壮士汉斯英文版：
heroic man Hans
There were once a man and a woman who had an only child, and lived quite alone in a solitary
valley. It came to pass that the mother once went into the wood to gather branches of fir, and
took with her little Hans, who was just two years old. As it was spring-time, and the child took
pleasure in the many-coloured flowers, she went still further onwards with him into the forest.
Suddenly two robbers sprang out of the thicket, seized the mother and child, and carried them far
away into the black forest, where no one ever came from one year's end to another. The poor
woman urgently begged the robbers to set her and her child free, but their hearts were made of
stone, they would not listen to her prayers and entreaties, and drove her on farther by force. After
they had worked their way through bushes and briars for about two miles, they came to a rock
where there was a door, at which the robbers knocked and it opened at once. They had to go
through a long dark passage, and at last came into a great cavern, which was lighted by a fire
which burnt on the hearth. On the wall hung swords, sabres, and other deadly weapons which
gleamed in the light, and in the midst stood a black table at which four other robbers were sitting
gambling, and the captain sat at the head of it. As soon as he saw the woman he came and spoke
to her, and told her to be at ease and have no fear, they would do nothing to hurt her, but she
must look after the house-keeping, and if she kept everything in order, she should not fare ill with
them. Thereupon they gave her something to eat, and showed her a bed where she might sleep
with her child.
The woman stayed many years with the robbers, and Hans grew tall and strong. His mother told