Which Grimm tale has a half-hedgehog hero named Hans?

Which Grimm tale has a half-hedgehog hero named Hans? The answer is Hans My Hedgehog.

In the story, Hans is a remarkable hybrid: human below the waist but covered in hedgehog spines above. His father had wished for a child “even if it were a hedgehog,” and the wish is fulfilled in an extraordinary form. Hans rides a rooster, plays bagpipes, and eventually becomes central to a royal marriage plot.

The Brothers Grimm first printed the tale in 1815, where it was numbered 22; from the second edition onward, it became KHM 108. Their source was the German storyteller Dorothea Viehmann. The tale belongs to folktale type ATU 441, a tradition involving an animal bridegroom or comparable enchanted animal-human figure.

The story is sometimes confused with Clever Hans, but that is a separate Grimm tale. English readers may also encounter the title Jack My Hedgehog, Andrew Lang’s translation in The Green Fairy Book. In the Grimm version, Hans ultimately sheds his hedgehog skin and becomes wholly human after a princess accepts him and honors her promise.