There was once a man called Frederick and his wife, Catherine. They had not been married for very long. One day, Frederick said, "Kate, I am going to work in the fields. When I come back, I will be hungry. Please cook something nice and prepare a cold beer."
"Don’t worry, Frederick," she said. "It will be ready."
When it was time for dinner, Catherine took a steak and put it on the fire to fry. As the meat began to cook, she thought, "The steak is almost ready. I should go to the cellar to get the beer."
She went down to the cellar and started to fill a large jug from the barrel. While she was watching the beer, she suddenly thought, "Oh no! The dog is not locked up. He might eat the steak!"
She ran upstairs, and she was right. The dog already had the steak in his mouth and was running away. Catherine chased the dog across the fields, but he was too fast for her. Finally, she gave up and said, "What's gone is gone." She walked home slowly to rest.
However, she had forgotten to turn off the beer barrel. While she was chasing the dog, the beer ran out of the barrel and covered the cellar floor. When she saw the mess, she cried, "Oh no! What will Frederick say?"
She remembered they had a sack of fine flour from the market. She thought, "If I spread the flour on the floor, it will soak up the beer." But as she carried the heavy sack, she knocked over the jug of beer she had already poured. Now, everything was a mess. She spread the flour everywhere and felt very proud because the floor looked dry and clean.
At noon, Frederick came home. "What is for dinner?" he asked.
Catherine explained everything: the dog, the steak, the beer, and the flour. Frederick was angry. "Kate! How could you be so careless?"
"I didn't know I was doing anything wrong," she answered. "You should have told me."
Frederick thought, "I must be more careful with my wife." He had some gold, so he told Catherine, "Look at these pretty yellow buttons. I am going to bury them in a box in the garden. Do not go near them."
"I won't, Frederick," she promised.
But while Frederick was away, some traveling sellers came to the house with plates and dishes. Catherine wanted to buy some, but she had no money. "If you want some yellow buttons," she said, "you can dig in the garden. I am not allowed to touch them."
The thieves dug up the gold and ran away, leaving Catherine with many new plates. When Frederick returned, he was shocked. "Kate! Those buttons were all our money!"
"I didn't know!" she said. "You should have told me."
Catherine suggested they chase the thieves. Frederick agreed, and they set out. Catherine carried some butter and cheese for the journey. As they walked, she saw that the road was narrow and the wheels of the carts had hurt the trees. "Poor trees," she said. She took the butter and rubbed it on the trees to help them. Then, one of her cheeses rolled down a hill. She sent the other cheese after it to find the first one.
When she met Frederick, he asked for the food. She only had dry bread. "I used the butter for the trees, and the cheeses ran away," she explained.
Frederick sighed. "Go home and lock the door before we go any further. And bring more food."
Catherine went home. She thought Frederick might like vinegar and nuts instead of butter and cheese. She locked the back door, but then she took the front door off its hinges and carried it on her back. "The house is safer if I have the door with me," she thought.
She caught up with Frederick and showed him the door. He was tired of her mistakes, so he made her carry the door as they walked into the woods. When it got dark, they climbed a tree to sleep.
By chance, the thieves sat down under that very tree to eat! They had the gold with them. Frederick tried to scare them by dropping stones, but the thieves thought it was just the wind.
Catherine was tired of carrying the door. First, she dropped the nuts she had tied to it. "It's hailing!" the thieves cried. Then she poured the vinegar down. "What a heavy dew!" they said. Finally, she dropped the heavy door itself.
The door crashed down through the branches. The thieves screamed, "It’s the Devil!" and ran away, leaving the gold behind. Frederick and Catherine took their money and went home, happy to be rich again.