Esben's mother, who knew how to heal the sick, is accused of conspiring with the devil and burned at the stake by the same people for whom she alleviated suffering. Not remembering himself from horror, the boy rushes away from the blazing fire until, exhausted, he falls on the shore of the fjord. Here he is found by Hans the Strongman, or as the local peasants otherwise call him, Hans the Head, because he, like Esben’s mother, heals the sick.