Johann Gustav Gottlieb Büsching

“ I would then that it were some other person’s good-luck to be chosen burgomaster.” “Well then, my honest fellow, do but let me out of this cask, and take my place as quickly as you please.” This was no sooner said than done: and Kibitz being extricated himself, inclosed the ambitious clown in his new shell, in which he was to be hatched into a burgomaster; then thinking that the poor sheep would be at a loss for want of a master, or if left there might fall into worse hands than his own, he determined at once to drive them home. ”

“ At last the young man offered gold, and all to no purpose, till the sum came to a thousand dollars: this being paid, Kibitz suffered his escape.
Our peasant now went back delighted to his village, and told his neighbours how well he had sold his skins; whereupon they all slew their oxen, and hastened to sell them to the tanner. When they came to him, he told them they must be out of their senses, for to Kibitz he had given no more than an old chest: enraged at having been deceived by Kibitz, they determined to kill him when he was working in his garden ”

“ Kibitz now returned home quite rich; and his neighbours being informed of the excellent bargain he had made by his hides, killed their oxen also, and took their skins to the same tanner. But instead of obtaining as much as they expected, they were informed that Kibitz had gotten only an old chest, hardly worth a single hide. Hereupon supposing that they had been maliciously imposed upon by him, in order that they might be induced to kill their cattle, they determined upon putting so envious a fellow to death. ”

“ He soon found the house of a tanner, and knocked at the door; but before it was opened to him, he saw through the window that the wife hid her lover in a chest. The other asked what he wanted, and on his saying that he wished to sell skins, she answered that the tanner was not at home, and that nothing could be bought without his knowledge. ”

“ Kibitz insisted upon having it, saying, that it was the best bargain she could possibly make, while she as resolutely refused to comply; for it is in vain to offer the most advantageous bargains in the world, if people are so blind to their own interests as to refuse them. In short, they quarrelled so loud and so long about the matter, that the tanner himself returned, in the midst of the affray, and so settled the dispute by insisting upon his wife’s complying with their customer’s whim, and letting him have the old worm-eaten chest ”

“ Like an obedient spouse, accustomed to humour all her lord’s whims, however extravagant they might be, the poor woman complied. The wicked neighbours shortly after came, and finding her digging in the garden, they fell upon her and put her to death; then immediately fled, satisfied that they had revenged themselves on Kibitz. ”

“ The youngest was very depressed this time and said to himself, ‘Anything else Puddocky could have helped me in, but this task is quite beyond her power. How could she ever find a beautiful wife for me? Her swamps are wide and empty, and no human beings dwell there ”

“ The peasant replied that he would take the old chest in exchange, and he pointed to that in which the lover was. Of course the wife would not yield to this, and Kibitz kept up the dispute till the tanner came home, and wanted to know the matter, when he told his story, and added that he would still receive the chest. The tanner asked his wife why she would not give the chest: ‘You should be glad,’ he said, ‘that the man is contented with it.’ With this Kibitz took the chest, notwithstanding the wife’s opposition, and, having placed it on a truck, went his ways with it. ”

“ Versions of Cherry, or the Frog-Bride include: "Cherry, or the Frog-Bride" in German Popular Stories (1826) (transcription project) "Cherry, or the Frog-Bride" in Grimm's Goblins (1876) See also "Cherry the Frog-Bride" (1912) , Taylor translation, revised by Marian Edwardes
This work is a translation and has a separate copyright status to the applicable copyright protections of the original content. ”

“ Now listen to the third and last: whoever brings the fairest wife home with him shall be my heir.’
This demand seemed so easy and agreeable and the reward was so great, that the Princes lost no time in setting forth on their travels. At the cross roads the two elder brothers debated if they should go the same way as the youngest, but when they saw how dreary and deserted it looked they made up their minds that it would be impossible to find what they sought in these wilds, and so they stuck to their former paths. ”

“ In rolling the vessel along they passed by an ale-house; this was an opportunity they could not let slip, for a good dram would confirm their hearts to their design, and accordingly they bound the cask to a tree before the door. ”