then the huntsman looked about him and said, "if i had but something to eat! i am so hungry, and my hunger will increase in course of time; but i see here neither apples nor pears, nor any other sort of fruit, everywhere nothing but cabbages," but at length he thought, "at a pinch i can eat some of the leaves, they do not taste particularly good, but they will refresh me." with that he picked himself out a fine head of cabbage, and ate it, but scarcely had he swallowed a couple of mouthfuls than he felt very strange and quite different.