There was a man who had three sons, the youngest of whom was called the Dummling, and was despised and ridiculed, and put down at every opportunity. It happened that the eldest wanted to go into the forest to cut wood, and before he left, his mother gave him a nice, fine egg cake and a bottle of wine, so that he would not suffer from hunger and thirst. When he came into the forest, an old gray man met him, who offered him a good day and said 'give me a piece of cake from your pocket, and let me drink a sip of your wine, I am so hungry and thirsty'. But the wise son replied, "If I give you my cake and my wine, I have nothing myself, go your own way," and left the little man standing there and went away. When he began to chop a tree, it was not long before he missed, and the axe hit him in the arm, so that he had to go home and be bandaged. But this had come from the little gray man.

Then the second son went into the forest, and the mother gave him, like the eldest, an egg cake and a bottle of wine. The old gray man also met him and asked for a piece of cake and a drink of wine. But the second son also said quite intelligently, "What I give you, I take myself, go your own way," left the little man standing there and went away. The punishment was not lacking, when he took a few blows at the tree, he cut his leg, so that he had to be carried home.

Then the fool said, "Father, let me go out and chop wood. The father replied, 'Your brothers have done themselves harm, let yourself go, you don't know anything about it. The fool, however, begged until he finally said, "Go ahead, you will become wise through harm. The mother gave him a cake baked with water in ashes, and a bottle of sour beer. When he came into the forest, the old gray man also met him, greeted him and said 'give me a piece of your cake and a drink from your bottle, I am so hungry and thirsty'. Answered the fool 'but I have only ash cakes and sour beer, if that is all right with you, let us sit down and eat.' So they sat down, and when the fool took out his ash cake, it was a fine pancake, and the sour beer was a good wine. Now they ate and drank, and after that the little man said, "Because you have a good heart and like to share yours, I will give you happiness. There is an old tree, cut it down and you will find something in its roots. Then the little man took his leave.

The fool went and cut down the tree, and as it fell, a goose sat in the roots with feathers of pure gold. He picked it up, took it with him and went to an inn where he wanted to spend the night. But the innkeeper had three daughters, who saw the goose, were curious what kind of strange bird it was and would have loved to have one of its golden feathers. The eldest thought 'I'll find an opportunity to take off a feather,' and once the fool had gone out, she grabbed the goose by the wing, but her fingers and hand got stuck on it. Soon after, the second came and had no other thought than to get a golden feather, but as soon as she touched her sister, she got stuck. Finally the third came with the same intention: the others shouted 'stay away, for heaven's sake, stay away'. But she did not understand why she should stay away, and thought, 'If they are there, I can be there too,' and jumped over, and as she had touched her sister, she got stuck on her. So they had to spend the night with the goose.

The next morning the fool took the goose in his arms and went away, not caring about the three girls who were attached to it. They always had to run behind him, left and right, as far as his legs would take him. In the middle of the field the priest met them, and when he saw the procession, he said, "Shame on you, you nasty girls, why are you running after the young lad through the field, is that proper? With that he grabbed the youngest by the hand and wanted to pull her back, but as he touched her, he got caught as well and had to run behind her himself. Not long after, the sexton came along and saw the priest following three girls on his foot. He was surprised and called out, "Father, where are you going so fast? Don't forget that we have a child baptism today," and ran up to him and grabbed him by the arm, but he got stuck. As the five trotted along one after the other, two peasants came out of the field with their hoes: then the priest called them and asked them to untie him and the sexton. But no sooner had they touched the sexton than they got stuck, and there were now seven of them running after the fool with the goose.

He then came to a city where a king ruled, who had a daughter who was so serious that no one could make her laugh. Therefore he had given a law, who could make her laugh, she should marry. The fool, when he heard this, went with his goose and her followers before the king's daughter, and when she saw the seven people running after each other, she began to laugh out loud and would not stop. Then the dummy asked her to be his bride, but the king did not like the son-in-law, he made all kinds of objections and said he would first have to bring him a man who could drink a cellar full of wine. The Dummling thought of the little gray man, who could probably help him, and went out into the forest, and on the spot where he had cut down the tree, he saw a man sitting, who made a very sad face. The fool asked what he was taking so much to heart. Then he answered, 'I am so thirsty, and I cannot quench it, I cannot stand the cold water, I have emptied a barrel of wine, but what is a drop on a hot stone?' 'I can help you,' said the fool, 'just come with me, you shall have your fill.' He led him into the king's cellar, and the man made himself over the large barrels, drank and drank so that his hips ached, and before a day was over he had drunk the whole cellar. The Dummling again demanded his bride, but the king was annoyed that a bad fellow, whom everyone called a Dummling, should carry off his daughter, and made new conditions: he would first have to create a man who could eat up a mountain full of bread. The dummy did not think about it for long, but immediately went out into the forest: there was a man sitting in the same place, who tied his body together with a strap, made a grumpy face, and said 'I have eaten a whole oven full of rasp bread, but what good is that if you are as hungry as I am: my stomach remains empty, and I just have to tie myself up, if I am not to die of hunger'. The fool was glad of this, and said 'arise, and go with me, thou shalt eat thy fill.' He led him to the king's court, who had brought together all the flour from the whole kingdom and baked an enormous mountain of it: but the man from the forest stood in front of it, began to eat, and in one day the whole mountain was gone. The fool demanded his bride for the third time, but the king once again sought an excuse, and demanded a ship that could sail on land and water: 'But as you come sailing with it,' he said, 'so you shall have my daughter as your wife. The fool went straight into the forest, and there sat the old gray man, to whom he had given his cake, and said, 'I have drunk and eaten for you, I will also give you the ship; I do all this because you have been merciful to me'. So he gave him the ship, which sailed by land and by sea, and when the king saw this, he could no longer withhold his daughter from him. The wedding was celebrated, and after the king's death the fool inherited the kingdom, and lived happily with his wife for a long time.