In a small village, everyone was rich except for one man called the "Little Peasant." He didn't even have a cow. He asked a carpenter to make him a wooden calf and paint it brown. He hoped that somehow, this would help him get a real cow.
He took the wooden calf to the field, but someone stole it. The Little Peasant went to the Mayor and complained. The Mayor ordered the cow-herd to give the peasant a real cow as a punishment for losing the calf.
The peasant was happy, but he had no food for the cow, so he had to kill it. He took the skin to the town to sell it. On the way, he found a raven with a broken wing and wrapped it in the skin. Because of a big storm, he stopped at a mill to ask for a place to stay.
The miller’s wife was alone. She gave the peasant some bread and cheese. While the peasant was resting, a priest came to visit her. She prepared a great feast with roast meat, wine, and cake. But suddenly, the miller came home! The wife quickly hid the food and the priest in different places.
The miller saw the peasant and invited him to eat bread and cheese. The peasant brought his cow skin with him. Suddenly, he pinched the raven inside the skin, and it made a noise: Krrr, krrr!
"What did your bird say?" the miller asked.
"He is a fortune teller," the peasant lied. "He says there is wine under the pillow." The miller looked and found the wine. The peasant pinched the bird again. "Now he says there is roast meat in the stove." The miller found the meat too. He was amazed!
Finally, the peasant said, "The bird says the Devil is hiding in the closet!" The miller opened the closet, and the priest ran out of the house. The miller thought it really was the Devil! He was so impressed that he gave the peasant three hundred pieces of gold for the "magic" bird.
When the peasant got home, he became rich. The other villagers were jealous. "Where did you get that money?" they asked.
"I sold my cow skin for three hundred gold pieces," he replied.
The greedy villagers immediately killed all their cows to sell the skins, but they only received a few cents for them. They were so angry that they decided to kill the Little Peasant by throwing him into the river in a barrel.
While they were taking him to the river, they stopped at a church. Only a shepherd was left to watch the barrel. The peasant inside began to shout, "No! I will not be the Mayor! I refuse!"
The shepherd asked, "What are you talking about?"
"They want to make me the Mayor," the peasant lied, "but I must stay in this barrel first."
"I want to be Mayor!" the shepherd said. He helped the peasant out and climbed into the barrel himself. The peasant took the shepherd’s sheep and ran away. When the villagers returned, they threw the barrel into the water, thinking the peasant was inside.
A few days later, the Little Peasant walked into the village with a large flock of sheep. The villagers were shocked. "How are you alive? And where did you get those sheep?"
"Oh," the peasant said, "at the bottom of the river, there are beautiful blue meadows with thousands of sheep. I just brought a few back with me."
The villagers were so greedy that they all ran to the river. The Mayor jumped in first. When the others heard the splash, they thought he was calling them, so they all jumped in after him. They all drowned, and the Little Peasant became the richest man in the village.