Once upon a time there was a man who did nothing but gamble, and people called him "Gambling Hansel", and because he never stopped gambling, he gambled away his house and everything. Now, on the very last day, when his house was to be taken away from him, our Lord God and St. Peter came and said that he should keep them with him overnight. Then Gambling Hansel said, "Because of me, you can stay there for the night; but I can't give you a bed or anything to eat."" Then our Lord God said that he should only take them in, and they would buy themselves something to eat; that was fine with the minstrel. Then St. Peter gave him three pennies, and with that he was supposed to go to the baker and get some bread. Now the minstrel went. But when he came to the house where the other gambling rags were, who had won everything from him, they called out and shouted: "Hansl, come on in! - Yes," he said, "I want to win the three pennies from you too. But they did not leave out. Now he just went in and gambled away the three pennies as well.

But St. Peter and our Lord God were always waiting, and as he did not come for such a long time, they went to meet him. But the gambler, when he saw them coming, acted as if the three pennies had fallen into a pool of water and poked around in it eagerly: but our Lord already knew that he had gambled them away. So St. Peter gave him another three pennies. But now he was no longer tempted and brought them the bread. Then our Lord God asked him if he did not have any wine; then he said, ""O Lord, the barrels are all empty."" Then our Lord God told him to go down to the cellar, there was still the best wine down there. He didn't want to believe it for a long time, but finally he said: "I want to go down, but I know that there is none down there. But when he tapped the barrel, the best wine came out. Now he brought them the wine and the two of them stayed overnight. The next day, early in the morning, our Lord God told Gambling Hansel to ask for three graces. He thought he would ask for heaven, but Gambling Hansel asked for cards with which he would win everything, and for dice with which he would win everything, and for a tree on which all fruit grows, and when one climbs up that he cannot come down again until he commands him to do so. Now our Lord God has given him everything he asked for, and has gone away again with St. Peter.

Now the Gambling Hansel really started to play and would soon have won half the world together. Then St. Peter said to our Lord God: "Lord, this thing is not good, he will win the whole world in the end; we must send him death". And that's when they sent him death. When Death came, Gambling Hansel was sitting at the game, of course, and Death said, "Hansl, come out for a bit!" But the minstrel said: "Wait until the game is over, and in the meantime climb that tree out there and break off a bit so that we have something to eat on the way. So Death climbed up the tree, and when he wanted to come down again, he couldn't, and the gambler left him up there for seven years, and in the meantime no one ever died again.

Then St. Peter said to our Lord God: "Lord, this thing does no good; no one dies anymore; we have to open ourselves up. So now they have already come themselves and our Lord God ordered Gambling Hansel that he should lower death. So he went right away and said to Death: "Go down," and he took him right away and strangled him. So they left together and went to the other world. Then my plaything went to the gate of heaven and knocked there. "Who is outside?" - "The minstrel." - "Oh, we don't need him, just go away again." So he went to Purgatory and knocked again. "Who's outside?" - "The minstrel." - "Oh, it's already misery and hardship enough with us, we don't want to play. Just go away again." So he went to the gate of hell, and there they let him in; but there was no one at home but old Lucifer and a few crooked devils (the straight ones were busy in the world), and there he sat down at once and began to play again. But Lucifer had nothing but his crooked devils. The Gambling Hansel won them from him, because he had to win everything with his cards. Now the Gambling Hansel is gone with his crooked devils, and there they have gone to Hohenfürt and have torn out the hop poles and have gone up to the sky with it and have started to push, and now the sky has already cracked. Then St. Peter said again, ""Lord, this thing does no good, we must let him in, or he will throw the sky down on us."" Now they let him in. But the man started to play again, and there was such a noise and such a hubbub that one could not understand his own words. Then St. Peter said again: "Lord, this thing is not good, we must throw him out, otherwise he will make the whole heaven rebellious. Now they came upon him and threw him out, and there his soul was divided and went into all the playthings that are still alive to this day.