The Story of the Wild Huntsman

Heinrich Hoffmann & Maria Grazia Costa

Hidden inside its den made of leaves, a hare observes a huntsman who is looking for hares to
hunt with his rifle and prepares to play a trick on the man.

As soon as the hunter, exhausted by the sun, falls asleep in the grass, the hare steals his rifle and
glasses. When he wakes up and sees the animal threatening him, the hunter starts running, shouting for help. In panic, he throws himself into a well to escape the shot of the animal, which instead hits the coffee cup that the hunter’s wife is drinking from.

The balance of power is turned upside down as the hunter becomes the prey and the hare, generally considered a cowardly and not very clever animal, has its revenge.

This tale included in the well-known collection of stories by Heinrich Hoffmann Der Struwwelpeter
(“Shockheaded Peter”), was first published in Germany in the mid 1800s.

Der Struwwelpeter is one of the earliest books for children that combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, and is often considered a precursor to comic books.