How to ASCII-fy HEX string from TEXT column?

[J Smith]

Hi.

I've read the manual, I swear. I just can't seem to figure out this
(seemingly simple) problem:

table: hex_table

(int) (text)
+-----+----------
| id | hex_text
+-----+----------
| 1 | 616263 ... (goes on for another ~2000 characters)
+-----+----------

how do I query this table to output the hex_text column as ascii?
(i.e. select .... from hex_table; returns 'abc')

if I go:
"SELECT 0x616263" mysql returns 'abc' as expected, but
"SELECT concat('0x', hex_text) from hex_table; doesn't work.

Please note that conversion is impossible because the string is very
long.

A solution (in mysql, not an outside script) to this problem would be
MOST appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
-j.