There was a certain village wherein no one lived but really richpeasants, and just one poor one, whom they called the little peasant. Hehad not even so much as a cow, and still less money to buy one, andyet he and his wife did so wish to have one. One day he said to her:'Listen, I have a good idea, there is our gossip the carpenter, he shallmake us a wooden calf, and paint it brown, so that it looks like anyother, and in time it will certainly get big and be a cow.' the womanalso liked the idea, and their gossip the carpenter cut and planedthe calf, and painted it as it ought to be, and made it with its headhanging down as if it were eating.

Next morning when the cows were being driven out, the little peasantcalled the cow-herd in and said: 'Look, I have a little calf there,but it is still small and has to be carried.' The cow-herd said: 'Allright,' and took it in his arms and carried it to the pasture, and setit among the grass. The little calf always remained standing like onewhich was eating, and the cow-herd said: 'It will soon run by itself,just look how it eats already!' At night when he was going to drive theherd home again, he said to the calf: 'If you can stand there and eatyour fill, you can also go on your four legs; I don't care to drag youhome again in my arms.' But the little peasant stood at his door, andwaited for his little calf, and when the cow-herd drove the cows throughthe village, and the calf was missing, he inquired where it was. Thecow-herd answered: 'It is still standing out there eating. It would notstop and come with us.' But the little peasant said: 'Oh, but I musthave my beast back again.' Then they went back to the meadow together,but someone had stolen the calf, and it was gone. The cow-herd said: 'Itmust have run away.' The peasant, however, said: 'Don't tell methat,' and led the cow-herd before the mayor, who for his carelessnesscondemned him to give the peasant a cow for the calf which had run away.

And now the little peasant and his wife had the cow for which they hadso long wished, and they were heartily glad, but they had no food forit, and could give it nothing to eat, so it soon had to be killed. Theysalted the flesh, and the peasant went into the town and wanted to sellthe skin there, so that he might buy a new calf with the proceeds. Onthe way he passed by a mill, and there sat a raven with broken wings,and out of pity he took him and wrapped him in the skin. But as theweather grew so bad and there was a storm of rain and wind, he couldgo no farther, and turned back to the mill and begged for shelter. Themiller's wife was alone in the house, and said to the peasant: 'Layyourself on the straw there,' and gave him a slice of bread and cheese.The peasant ate it, and lay down with his skin beside him, and the womanthought: 'He is tired and has gone to sleep.' In the meantime came theparson; the miller's wife received him well, and said: 'My husband isout, so we will have a feast.' The peasant listened, and when he heardthem talk about feasting he was vexed that he had been forced to makeshift with a slice of bread and cheese. Then the woman served up fourdifferent things, roast meat, salad, cakes, and wine.

Just as they were about to sit down and eat, there was a knockingoutside. The woman said: 'Oh, heavens! It is my husband!' she quicklyhid the roast meat inside the tiled stove, the wine under the pillow,the salad on the bed, the cakes under it, and the parson in the closeton the porch. Then she opened the door for her husband, and said: 'Thankheaven, you are back again! There is such a storm, it looks as if theworld were coming to an end.' The miller saw the peasant lying on thestraw, and asked, 'What is that fellow doing there?' 'Ah,' said thewife, 'the poor knave came in the storm and rain, and begged forshelter, so I gave him a bit of bread and cheese, and showed him wherethe straw was.' The man said: 'I have no objection, but be quick and getme something to eat.' The woman said: 'But I have nothing but bread andcheese.' 'I am contented with anything,' replied the husband, 'so far asI am concerned, bread and cheese will do,' and looked at the peasant andsaid: 'Come and eat some more with me.' The peasant did not require tobe invited twice, but got up and ate. After this the miller saw the skinin which the raven was, lying on the ground, and asked: 'What have youthere?' The peasant answered: 'I have a soothsayer inside it.' 'Canhe foretell anything to me?' said the miller. 'Why not?' answeredthe peasant: 'but he only says four things, and the fifth he keeps tohimself.' The miller was curious, and said: 'Let him foretell somethingfor once.' Then the peasant pinched the raven's head, so that he croakedand made a noise like krr, krr. The miller said: 'What did he say?' Thepeasant answered: 'In the first place, he says that there is some winehidden under the pillow.' 'Bless me!' cried the miller, and went thereand found the wine. 'Now go on,' said he. The peasant made the ravencroak again, and said: 'In the second place, he says that there is someroast meat in the tiled stove.' 'Upon my word!' cried the miller, andwent thither, and found the roast meat. The peasant made the ravenprophesy still more, and said: 'Thirdly, he says that there is somesalad on the bed.' 'That would be a fine thing!' cried the miller, andwent there and found the salad. At last the peasant pinched the ravenonce more till he croaked, and said: 'Fourthly, he says that thereare some cakes under the bed.' 'That would be a fine thing!' cried themiller, and looked there, and found the cakes.

And now the two sat down to the table together, but the miller's wifewas frightened to death, and went to bed and took all the keys withher. The miller would have liked much to know the fifth, but the littlepeasant said: 'First, we will quickly eat the four things, for the fifthis something bad.' So they ate, and after that they bargained how muchthe miller was to give for the fifth prophecy, until they agreed onthree hundred talers. Then the peasant once more pinched the raven'shead till he croaked loudly. The miller asked: 'What did he say?' Thepeasant replied: 'He says that the Devil is hiding outside there inthe closet on the porch.' The miller said: 'The Devil must go out,' andopened the house-door; then the woman was forced to give up the keys,and the peasant unlocked the closet. The parson ran out as fast as hecould, and the miller said: 'It was true; I saw the black rascal with myown eyes.' The peasant, however, made off next morning by daybreak withthe three hundred talers.

At home the small peasant gradually launched out; he built a beautifulhouse, and the peasants said: 'The small peasant has certainly been tothe place where golden snow falls, and people carry the gold home inshovels.' Then the small peasant was brought before the mayor, andbidden to say from whence his wealth came. He answered: 'I sold my cow'sskin in the town, for three hundred talers.' When the peasants heardthat, they too wished to enjoy this great profit, and ran home, killedall their cows, and stripped off their skins in order to sell them inthe town to the greatest advantage. The mayor, however, said: 'But myservant must go first.' When she came to the merchant in the town, hedid not give her more than two talers for a skin, and when the otherscame, he did not give them so much, and said: 'What can I do with allthese skins?'

Then the peasants were vexed that the small peasant should have thusoutwitted them, wanted to take vengeance on him, and accused him of thistreachery before the mayor. The innocent little peasant was unanimouslysentenced to death, and was to be rolled into the water, in a barrelpierced full of holes. He was led forth, and a priest was brought whowas to say a mass for his soul. The others were all obliged to retire toa distance, and when the peasant looked at the priest, he recognized theman who had been with the miller's wife. He said to him: 'I set you freefrom the closet, set me free from the barrel.' At this same moment upcame, with a flock of sheep, the very shepherd whom the peasant knew hadlong been wishing to be mayor, so he cried with all his might: 'No, Iwill not do it; if the whole world insists on it, I will not do it!' Theshepherd hearing that, came up to him, and asked: 'What are you about?What is it that you will not do?' The peasant said: 'They want to makeme mayor, if I will but put myself in the barrel, but I will not do it.'The shepherd said: 'If nothing more than that is needful in order to bemayor, I would get into the barrel at once.' The peasant said: 'If youwill get in, you will be mayor.' The shepherd was willing, and got in,and the peasant shut the top down on him; then he took the shepherd'sflock for himself, and drove it away. The parson went to the crowd,and declared that the mass had been said. Then they came and rolled thebarrel towards the water. When the barrel began to roll, the shepherdcried: 'I am quite willing to be mayor.' They believed no otherwise thanthat it was the peasant who was saying this, and answered: 'That iswhat we intend, but first you shall look about you a little down belowthere,' and they rolled the barrel down into the water.

After that the peasants went home, and as they were entering thevillage, the small peasant also came quietly in, driving a flock ofsheep and looking quite contented. Then the peasants were astonished,and said: 'Peasant, from whence do you come? Have you come out of thewater?' 'Yes, truly,' replied the peasant, 'I sank deep, deep down,until at last I got to the bottom; I pushed the bottom out of thebarrel, and crept out, and there were pretty meadows on which a numberof lambs were feeding, and from thence I brought this flock away withme.' Said the peasants: 'Are there any more there?' 'Oh, yes,' said he,'more than I could want.' Then the peasants made up their minds thatthey too would fetch some sheep for themselves, a flock apiece, but themayor said: 'I come first.' So they went to the water together, and justthen there were some of the small fleecy clouds in the blue sky, whichare called little lambs, and they were reflected in the water, whereuponthe peasants cried: 'We already see the sheep down below!' The mayorpressed forward and said: 'I will go down first, and look about me, andif things promise well I'll call you.' So he jumped in; splash! wentthe water; it sounded as if he were calling them, and the whole crowdplunged in after him as one man. Then the entire village was dead, andthe small peasant, as sole heir, became a rich man.