In “Hans My Hedgehog,” Hans leaves home riding a cockerel. The unusual mount is described as a shod cockerel, meaning the bird has been fitted with shoes or metal coverings for travel.
Hans is born partly covered in hedgehog spines after his father wishes for a child, even one resembling a hedgehog. After eight years, he departs to seek his fortune, riding the cockerel and taking animals with him into the forest. There he plays the bagpipes and tends pigs and donkeys.
The cockerel is easy to miss because the tale’s later episodes focus on Hans’s bargains with two kings. He agrees to guide each lost king home in exchange for whatever first greets the monarch. The second king’s daughter fulfills the promise, eventually marrying Hans.
After their wedding, Hans removes his hedgehog skin and has it burned completely. He emerges as a handsome man, completing the tale’s transformation from outcast creature to human nobleman.