The Soldier and The Hundred Hares

Once upon a time, there lived
a king whose name was
Coimbra. King Coimbra had
only one daughter, a very
beautiful princess.

"When the princess marries,
her husband will succeed me as
king, for I have no son to
f ollow me." said the king to
himself. "Therefore I must
be very careful who I choose
for my son-in-law." He announ-
ced that he would marry his
daughter to the man who succee-
ded in answering three riddles.

Princes, dukes, knights, earls
and barons all came to the
palace to try their luck at ans-
wering the king's three riddles.
Each one failed and each one



was sent away in disgrace. Soon,
there were very few princes >
dukes or knights left and it
looked as if the princess might
never get married at all. King
Coimbra was not altogether
sorry. "For," he thought, "it
shows that there is no one
worthy to succeed me. I must
be a very superior king indeed."

Then a soldier arrived at the
palace. To the king's great
annoyance the soldier, whose
name was Sigmund, succeeded
in answering all three riddles
quite easily. King Coimbra did
not want an ordinary soldier for
a son-in-law and he was furious.
He decided to get rid of Sig-
mund.



"It will take several days to
prepare the great wedding feast
required by such an important
person as my daughter," said
the king. "In the meantime,
I shall put you in charge of my
hundred hares. You will take
them out to graze in the. mor-
ning and bring them back again
at night. If you lose one, I will
cut off your head."

Sigmund agreed and next
morning he left the palace with
the hundred hares. As soon as
they reached the meadow, the
hares rushed off, leaping and
running in all directions. "That's
all right, you can go," said
Sigmund, laughing. "I know
how to bring you back easily
enough." He sat down and
had n rest for an hour, and then



he pulled a pipe out of his
pocket. It was a magic pipe
and when he blew on it, all the
hares came back and crowded
around him. He gave each one
a hazel-nut twig and then he
lined them up and taught them
military exercises. That night,
when he returned to the palace,
King Coimbra was waiting for
him. He was amazed to see
Sigmund, marching like a gene-
ral, with all the hares following
behind him. When they drew
level with the king, they stopped
and saluted. The king counted
and recounted the hares, but
in vain. Not one was missing.

Next day Sigmund set out
again with the hares. The
king sent a servant, disguised
as a peasant, to follow Sig-
mund. The servant had orders
to buy one of the hares.

"If you want one of these
hares," said Sigmund, when
the servant had caught up with
him, "you have only to choose
it. In return I shall beat you
fifty times with my stick." The



servant allowed Sigmund to beat
htm and hurried off happily with
his hare. When he was about
half a mile away, Sigmund .blew
on his magic pipe. The hare
leaped out of the astonished
servant's arms and ran back
to join the others.

Next day, the king sent one
of his ministers to follow Sig-
mund and take a hare. The
minister disguised himself as a
woodcutter.

"You can choose the biggest
and fattest hare you can see,"
said Sigmund, when the dis-
guised minister asked for one.
"But in return I shall beat you
a hundred times with my stick."
The minister submitted to the
beating and carried his hare
away. Before he had gone far,
Sigmund blew on the magic
pipe. The hare kicked itself
free at once and ran back to
join the others.

The king was annoyed. Three
days had passed and each night,
when Sigmund came back, he
still had one hundred hares.
On the fourth day, the king
himself followed Sigmund, dres-
sed as a shepherd. He also
offered to buy one of the hares.

'Take one," said Sigmund.
"But in return you must let me
jive you one hundred kicks."




The king received the kicks in
silence. Then he tucked the
hare inside his jacket and started
back, but as soon as the hare
heard the magic pipe, he tore
the lining of the king's coat
and ran back to join the others.

Next morning, the king sent
for Sigmund. "Dear Sigmund,
he said. "You have guessed my
riddles cleverly and guarded my
hares carefully. Now 1 want
you to be just as clever at filling
this sack with truth. If you do
not, I shall have your head cut
off."

"Certainly, Your Majesty,"



replied Sigmund. Now the
young man knew very well who
his three visitors had been and
he started to tell the story of a
peasant who wanted to buy a
hare and in return received fifty
strokes of the stick. At that
moment, the servant who had
dressed up as the peasant was
passing by. Sigmund blew softly
on his pipe and the servant was
forced to jump into the sack,
crying, "It's true! It's true!"

Then Sigmund told .the story
of the woodcutter who wanted
to buy a hare and received a
hundred blows with the stick
and as he blew on his pipe, the
minister appeared and was
forced to jump into the sack,
crying, "It's true!"

Then Sigmund began to tell
the story of the shepherd who
asked to buy a hare, but before



he could mention the hundred
kicks, the king hurriedly stop-
ped him. He had bee n t he
shepherd and he did not want
to have to jump into the sack,
crying, "It's true," as the others
had done. The king now saw
that he was defeated.
— "Dear Sigmund," he said,
"you are really a very clever
young man and I am very
pleased that you will marry my
daughter and become the next
king."

The nice thing was, that the
king really meant it. "He must
really be a very clever young
man, for he has outwitted me
every time," he thought, "And
1 am such a superior king that
it is very hard to outwit me.
He will make me a worthy
successor arid my daughter a
fine husband."