Once upon a time there was a sorcerer who took the form of a poor man, went outside the houses and begged, and caught the beautiful girls. No one knew where he took them, for they never reappeared. One day he appeared at the door of a man who had three beautiful daughters, looking like a poor weak beggar and carrying a basket on his back, as if he wanted to collect mild gifts in it. He asked for a little food, and when the eldest came out to hand him a piece of bread, he only touched her, and she had to jump into his poke. Thereupon he hurried away with strong steps and carried her into a dark forest to his house, which stood in the middle of it. In the house everything was splendid: he gave her what she only wished and said "my darling, it will please you well with me, you have everything your heart desires."

This lasted a few days, then he said "I must travel away and leave you alone for a short time, there are the house keys, you can go everywhere and look at everything, but not into a room that this little key unlocks, I forbid you to do that on pain of death". He also gave her an egg and said, "Keep the egg carefully for me, and you had better carry it with you all the time, for if it were lost, great misfortune would result." She took the keys and the egg, and promised to take care of everything. When he was gone, she went around the house from bottom to top and looked at everything, the rooms shone with silver and gold, and she thought she had never seen such great splendor. Finally she came to the forbidden door, she wanted to pass by, but curiosity did not let her rest. She looked at the key, it looked like another one, she put it in and turned a little, the door burst open. But what did she see when she stepped inside? A large bloody basin stood in the middle, and in it lay dead chopped up people, next to it stood a wooden block and a flashing axe lay on it. She was so frightened that the egg she was holding plopped into it. She took it out again and wiped off the blood, but in vain, it reappeared the moment; she wiped and scraped, but she couldn't get it down.

Not long after, the man returned from the trip, and the first thing he asked for was the key and the egg. She handed it to him, but she was trembling, and he immediately saw from the red spots that she had been in the blood chamber. "If you have gone into the chamber against my will," he said, "you shall go in again against your will. Thy life is ended." He threw her down, dragged her by the hair, cut off her head on the block, and hacked her so that her blood flowed on the ground. Then he threw her into the pool with the others.

"Now I will get the second one," said the sorcerer, and went again in the shape of a poor man in front of the house and begged. Then the second one brought him a piece of bread, he caught her like the first one by just touching her and carried her away. She did not fare any better than her sister, she was tempted by her curiosity, opened the blood chamber and looked in, and had to atone for it with her life when he returned. He now went and fetched the third, but she was clever and cunning. When he had given her the keys and the egg and had left, she first kept the egg carefully, then she looked at the house and finally went into the forbidden chamber. Ah, what did she see! Her two dear sisters lay there in the basin, miserably murdered and hacked to pieces. But she started and gathered the limbs and put them in order, head, body, arm and legs. And when nothing was missing, the limbs began to move and joined together, and both girls opened their eyes and were alive again. Then they rejoiced, kissed and caressed each other. The man, on his arrival, immediately demanded the key and egg, and when he could discover no trace of blood on them, he said "you have passed the test, you shall be my bride." He now had no power over her and had to do what she asked. "Well," she answered, "thou shalt first bring a basket of gold to my father and mother, and carry it thyself on thy back; meanwhile I will order the wedding." Then she ran to her sisters, whom she had hidden in a closet, and said "the moment has come when I can save you: the villain shall carry you home again himself; but as soon as you are at home, send me help." She put both of them in a basket and covered them completely with gold, so that nothing could be seen of them, then she called the sorcerer in and said "now carry the basket away, but that you do not stop and rest on my way, I am looking through my little window and am on my guard."

The sorcerer lifted the basket on his back and went away with it, but he pressed it so heavily that sweat ran down his face. Then he sat down and wanted to rest a little, but immediately one of the girls in the basket called out, "I'll look through my little window and see that you're resting, do you want to go on? He thought the bride called out to him and he got up again. He wanted to sit down again, but she called out "I look through my little window and see that you are resting, do you want to go on right away". And as often as he stood still, it called out, and so he had to leave, until at last, groaning and out of breath, he brought the basket with the gold and the two girls to her parents' house.

At home, however, the bride arranged the wedding feast and invited the wizard's friends. Then she took a skull with grinning teeth, put an ornament on it and a wreath of flowers, carried it to the top in front of the hole in the floor and let it look out there. When everything was ready, she put herself in a barrel of honey, cut open the bed and rolled in it so that she looked like a whimsical bird and no one could recognize her. Then she went out to the house, and on the way some of the wedding guests met her and asked:

"You Fitchers bird, where did you come from?"
"I came here from Fitze Fitcher's house."
"What's that young bride doing?"
"Has swept from bottom to top the house,
Peeking out to the bottom hole."

Finally, the groom met her and slowly wandered back. He asked like the others:

"You Fitchers bird, where did you come from?"
"I came here from Fitze Fitcher's house."
"What is my young bride doing?"
"Has swept from bottom to top the house,
Peeking out to the bottom hole."

The groom looked up and saw the cleaned skull, thought it was his bride and nodded to her and greeted her kindly. As he and his guests entered the house, the bride's brothers and relatives arrived and were sent to rescue her. They locked all the doors of the house so that no one could escape, and set it on fire, so that the wizard had to burn with all his rabble.