under the pillow.” “Bless me!” cried the miller, and went there and
found the wine. “Now go on,” said he. The peasant made the raven croak
again, and said, “In the second place, he says that there is some roast
meat in the tiled stove.” “Upon my word!” cried the miller, and went
thither, and found the roast meat. The peasant made the raven prophesy
still more, and said, “Thirdly, he says that there is some salad on the
bed.” “That would be a fine thing!” cried the miller, and went there
and found the salad. At last the peasant pinched the raven once more
till he croaked, and said, “Fourthly, he says that there are some cakes
under the bed.” “That would be a fine thing!” cried the miller, and
looked there, and found the cakes.
And now the two sat down to the table together, but the miller’s wife
was frightened to death, and went to bed and took all the keys with
her. The miller would have liked much to know the fifth, but the little
peasant said, “First, we will quickly eat the four things, for the
fifth is something bad.” So they ate, and after that they bargained how
much the miller was to give for the fifth prophesy, until they agreed
on three hundred thalers. Then the peasant once more pinched the
raven’s head till he croaked loudly. The miller asked, “What did he
say?” The peasant replied, “He says that the Devil is hiding outside
there in the cupboard in the entrance.” The miller said, “The Devil
must go out,” and opened the house-door; then the woman was forced to
give up the keys, and the peasant unlocked the cupboard. The parson ran
out as fast as he could, and the miller said, “It was true; I saw the
black rascal with my own eyes.” The peasant, however, made off next
morning by daybreak with the three hundred thalers.
At home the small peasant gradually launched out; he built a beautiful
house, and the peasants said, “The small peasant has certainly been to
the place where golden snow falls, and people carry the gold home in
shovels.” Then the small peasant was brought before the Mayor, and
bidden to say from whence his wealth came. He answered, “I sold my
cow’s skin in the town, for three hundred thalers.” When the peasants
heard that, they too wished to enjoy this great profit, and ran home,
killed all their cows, and stripped off their skins in order to sell
them in the town to the greatest advantage. The Mayor, however, said,
“But my servant must go first.” When she came to the merchant in the
town, he did not give her more than two thalers for a skin, and when
the others came, he did not give them so much, and said, “What can I do
with all these skins?”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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