Once upon a time there was a miller who had a beautiful daughter, and when she had grown up he wished she were well provided for and well married: he thought, "If a proper suitor comes and asks for her, I will give her to him." Not long after, a suitor came along who seemed to be very rich, and since the miller could find nothing wrong with him, he promised him his daughter. But the girl did not love him as a bride should love her bridegroom, and had no confidence in him: as often as she looked at him or thought of him, she felt a horror in her heart. Once he said to her "you are my bride and you do not even visit me." The girl replied "I don't know where your house is." Then the bridegroom said "my house is out in the dark forest." She looked for excuses and said she could not find the way there. The bridegroom said, "You must come out to my house on Sunday, I have already invited the guests, and so that you can find your way through the forest, I will scatter ashes for you." When Sunday came and the girl had to set out, she was so afraid that she did not know why, and so that she could find her way, she put both her pockets full of peas and lentils. At the entrance of the forest ashes were scattered, which he followed, but at every step he threw a few peas on the ground to the right and left. It went almost the whole day until it came into the middle of the forest, where it was darkest, there stood a lonely house, which it did not like, because it looked so dark and eerie. He entered, but there was no one inside and there was the greatest silence. Suddenly a voice called out:

"Turn back, turn back,
you young bride,
you're in a murder house."

The girl looked up and saw that the voice came from a bird that was hanging on the wall in a farmer. Once again he called out:

"Turn back, turn back,
you young bride,
you're in a murder house."

Then the beautiful bride went on from one room to the other and went through the whole house, but it was all empty and not a soul to be found. At last she came to the cellar, where an old woman was sitting, wagging her head. "Can't you tell me," said the girl, "whether my bridegroom lives here?" "Oh, you poor child," replied the old woman, "where have you got to! you are in a murder pit. You think you are a bride about to be married, but you are going to hold the wedding with death. You see, I put on a big kettle of water, when they have you in their power, they chop you up without mercy, boil you and eat you, for they are man-eaters. If I do not have compassion on you and save you, you are lost."

Then the old woman led him behind a large barrel, where he could not be seen. "Be quiet as a mouse," she said, "don't move and don't stir, or it's all over for you. At night, when the robbers are asleep, let us escape; I have been waiting for an opportunity for a long time." No sooner had this happened than the wicked band came home. They brought another virgin with them, were drunk and did not listen to her screaming and wailing. They gave her wine to drink, three glasses full, one glass white, one glass red, and one glass yellow, from which her heart burst. Then they tore off her fine clothes, laid them on a table, chopped her beautiful body into pieces and sprinkled salt on them. The poor bride behind the barrel trembled and shook, for she saw what fate the robbers had in store for her. One of them noticed a golden ring on the little finger of the murdered woman, and when it could not be pulled off immediately, he took a hatchet and chopped the finger off: but the finger jumped up over the barrel and fell straight into the lap of the bride. The robber took a light and wanted to look for it, but could not find it. Then another said, "Have you already looked behind the big barrel?" But the old woman called out, "Come and eat, and leave the searching until morning: the finger will not run away from you."

Then the robbers said "the old woman is right", stopped searching, sat down to eat, and the old woman drank a sleeping draught into their wine, so that they soon lay down in the cellar, slept and snored. When the bride heard this, she came out from behind the barrel and had to step over the sleeping people, who were lying in rows on the ground, and was very afraid that she would wake one of them up. But God helped her to get through happily, the old woman climbed up with her, opened the door, and they hurried away as fast as they could from the murder pit. The wind had blown away the scattered ashes, but the peas and lentils had sprouted and sprouted, showing the way in the moonlight. They walked all night until they arrived at the mill in the morning. There the girl told her father everything that had happened. When the day came for the wedding, the bridegroom appeared, but the miller had invited all his relatives and acquaintances. As they sat at the table, each of them was asked to tell something. The bride sat quietly and said nothing. Then the bridegroom said to the bride, "Well, my heart, don't you know anything? tell us something, too." She answered "I will tell you a dream. I went alone through a forest and finally came to a house, there was not a soul in it, but on the wall was a bird in a farmer, who called:

"Turn back, turn back,
you young bride,
you're in a murder house."

And called it again. My darling, I only dreamed that. Then I went through all the rooms, and all of them were empty, and it was so eerie in there; I finally went down into the cellar, and there was an old woman sitting there, shaking her head. I asked her "does my groom live in this house?" She answered "oh, you poor child, you have fallen into a pit of murder, your groom lives here, but he wants to chop you up and kill you, and then cook you and eat you." My darling, I only dreamed that. But the old woman hid me behind a big barrel, and as soon as I was hidden there, the robbers came home and dragged a virgin with them, and they gave her three kinds of wine to drink, white, red and yellow, and her heart burst. My darling, I only dreamed that. Then they stripped her of her fine clothes, chopped her beautiful body into pieces on a table and sprinkled it with salt. My darling, I only dreamed that. And one of the robbers saw that there was still a ring on the gold finger, and because it was hard to pull off, he took a hatchet and cut it off, but the finger jumped up and jumped behind the big barrel and fell into my lap. And there is the finger with the ring." At these words she pulled it out and showed it to those present.

The robber, who had turned chalk-white at the tale, jumped up and wanted to escape, but the guests held him down and handed him over to the courts. There he and his whole gang were judged for their outrages.