When he awoke and found that his lady had tricked him, and left him alone on the wild rock, he said,\\u0027Alas! what roguery there is in the world!\\u0027 and there he sat in great grief and fear, not knowing what to do.Now this rock belonged to fierce giants who lived upon it; and as he saw three of them striding about, he thought to himself, \\u0027I can only save myself by feigning to be asleep\\u0027; so he laid himself down as if he were in a sound sleep. When the giants came up to him, the first pushed him with his foot, and said, \\u0027What worm is this that lies here curled up?\\u0027 \\u0027Tread upon him and kill him,\\u0027 said the second. \\u0027It\\u0027s not worth the trouble,\\u0027 said the third; \\u0027let him live, he\\u0027ll go climbing higher up the mountain, and some cloud will come rolling and carry him away.\\u0027 And they passed on. But the huntsman had heard all they said; and as soon as they were gone, he climbed to the top of the mountain, and when he had sat there a short time a cloud came rolling around him,and caught him in a whirlwind and bore him along for some time, till it settled in a garden, and he fell quite gently to the ground amongst the greens and cabbages.
Then he looked around him, and said, \\u0027I wish I had something to eat, if not I shall be worse off than before; for here I see neither apples nor pears, nor any kind of fruits, nothing but vegetables.\\u0027 At last he thought to himself, \\u0027I can eat salad, it will refresh and strengthen me.\\u0027 So he picked out a fine head and ate of it; but scarcely had he swallowed two bites when he felt himself quite changed, and saw with horror that he was turned into an ass. However, he still felt very hungry, and the salad tasted very nice; so he ate on till he came to another kind of salad, and scarcely had he tasted it when he felt another change come over him,and soon saw that he was lucky enough to have found his old shape again.
Then he laid himself down and slept off a little of his weariness; and when he awoke the next morning he broke off a head both of the good and the bad salad, and thought to himself, \\u0027This will help me to my fortune again, and enable me to pay off some folks for their treachery.\\u0027 So he went away to try and find the castle of his friends; and after wandering about a few days he luckily found it. Then he stained his face all over brown, so that even his mother would not have known him, and went into the castle and asked for a lodging; \\u0027I am so tired,\\u0027 said he, \\u0027that I can go no farther.\\u0027 \\u0027Countryman,\\u0027 said the witch, \\u0027who are you? and what is your business?\\u0027 \\u0027I am,\\u0027 said he, \\u0027a messenger sent by the king to find the finest salad tha grows under the sun. I have been lucky enough to find it, and have brought it with me; but the heat of the sun scorches so that it begins to wither, and I don\\u0027t know that I can carry it farther.\\u0027