iron Hans" three times so loudly that it sounded through the trees.

　　The wild man appeared immediately, and said, "What do you need?"

　　"I need a strong steed, for I am going to war."

　　"That you shall have, and even more than you are asking for."

　　Then the wild man went back into the woods, and before long a stable-boy came out of the woods leading a horse. It was snorting with its nostrils, and could hardly be restrained. Behind them followed a large army of warriors, outfitted with iron armor, and with their swords flashing in the sun.

　　The youth left his three-legged horse with the stable-boy, mounted the other horse, and rode at the head of the army. When he approached the battlefield, a large number of the king's men had already fallen, and before long the others would have to retreat. Then the youth galloped up with his iron army and attacked the enemies like a storm, beating down all who opposed him. They tried to flee, but the youth was right behind them, and did not stop, until not a single man was left.

　　However, instead of returning to the king, he led his army on a roundabout way back into the woods, and then called for Iron Hans.

　　"What do you need?" asked the wild man.

　　"Take back your steed and your army, and give me my three-legged horse again."

　　It all happened just as he had requested, and he rode home on his three-legged horse.

　　When the king returned to his castle, his daughter went to meet him, and congratulated him for his victory.

　　"I am not the one who earned the victory," he said, "but a strange knight who came to my aid with his army."

　　The daughter wanted to hear who the strange knight was, but the king did not know, and said, "He pursued the enemy, and I did not see him again."

　　She asked the gardener where his boy was, but he laughed and said, "He has just come home on his three-legged horse. The others have been making fun of him and shouting, 'Here comes our higgledy-hop back again.' They also asked him, 'Under what hedge have you been lying asleep all this time?' But he said, 'I did better than anyone else. Without me it would have gone badly.' And then they laughed at him all the more."