But the third said contemptuously, 'It is not worth the trouble! Let
him live; he cannot remain here, and if he goes higher up the mountain
the clouds will take him and carry him off.'
Talking thus they went away. But the Hunter had listened to their talk,
and as soon as they had gone he rose and climbed to the summit. When he
had sat there a little while a cloud swept by, and, seizing him, carried
him away. It travelled for a time in the sky. and then it sank down
and hovered over a large vegetable garden surrounded by walls, so that
he came safely to the ground amidst cabbage and vegetables. The Hunter
then looked about him, saying, 'If only I had something to eat! I am so
hungry, and it will go badly with me in the future, for I see here not
an apple or pear or fruit of any kind--nothing but vegetables
everywhere.' At last he thought, 'At a pinch I can eat a salad; it does
not taste particularly nice, but it will refresh me.' So he looked
about for a good head and ate it, but no sooner had he swallowed a
couple of mouthfuls than he felt very strange, and found himself
wonderfully changed. Four legs began to grow on him, a thick head, and
two long ears, and he saw with horror that he had changed into a donkey.
But as he was still very hungry and this juicy salad tasted very good to
his present nature, he went on eating with a still greater appetite. At
last he got hold of another kind of cabbage, but scarcely had swallowed
it when he felt another change, and he once more regained his human
form.
[Illustration: The hunter is transformed into a donkey.]
The Hunter now lay down and slept off his weariness. When he awoke the
next morning he broke off a head of the bad and a head of the good
cabbage, thinking, 'This will help me to regain my own, and to punish
faithlessness.' Then he put the heads in his pockets, climbed the wall,
and started off to seek the castle of his love. When he had wandered
about for a couple of days he found it quite easily. He then browned
his face quickly, so that his own mother would not have known him, and
went into the castle, where he begged for a lodging.
'I am so tired,' he said, 'I can go no farther.'