In this folktale (aka The Clever People), a cruel farmer is angry with his wife because she was cheated out of two cows. He promises not beat her for it if can find someone more foolish. He soon finds one: a widow who is worried about how well her dead husband is doing in Heaven. The farmer makes up for losing his cows by cheating the widow out of a bag of money and stealing a horse from her son. At the end of the story, he seems to think that it is OK to cheat foolish people.
Our source for the story was Household Tales by the Brothers Grimm, translated by British writer Margaret Hunt. The book, which was first published in 1884, contains all 200 Grimm folktales plus 10 legends. This is Tale No. 104. Grimms’ source is said to be Wilhelm Grimm’s wife Dortchen, who recorded it from oral tradition.
Original Text / PDF (1,582 words)